France is a nation of food-loving folks. Here, people love and respect their food and treat every meal like a feast. To them, eating transcends mere sustenance; it’s more about enjoyment and satisfaction, and that’s what shapes their eating culture. French cuisine enjoys massive respect and admiration from food enthusiasts all over the world- many culinary schools and cuisines around the globe model their cooking methods and arts around French cuisine.
As further proof of how respected and revered French dishes are, many people travel down to France from every part of the world just for the food. The world has dramatically adopted French food culture and food, which explains the proliferation of French restaurants across the USA, Europe, Australia, and several other locations. In several parts of the world, many don’t consider restaurants high-class if they don’t serve French meals.
Did you know that over ten billion baguettes get baked and sold every year in France? Are you aware that the French make up the largest consumers of cheese in the world? It’d also interest you to know that an average of two books on food recipe gets published daily in France. These and many more go to show how food-inclined the French are.
The food-loving nature of the French is evident in the number of restaurants in the country. In Paris alone, there’re over 500 restaurants, all serving various French meals, and they keep getting better. If you’re ever looking to take a trip to the ‘food nation’ someday and want to arm yourself with relevant information surrounding French cuisine, or you’re merely curious about it, then you’re in the right place.
This article will be giving you an insight into things you need to know about French cuisines.
1. Every Region Has Its Cuisine
When it comes to food, France is a place that allows you to explore different varieties of products, when you extend your travel to locations outside Paris. As you move around, you’ll experience a significant number of cuisines, one you can’t find in any other country. Local markets make provision for their unique food specialties.
In addition to finding different cuisines in different places, you’ll also discover that every region has its methods for preparing various French dishes. It’s a world of diversity out there.
2. Breakfast Isn’t the Most Important Meal
Unlike the tradition in many parts of the world where breakfast comes as the important meal of the day, it’s a different case with France. The main meals in significant parts of the country are lunch and dinner. Breakfast doesn’t get much attention as it mostly features croissant with coffee. Lunch, on the other hand, is always more massive, featuring an appetizer and the main course. Desert isn’t a necessary part of lunch in France. People ignore it sometimes.
The most important meal of the day is dinner, and it comes not earlier than 7 pm. It usually takes longer in France than in many other countries, as it’s always a time for families to spend quality time together after a long day.
3. Lunch Breaks Are Usually Long
The French love to eat, and they take their time doing it. As far as they’re concerned, any meal is an opportunity to bring families and friends together. So, it’s normal for them to spend extra long minutes or hours at meal tables.
It’s in light of the above that many organizations approve long hours for their employees. Lunch breaks take as long as two hours when you include the time spent getting to the cafeteria or kitchen. However, for someone that cares about their job, you might want to cut down on your lunchtime to leave a good impression on your employer.
4. Wine Goes with Virtually Every Meal
Except at breakfasts, a wine goes with virtually every meal in France. There’s a widely-held belief that a meal isn’t a meal unless it’s going with wine. As the second-largest producer of wine in the world, there’s no shortage of it, and it comes highly affordable. You can order for house wine in pitchers when you visit a restaurant or buy bottles of it from grocery stores.
5. It’s Against the Law to Throw Away Spare Food
Yes, you read that right. France is a unique nation when it comes to food. The people care so much about food that there’s legislation against throwing away leftover food. Unlike what obtains in several countries of the world, supermarkets in France can’t discard unsold food products that haven’t expired. They must donate such food items to charities, to feed the poor that find it challenging to get food in their mouths.
6. It’s Not Unusual To Find a Bar and Other Side Attraction in French Restaurants
Due to the food-loving nature of the French, there are several restaurants, spread out across the country, offering several French dishes. While many of them focus majorly on providing quality food for customers, others take it a notch higher and making provisions for bars and other side attractions. It’s not unusual to find people holding paddles with best handle grip bent over a ping pong table, playing in delight in a French restaurant. These additional services are what restaurants use in driving sales and boosting profit.
Conclusion
Reading about French food culture and cuisine can be somewhat shocking, as you’d come to discover that the way they do things, food-wise, is entirely different from what’s obtainable in other climes. However, it’s still good that you get acquainted with the tradition. It’ll come in handy when you finally decide to go visiting.
