French Cuisine: Foodies Fight to Protect the Term 'Restaurant'

(ABCNews) - An increasing number of establishments in France are serving pre-made food to their customers. Old-school foodies want to put a stop to the practice with an initiative to apply the term "restaurant" only to places that serve fresh food made on site.

Be it Boeuf Bourguignon, rack of lamb with garlic, Bouillabaisse or Quiche Lorraine, classical regional French cuisine has done as much to ensure France's legacy abroad as champagne, wine or Airbus jets. But some argue the culinary delights that secured the "gastronomic meal of the French" a place in the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage in 2010 is under threat.

Beyond the wooden spoon-wielding, Michelin-starred chefs of France, chain restaurants and mass catering are becoming a widespread phenomenon in the country, with people opting for fast food or sandwiches rather than more exotic traditional fare like calf's head or pig's feet. Places that once served French onion soup, chicken in white wine sauce or citrus tartlets are now increasingly dishing up pizza, sushi and hamburgers instead. An obsession with fitness and stress are also playing a role. The lunch break, which only 40 years ago was a drawn out, 1.5-hour affair, has since shrunk to a paltry 38 minutes.

Traditional French cuisine, it seems, is under pressure. With restaurants hard-hit by the recent hike in the sales tax and the economic crisis, the fast food industry surpassed establishments with table service for the first time ever in 2012.