THE French cuisine : a unique concept ?

A map with the name of all the dialects (not that much spoken nowadays) which happen to be the name of different cooking styles : provençale, lorraine, basque and so on.

Such a thing simply does not exist, of course some recipes are known all over France no matter where you are : everyone has heard of cassoulet or of pot-au-feu.

Yet, every region has is own  recipe book and classics most of the time influenced by the traditional products you may find there (Mirabelle pie in Lorraine, different sorts of fish on the coasts ), by history (Henry IV and la poule-au pot) and the migration waves (Couscous in a classic now), and -not to be neglected- by the proximity of other countries, such as Germany or Italy (Pasta is eaten by the vast majority of people at least once a week).

Main principle:

• The upper part of the map traditionally cooks  with butter (usually unsalted)  and double cream.

• The lower part of the map traditionnally cooks  with oil (that is to say of course olive oil !)

In the 60's a comic movie called "la cuisine au beurre" was even made about this MAJOR culinary difference:
The story takes place after WWII, a man (from Marseilles) comes back home in the South of France after having been kept in detention by the Germans only to find his wife re-married with a man from Normandy, because she thought he had been killed. The film is very caricatural, and old-fashioned but is, IMHO, still fun to watch.







I will try to pay tribute to every region, and post recipes I know and like from all over France, but I have got to say, I am a "Provençale" myself, and I tend to use olive oil and Mediterranean veggies all the time when I cook for my family, not to mention garlic. I even "converted" my husband into it even if he is a lorrain himself, so this was not an easy task at first !

Welcome !

Welcome to my very first blog about French cooking and French table manners and habits as well !!

Having some pen pals from around the world, I realized many people had misconceptions about us ,  French , and cooking:

Some thought, for instance, that we are all chef-quality cooks, who spend every day at least 3 hours to cook a  sophisticated meal, and spend 3 hours eating it ;  others that French cooking is a sort of unique concept, the whole nation being able to prepare the same "French" dishes....

I'm just going to try to share my experience and my recipes, making it as easy as possible, for anyone to manage to cook a simple, tasty French dish, like I do every day in my kitchen for my family !

The French and Red Wine: beyond the clichés

Almost all around the world, and especially in the English-speaking countries (for having been there myself), we drag with us an image of wine (red wine especially) fanatics. Alcoholics, one would wisely say.

When I was maybe 9 or 10 I was sent by my school in a family to London to improve my English-speaking. On the first evening a party was organised to introduce me to relatives and neighbours. Because I come from the Marseilles region, the family had bought pastis ( a very strong aniseed drink to be diluted in water). They offered me some, I had the hardest time convincing them that I was not allowed nor wanted to drink that.

Looking back, they were surely a little dumb, but still, they were convinced that because I was French, I was used to drinking alcohol at that age.

On the other hand, of course, in many families, red wine (not always quality wine) is drunk daily. Yet, as a whole, the French population does not drink that much: in many restaurants, you can order a glass of red or white wine with your dish or even a little cute bottle containing only 25 cl of wine. All that without the waiter frowning upon you !

And I even know many people ( my age , older and younger) who never or very exceptionally drink alcohol, either because they are health conscious, or they just don't like it.

But as far as I can tell, what gives us the image of happy alcoholics is that alcohol drinking in fairly large amount is not socially unacceptable, as long as you are not drunk

Not a month ago, I was trying to explain to a relative of mine that his drinking of 4 pre-lunch drinks, several beers, at least 3/4 of a bottle of wine and a digstive or two every day was far too much. He simply did not believe me and was supported by several other persons sitting next to us at the table. 

 To me, his drinking is way too much, yet for some part of the population , because he is not rolling on the floor completely drunk, this is okay.



  A campaign against binge drinking broadcast on French TV : "Drinking too much : too extreme sensations"

Nowadays, when I do not work the next day, I am used too drink either a cocktail before the evening meal along with some appetizers, or a glass of wine (usually white or "rosé") that I sip during the starter and the main dish. Tell me, I'm not an alcoholic, am I ?? lol