Fun Facts about French Food You Would Love To Know

French Toast

French food has earned international reputation. You will understand why once you start exploring the top French delicacies. Here are some amazing French food facts that you must know if you are learning to craft French delicacies.

  • High priority is laid in the French culture in enjoying any meal. The French consider eating as a part of their culture rather than just any neutral act
  • France has a different cheese for every single day of a year. This is because France produces 365 kinds of cheese in a year.
  • Approximately 500,000,000 snails are eaten in France per year
  • Every year, ten billion baguettes are produced in France. A traditional baguette has just three ingredients: salt, yeast and flour. It must just weigh 250 grams.
French Cheese

Several types of french cheese

Lapin au gorgonzola

Lapin au gorgonzola

  • French people drink hot beverages from bowls. They dip pastry or bread in it.
  • Although French cuisine is associated with desserts, most of the households in France consume just squares of dark chocolate, yoghurt and fruit
  • The French enjoy eating rabbit and horse. It is normal to see these items on any menu in France
  • Wine is considered to be an intellectual part of French meal
  • The French always drink champagne in times of celebration.
  • French McDonalds serves Croque and a beer as well. The prices on the menu as twice as expensive when compared to the US menu.
  • A traditional French menu during Christmas consists of smoked salmon, raw oysters, escargots, scallops, fois gras and champagne.
  • Quatre-heure is an afternoon snack which is made of hot chocolate, brioche, croissants and crepes. This is usually opted by French children.
  • La baguette is the most popular French bread. It is a meter in length and 5 or 6cm wide. The thinner version of this bread is referred to as Ficelle and the wider version as Une Flute.
Baguette

La baguette

Croissants

Croissants

  • Bread rolls are referred to as Petits Pains in French
  • Croissants which are usually associated with the French cuisine actually originated in Austria. The crescent was considered to be the symbol of the Turks. A crescent shaped pastry was made by a French chef when the Turks were defeated by the Austrians over three hundred years ago. Upon returning to France, the chef popularized his invention there as well. Croissants are called La Viennoiserie in French which means Viennese Pastries. Vienna is the capital of Austria
Le croque monsieur

Le croque monsieur

  • Le croque monsieur is a grilled cheese or toasted ham sandwich. It is referred to as croque madame when it is served with poached or fried egg on the top.
  • The city of Dijon in Eastern France is renowned for producing mustard
  • La crepe means “he pancake”. It can be savoury or sweet and sold in stalls called les creperies.
  • The most popular way of preparing pancake in France is to drizzle it with sugar, melted butter, grated lemon and orange peel. This delicacy is called La crepe Suzette which is named after the French actress, Suzanne Reichenberg
  • Quite often, a liqueur is ignited on the top of pancake so that the flame caramelizes the sugar and consumes liqueur. To serve food by igniting it is referred to as flambe.
  • Le pain perdu means “the lost bread”. It is similar to what is referred to as French toast in English. The bread is sliced and dipped in milk and beaten egg. It is then baked or fried.
La crepe Suzette

La crepe Suzette

Article by Arts Culinaires

Food blogging is my passion. Food is much more about featuring mouth-watering delicacies. There is a story waiting to be told behind every passionately crafted delicacy. There is so much to explore and so much to share. I believe in the principle of sharing whatever that I have learnt till now.