Fun Facts About French Cuisine

Which kind of meals and stories would we think about when talking about French cuisine? The majority of European people may be used to the dishes from their border neighbors compared to Thais that are more familiar with Italian cuisine.

In fact, French food has been accepted by food lovers around the world as one of the most valuable and unique meals! We have already distinguished these two identities in the previous article “French food vs Italian food”. From now on, we will focus only on French cuisine and its interesting eating culture that will help you acknowledge these amazing dishes just like the other famous European ones.

Must-Have Ingredients

Here are the top essential ingredients that you will find in any French kitchen including our Cava bien marché’s!

When cooking traditional French food, you need these basic ingredients like butter, olive oil, Dijon mustard, Creme Fraiche (fresh heavy cream), French bread, truffles, and Herbes de Provence (dried and roasted herbs often contain savory, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, and oregano). The combination of these elements provides a complex depth of flavor which will make your French meals highly impressive.

Extra-Long Meals

There are up to 7 courses of a formal French meal. Firstly l’aperitif (light snacks with a small drink of alcoholic liquor), l’entrée (a start of the meal or appetizers), then fish, main course, salad, cheese, and end with dessert which wine is the classic choice of beverage rather than drinking water.

So, a traditional French meal may last for a few hours as well as the usual 3-course meal. Since people take mealtimes seriously, it is considered a French way for family and friends to talk, create memories, and enjoy their time with a good-quality meal together.

Popular Meats

Pork is the most commonly eaten meat in France, followed by poultry, beef, sheep and goat meat, and seafood which are quite general. Now, some people may consider it weird that the French also enjoy horse meat, frog legs, rabbits, and snails!

Even though horses were popular meat for a long time, there are fewer horse butchers in France nowadays because of the increasing number of non-eaters due to ethical reasons and expensive prices.

Snails Eating

A dish consisting of escargots or cooked land snails is one of French unique and beloved dishes! They are usually served as appetizers like classic escargots in puff pastry and many more recipes. Because escargots are common in the region, about 500 million of them are consumed in France every year, especially on special occasions like Christmas festival.

Now, you may wonder what it tastes like. Escargot simply takes on the taste of sauce or the combination that it comes with, usually buttery, creamy, and herbs-like taste. Plus, escargots give the good nutritional value of protein with a tiny amount of fat.

Blue Cheese

Roquefort or classic blue cheese is one of the greatest and oldest cheeses in France. It is the world’s well-known type of cheese from its pungent smell with the blue-green veins all over the piece which originates from the village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, France.

How surprising that this smelly blue cheese tastes amazing with many kinds of wines, especially the sweet wines! So, it is common to see blue cheese in any French cheese course that serves a variety of cheeses along with nuts, dried fruits, baguette bread, and wine to create a nice mix of textures and flavors.

No Spicy Dishes

There is not much spicy French food, but they are rather flavorful from the heavy use of high-quality ingredients like natural herbs and spices. French cuisine often involves buttery and creamy taste, sauces, and also using wine in their cooking with delicate cooking techniques and presentation that many people see as the classic and elegant dishes.

French Food And Wine Pairing

To arouse pleasure in a dining experience, the perfect wine pairing is important which can affect the overall balance and flavors of food. It is simply about the intensity of meat choice, we choose light, spicy-sweet white wine to go with seafood, and poultry dishes while the stronger red wine works best with meat and steak with a heavy sauce.

However, you do not need to be strict since people have their own preferences. At Cava bien marché, we offer several types of wines from French and around the globe to enhance the special meal of your choice.