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France's vaunted culinary culture has been taking it on the chin lately.

First came the news, which we told you about in April, that the majority of France's restaurants are now fast-food joints.

And now, another blow. In a recent survey of French restaurants, more than a third fessed up that they serve industrially prepared, and often frozen, food. Fast food outlets, mind you, weren't even included in that poll, which was conducted by Synhorcat, a French restaurant trade group.

But fear not, foodies: The French National Assembly is taking action. After all, gastronomy is a cornerstone of French culture, and its restaurants are a prime tourist attraction. So France's lower Assembly has approved a bill that would force restaurants that make their food on site to use the label "fait-maison" – or homemade.

The bill still needs to pass the Upper Senate to become law. But if it goes through, any restaurant that -WHICH- boasts that "homemade" label but uses shortcuts – like buying pre-chopped onions – will be fined.

"Seventy percent of French restaurants rely on companies to deliver ready-made meals that only require the ding of a microwave," says Xavier Denamur, who owns five restaurants in Paris' Le Marais neighborhood.

Denamur tells The Salt that French restaurants have long had a dirty little secret: Many of them – from fast-food places to brasseries to high-end restaurants – use "ready-to-serve" meals made by industrial food manufacturers. (The website of one such company, Brake France, promotes several of these meals as "grandmother-style" recipes.) Often, Denamur and others contend, eateries will mix these premade meals with freshly prepared dishes.

Some of France's leading chefs — like Alain Ducasse, Joel Robuchon and others – are calling for the new labeling efforts to go further: They want to limit the use of the term "restaurant" only to those eating establishments that make their food in-house from scratch. Under that scenario, "restaurant" would become an "appellation" — a label that serves as a symbol of quality, similar to those given particular wines and cheeses.

But UMIH, France's main association of restaurant owners, opposes this new "restaurant" label, arguing it will create confusion among the public and have "drastic consequences" for the industry. Instead, UMIH suggests a new category of "artisanal" restaurants for those making everything from scratch.

UMIH claims that it's virtually impossible for small restaurant owners who do make everything by hand to compete economically with those who don't. Denamur counters that the new labels will level the playing field, so that only the best survive. Other restaurateurs maintain they've had to resort to labor-saving techniques to turn a profit on tight margins.

If the new "homemade" label rules do become law, interpreting them could be a minefield, says London-based catering and restaurant consultant David Read. For instance, does "homemade" allow restaurants to use deboned fish, or premade butter? What about frozen vegetables?

"Sometimes fresh vegetables don't taste as good as vegetables that have been picked exactly when ripe and frozen properly," He notes. " I love fresh vegetables, but you can't run a chain of restaurants like that."

Restaurants, he notes, will sometimes outsource the "extras" they lack the resources or expertise to make. "Often, a bakery can provide much better bread and pastries than a restaurant can make themselves," he says. " It doesn't make it a bad restaurant. "

Label-proponent Denamur agrees it's important to draw the line.

"Anything that has not been altered by industrial means is acceptable," he says. "A fish freshly filleted has not suffered alteration apart from being cut. Equally, a restaurateur cannot be expected to buy a whole beef to serve a steak."

For Denamur, the main issue is transparency for the consumer, ensuring diners know what they're getting. The country's gastronomic reputation, he says, "enables unscrupulous restaurateurs to sell whatever they want. Tourists are probably the first victims."

As our population is growing and getting more diverse, so is our taste in music. And music lovers want to hear fresh ideas that reflect new realities and experiences. Yet some songs remain quintessentially American — even as they inspire constant re-interpretation.

Tell Me More is teaming up with New Orleans member station WWNO's Music Inside Out with Gwen Thompkins to showcase some fresh takes on popular American songs. Today we hear from Don Vappie of the Creole Jazz Serenaders, playing the banjo and singing, "Careless Love."

Archaeologists digging in the foothills of Iran's Zagros Mountains have discovered the remains of a Stone Age farming community. It turns out that people living there were growing plants like barley, peas and lentils as early as 12,000 years ago.

The findings offer a rare snapshot of a time when humans first started experimenting with farming. They also show that Iran was an important player in the origin of agriculture.

In 2009, archaeologist Nicholas Conard of the University of Tubingen led an excavation in the foothills of the Zagros, a mountain range that runs along the Iran-Iraq border.

Based on the suggestion of an Iranian colleague, he'd picked an area close to the border with Iraq and began excavating a mound about eight meters high. Before long, they hit pay dirt: The sediments were rich with artifacts. "Sculpted clay objects, clay cones, depictions of animals and humans," says Conard.

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We've been following the story of the collapse in Bangladesh of a building that housed several factories where clothes were made for Western retailers. More than 1,000 people died in that disaster in April, and the incident shed light on working conditions in Bangladesh, the world's No. 2 exporter of clothing.

Now there's news that a broad coalition of trade unions and 70 mostly European retailers have come together to sign a deal on fire and building safety in Bangladesh.

Among the signatories are H&M and Inditex, the world's largest retailer which owns brands like Zara. U.S. companies like Walmart and Gap have refused to sign on, saying the accord gives labor unions too much control over workplace safety.

Reuters reports:

"The largely European plan, coordinated by Switzerland-based unions IndustriALL and UNI Global, involves the creation of a team of inspectors to evaluate fire, electrical, structural and worker safety in factories supplying signatory brands.

"In a report published on Monday, the implementation team said that all 70 signatory brands had to provide full details of the Bangladesh factories from which they source goods - the first time such data would be collected or shared in such a comprehensive way.

"Every factory will undergo an initial inspection within the next nine months, with repairs initiated where necessary and a process put in place to allow companies or workers to report problems with buildings that pose an immediate risk."