1. The French see their cooking as an art in which they are the worlds leaders.

And the world

generally acknowledges their leadership.

2. Ninety-eight percent of the people believe fine cooking is a basic element of their culture.

3. As far back as the Middle Ages the French were putting their recipes down in cookbooks.
And one 19th-century French epicure, Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, noted that discovering a
new dish does infinitely more for human happiness than discovering a new star in the
universe.

4. France maintains stringent laws governing the quality of its food and wine. And whether
housewife or gourmet chef, the person preparing food takes great pains to obtain the best
and freshest ingredients. Consequently, people involved in the food chain farmers,
wholesalers, butchers, grocers, bakers take great care that their foodstuffs are the
finest available.

5. While supermarkets are plentiful, many people choose to shop in street markets or small,
family run neighborhood groceries. The shopper typically knows and trusts the owners and
can visit and converse while buying.

6. Dining is a family affair, and gathering around the table for a holiday feast or to celebrate
a family event is an important ritual. Such meals are typically family-only events to which
outsiders are not invited.

7. A formal meal may last two hours or more and consist of as many as twelve courses.

8. In general, French cuisine favors soups, sauces, tarts, pastries and crispy breads. Their
cooking is also prone to using exotic ingredients, such as: snails, eels, sea urchins, small
birds such as the woodcock and thrush, brains, pigs feet and truffles a black, fleshy
fungus that grows underground on the roots of hazelnut and oak trees.

9. The French classify their meals into several types. The elaborate, multi-course meal served
in top restaurants is known as haute cuisine. The robust meals a housewife prepares for
her family fall into cuisine bourgeoisie. Cuisine rgionale are meals prepared in the
provinces from local ingredients.

10.In addition to their large multi-course meals, the French have developed lighter foods
which they call nouvelle cuisine. These meals consist of much lighter food than is
otherwise traditional. And with an eye to the weight conscious, cuisine minceur
emphasizes fine cooking and preparation but with low-calorie ingredients.

11.A recent innovation, cuisine fusion, is stirring controversy between traditionalists and
modernists. Fusion cooking uses foreign ingredients and exotic spices and mixes odd
combinations of food, sauces and flavors into a single dish. For example, one fusion dish is
nougat of garlic.

12.Fusion is popular with chain restaurants. While traditionalists decry it, chain chefs point
out that their customers like it. One restaurant chain proudly proclaims it has put three
courses starter, main course and dessert on one plate.

13.The first meal of the day, breakfast is light. Typically, it consists of buttered bread or
croissants and caf au lait - coffee with plenty of hot milk. Hot chocolate is a favored
breakfast beverage for children.

14.Lunch, the days main meal, may include appetizers, a meat or fish dish, vegetables, a
salad, cheese and a dessert of fruit or pastry. Wine with the meal and black coffee
 afterwards are the favored beverages. The French eat lunch anywhere between noon and
2:30 p.m.

15.For dinner, which is usually eaten between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., the French like a soup
followed by a light main course with vegetables, salad, cheese and dessert. Again, wine is
the beverage of choice.

16.The French produce more than three hundred types of cheese, often named for the town
where they are made. Many are the product of elaborate processing based on centuries-
old techniques. Frequently, the physical properties of a cheeses particular region come
into play. Roquefort, for example, is stored in the limestone caves of Roquefort in central
France. The caves have just the required humidity and temperature to foster the growth of
the cheeses mold.

17.People eat bread at every meal, as do many around the world. But few eat bread as
excellent as that made by the French. Their bread has a hard, crispy crust and a soft,
chewy interior. Its made without preservatives, so people buy it fresh daily. French bread
comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, but the typical loaf, called a baguette, is about
two-feet long. Instead of slicing their bread, the French tear pieces off the loaf.

18.The importance of bread to their cuisine can be seen in the French proverb: As long as a
day without bread.

19.Desserts consist of pastries such as fruit tarts, clairs and thin pancakes with sweet
fillings.

20.France has a great many regional dishes and specialties. In the north, for example, dishes
are based on butter. In the south they emphasize olive oil.

21.Popular regional specialties include pt de foie gras a duck- or goose-liver spread from
the Alsace area and Prigord in southwestern France. Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy has
earned a reputation for its omelets. Marseille produces bouillabaisse, a fish stew.
Cassoulet, a casserole of white beans, lamb, poultry, pork and sausage is popular in
Toulouse.

22.Many regional dishes bear the name of the city or province where they originated. Salad
nioise from Nice contains olives, tomatoes, tuna and anchovies. Beef bourguignon is a
beef stew from the province of Burgundy. Quiche lorraine, a custard tart containing bacon
and cheese, was created in Lorraine province. Veal la normande, prepared with cream
and apple brandy, comes from Normandy.

23.Wine is basic to French life. Not over indulging in it, but taking a glass or two with lunch
and dinner. The French consume more wine per capita than any other people, and they
produce about 20 percent of the worlds wine. Children, too, drink wine with their meals.
Even in restaurants, those 14 an over can have wine while dining. The French consider the
quality of their wines so important to their prestige that the government inspects them.
The letters A.O.C. on a label indicates the wine has received official approval.