French Food Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of French Cuisine

French Cuisine: A Summary

French cuisine refers to the cooking traditions and practices from France.
In the 14th century, Guillaume Tirel wrote Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of medieval France.
Cheese and wine are a major part of French cuisine, with many variations and regulated appellation laws.
Culinary tourism and the Guide Michelin helped to popularize French cuisine starting in the 20th century.
French cooking has contributed significantly to Western cuisines and is widely used in culinary education.
French gastronomy was added to the UNESCO list of world's "intangible cultural heritage" in 2010.
Banquets were common among the aristocracy in medieval France, with food being generally eaten by hand.
Pies were a common banquet item, with the crust serving primarily as a container.
Fruits, nuts, and root vegetables would be boiled in honey for preservation, and whale, dolphin, and porpoise were considered fish and eaten during Lent.
Haute cuisine has foundations during the 17th century with a chef named La Varenne, and François Massialot wrote Le Cuisinier roïal et bourgeois in 1691.
The French Revolution abolished the guild system, allowing anyone to produce and sell any culinary item they wished.
Georges Auguste Escoffier is commonly acknowledged as the central figure to the modernization of haute cuisine and organizing what would become the national cuisine of France.French Cuisine: From Escoffier to Nouvelle Cuisine
Auguste Escoffier revolutionized French cuisine by introducing the brigade system, where multiple cooks prepare different components of a dish.
Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire established the fundamentals of French cookery and emphasized the use of lighter fumets and garnishes that add to the flavor of the dish.
Nouvelle cuisine rebelled against the orthodoxy of Escoffier's cuisine, emphasizing freshness, lightness, and clarity of flavor.
Characteristics of nouvelle cuisine included shorter menus, the use of fresh ingredients, the rejection of excessive complication in cooking, and the use of new techniques and modern equipment.
French national cuisine often consists of three courses: hors d'œuvre or entrée, plat principal, and fromage or dessert, sometimes with a salad offered before the cheese or dessert.
French regional cuisine is characterized by extreme diversity, with each region having its own distinctive cuisine.
Paris and Île-de-France have over 9,000 restaurants and almost any cuisine can be obtained here.
Champagne, Lorraine, and Alsace are known for their sparkling wine, fruit preserves, and German-influenced cuisine, respectively.
Normandy has top-quality seafood, while Brittany is known for its lobster, crayfish, and mussels.
Burgundy and Franche-Comté are known for their wines, pike, perch, river crabs, snails, game, and cheeses.
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is home to poultry, fish, and fruits, including cherries grown for the liqueur Guignolet.
Bordeaux, Périgord, Gascony, and Basque country are known for their wine, fishing, lamb, beef, and poultry, with Gascony and Périgord being notable for their production of foie gras.Overview of French Regional Cuisines
French regional cuisines are heavily influenced by the ingredients and culture of their respective areas.
Gers department of France has poultry, while La Montagne Noire and Lacaune area offer hams and dry sausages.
White corn is planted heavily in the area both for use in fattening ducks and geese for foie gras and for the production of millas, a cornmeal porridge.
The Cahors area produces a specialty "black wine" as well as truffles and mushrooms.
This region also produces milk-fed lamb, Roquefort cheese, and Salers cattle for cheese, beef, and veal products.
Languedoc produces jambon cru and high-quality Roquefort cheese.
The Les Cévennes area offers mushrooms, chestnuts, berries, honey, lamb, game, sausages, pâtés, and goat cheeses.
The Provence and Côte d'Azur region is rich in quality citrus, vegetables, fruits, and herbs, and also produces the largest amount of olives and superb olive oil.
Martinique and Guadeloupe have Creole cuisine with a mix of French, indigenous, African, and Indian cooking styles using local ingredients.
New Caledonia includes local Kanak, Melanesian, and traditional French cooking styles.
French Polynesia includes a significant array of fruits and vegetables, seafood, and traditional Polynesian underground oven dishes.
French regional cuisines use locally grown vegetables, fungi, fruits, varieties of meat, herbs, and seasonings.
Breakfast in France is traditionally a quick meal consisting of tartines (slices) of French bread with butter and honey or jam, along with café au lait, black coffee, or tea.French Cuisine: A Guide to Meals and Beverages
Breakfast in France typically includes coffee, tea, or hot chocolate, along with bread, butter, and jam. Variations include croissants, pain au chocolat, and brioche. Some regions also serve a heartier breakfast with pâté, charcuterie, or omelets.
Lunch is a two-hour mid-day meal, often served with three courses, while dinner is a three-course meal consisting of hors d'œuvre or entrée, plat principal, and a cheese course or dessert, sometimes with a salad offered before the cheese or dessert. The meal is often accompanied by bread, wine, and mineral water.
Beverages that precede a meal are called apéritifs while those that end it are called digestifs. During the meal, plates are served with water, wine, or sometimes beer. Apéritifs can vary from region to region, including drinks like pastis, Crémant d'Alsace, and champagne.
Common French Christmas dishes include turkey with chestnuts, smoked salmon, oysters, caviar, and foie gras. The Yule log (bûche de Noël) is a very French tradition during Christmas.
The modern restaurant has its origins in French culture, with the first steps toward the modern restaurant being locations that offered restorative bouillons or restaurants. The kitchen and dining room brigades in France employ extensive staff and are commonly referred to as either the kitchen brigade or the dining room brigade system.
Positions held in the kitchen and dining room brigades in France include Chef, Sous-Chef, Commis Chef, Chef de Partie, Garde Manger, Pâtissier, and Boulanger, among others.