Beurgeois

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

A beurgeois is a

Muslim born in a working-class area of France to parents of Maghrebi origin, who continues to proclaim their roots and who is aged between 30 and 40 years old with a successful professional career, a high purchasing power and a demand for a certain quality of life.[citation needed
]

Etymology

Beurgeois is a

bourgeois" (meaning affluent).[1]

Among the beurgeois themselves, opinion over the beurgeois designation is quite divided. While some people consider it as a sort of recognition of their success, the majority believe that this

stigmatization and discrimination as French people of Muslim descent.[citation needed
]

Beurgeois in French society

Concerning cuisine

The "beurgeois" among France's estimated 6-7 million-strong Muslim community are an emerging economic demographic, being catered to by a market in

champagne and foie gras approved by Islamic law (an unexpected success first introduced into supermarket chains across the country in 2008 at the end of the Muslim fast of Ramadan). Thus the beurgeois have become a chosen marketing target that require to be treated as consumers having specific needs- which has been adapted to by a specific and growing market sector.[2][3][4]

Yanis Bouarbi, an

French culture without compromising our religious beliefs. We don't just want cheap kebabs, we want Japanese, Thai, French food; we want to be like the rest of you." A similar sentiment is echoed in Paris's 11th arrondissement Les Enfants Terribles restaurant, run by brothers Kamel and Sosiane Saidi, which serves halal French haute cuisine; "Before, Muslims wishing to eat halal would go to a restaurant and it was fish or nothing. Now we have a choice," said Sosiane, 28, who worked in the property market before setting up the restaurant three years ago. "Young Muslims have money and want to eat out like everyone else but according to their religion. The food doesn't taste any different; we have many French customers who don't even know we're totally halal. To us, that is what integration is about."[5][6][7]

The demand for halal products, which is increasing by an estimated 10% per year, has captured the attention of food distributors, growers, companies, and the like. Sales of halal products totaled 4 billion

spring rolls". French sales of halal food are forecast to hit 5.5 billion euros for 2010 and according to Bonnel, move "from the ethnic market to the mass market" due to the beurgeois, who are forcing international food suppliers to cater for their demands and as one French website put it, halal is "very good business" for French companies.[9][10][11][12]

In general, there have been many supermarket chains and packaged-food companies that find the demographic important enough to aim for a share of the halal market. But companies see a potentially lucrative business in supplying religiously sanctioned food to France's growing ranks of young, professional Muslims, who want to eat Western food that is halal. These include:

Wal-Mart
), which is considering launching its own line of halal foods.

However, the expansion of halal offerings (that is occurring along with the rise of the beurgeois) is in some cases provoking a backlash. Claude Capillon, the mayor of

Islamic extremists. As a result, it sells its halal pâté in a few stores and doesn't advertise it on the company website.[14]

Concerning politics

The beurgeois are not only a useful demographic to retailers but also to French politicians—and somewhat unlike their previous generations, the group does not intend have higher levels of apathy when it comes to the relationship of the sector to the country's government. It has been noted that the demographic has a greater interest in domestic politics, in order to make their voices heard as French citizens contributing to the culture and political climate of their country.

Beurgeois people

Among the hundreds of prominent beurgeois (i.e. not including less prominent beurgeois) that are senior

civil servants
, entrepreneurs, artists, doctors etc., some include:

  • Mourad Boudjellal - owner of Soleil Productions, publishers of some of France's favourite cartoonists, has been presented in a documentary on television as the beurgeois prototype.
  • Jamel Debbouze - one of the best-paid actors in French show business.
  • César
    for best male actor, among other awards.

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ 'Beurgeois'- a new French word
  2. ^ Middle-class Muslims fuel French halal boom: Retailers and restaurants cash in on rapidly expanding and highly profitable market in halal food and drinks, guardian.co.uk, by Kim Willsher in Paris, dated Monday 5 April 2010 19.44 BST.
  3. ^ France's wealthy young Muslims fuel boom in halal food: An affluent middle class of young Muslims is driving a boom in sales of halal products, including alcohol-free sparkling wine and Islam-approved foie gras in France, telegraph.co.uk, published 7:00AM BST 6 Apr 2010.
  4. ^ Beurgeois, nytimes.com.
  5. ^ Middle-class Muslims fuel French halal boom: Retailers and restaurants cash in on rapidly expanding and highly profitable market in halal food and drinks, guardian.co.uk, by Kim Willsher in Paris, dated Monday 5 April 2010 19.44 BST.
  6. ^ France's wealthy young Muslims fuel boom in halal food: An affluent middle class of young Muslims is driving a boom in sales of halal products, including alcohol-free sparkling wine and Islam-approved foie gras in France, telegraph.co.uk, published 7:00AM BST 6 Apr 2010.
  7. ^ Beurgeois, nytimes.com.
  8. ^ From Pâté to Pizza, Halal Fare Expands for French Muslims, wsj.com, by Max Colchester.
  9. ^ FEATURE : French halal market booms despite political unease, taipeitimes.com, AFP, PARIS, dated Sunday 4 Apr 2010, Page 6.
  10. ^ Middle-class Muslims fuel French halal boom: Retailers and restaurants cash in on rapidly expanding and highly profitable market in halal food and drinks, guardian.co.uk, by Kim Willsher in Paris, dated Monday 5 April 2010 19.44 BST.
  11. ^ France's wealthy young Muslims fuel boom in halal food: An affluent middle class of young Muslims is driving a boom in sales of halal products, including alcohol-free sparkling wine and Islam-approved foie gras in France, telegraph.co.uk, published 7:00AM BST 6 Apr 2010.
  12. ^ Beurgeois, nytimes.com.
  13. ^ From Pâté to Pizza, Halal Fare Expands for French Muslims, wsj.com, by Max Colchester.
  14. ^ From Pâté to Pizza, Halal Fare Expands for French Muslims, wsj.com, by Max Colchester.

External links

Look up beur in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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