From wine to cheese, France faces an 'existential and gastronomic crisis'; understand

At the Marché International de Rungis, the giant wholesale food market known as "the belly of Paris," cheese supplier Philippe Ammiche faces increasing difficulty navigating between stacks of boxes coming from Italy, highlighting the international competition that threatens traditional French products. One hour's drive away, in Beauce, a region known as the breadbasket of France, wheat farmer Eric Thirouin faces his fourth consecutive year of losses, aggravated by intense heat and uncertainties about the future of his 500-year-old farm. In Languedoc, further south, wine producer Franck Saillan is already preparing to pull out vines and reduce production, reflecting the crisis affecting the wine sector. Wine, cheese, and bread form the trinity that sustains French gastronomic identity, but now represent the greatest challenge to the country's position as the world's leading culinary power.