The French postal service La Poste released nearly 600,000 scratch-and-sniff postage stamps celebrating the baguette on May 17. This launch marks the day after the Feast Day of St. Honoré, the patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs.
Each stamp, priced at €1.96, features a detailed illustration of a baguette adorned with a red, white, and blue ribbon. The stamp’s novelty, however, lies in its bakery scent, made possible by microcapsules in the ink that release a fragrance when scratched. According to Paris-based stationery shop Le Carré d’encre, the difficulty in producing these stamps was ensuring that the capsules remained intact until rubbed by the customer.
This special-edition stamp highlights the cultural significance of the baguette and commemorates its designation as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage in 2022. On the La Poste website, the postal service company describes the baguette as “the bread of our daily lives, the symbol of our gastronomy, the jewel of our culture.” The classic French bread embodies a cherished French ritual, with 12 million consumers enjoying it daily.
The stamp’s design comes from Stéphane Humbert-Basset, a French artist. With only 594,000 copies on the market, these stamps are available at various locations, including Le Carré d’encre and post offices across France.
The baguette is France’s most popular and widely eaten bread, with 6 billion baguettes baked annually within the country alone. This iconic bread, made from just four ingredients – flour, water, salt, and leaven or yeast – is more than just a food. It is a cornerstone of French cuisine.