title: Biscuiterie Saint-Michel
text: # Biscuiterie Saint-Michel
  
  Biscuiterie Saint-Michel is a French food company based in Contres. It was founded in 1905.
  
  Saint-Michel produces a range of biscuits, exports them to about 30 countries, and offers store brand production services. The "Galette St Michel" biscuit, which has been produced since 1905, features the surname of the founder (Grellier).
  
  ## Bamboula's village controversy
  
  Bamboula's Village (French: Village de Bamboula) was an attempt to recreate an Ivory Coast village within the Planète Sauvage zoo (then known as Safari Africain) in Port-Saint-Père, near Nantes, in France. It is considered the last human zoo in France.
  
  In 1994, the biscuit brand Biscuiterie Saint-Michel teamed up with the safari park to create the village, naming it "Bamboula's Village" after its "Bamboula" chocolate biscuits, which had a black mascot with the same name (a racial slur, dating from colonial times). The village was constructed in the winter of 1993.
  
  Anti-racist organisations and unions formed the group "Non à la réserve humaine" ["No to the Human Zoo"] and began legal action against the park. By the time that the court had sent an expert to document human-rights violations, the performers had been ordered out of the country. The village was closed in September of 1994. The park had to pay a symbolic one French franc (€0.15) in damages, plus legal fees.
  
  