Food of France

French food is well known around the globe for some of its classics such as cheese, wine, champagne, but there is so much more to it. Take the 4 fun quizzes about the food of France and test your knowledge on traditional and industrial French food. You will learn a fun thing or two about the food of France and its history. French cuisine is varied. Each French regions has its own specialties and delicacies. Come with me on a food trip through France.

I love Asterix comic books by Gossiny and Uderzo. I read them all when I was a kid. And recently took a trip back in time and read the entire collection again. I realized now that these are ok for kids, but much funnier for grown-ups because you get to understand all the historical jokes and the amazing word play in them.

Asterix and the banquet ("Le tour de Gaule d"Asterix" , in reference to le tour de France) gave me the idea for this food of France quiz.

In this book, Julius Caesar has enough of being ridiculed by this indomitable Gaul tribe so he barricades them in their village. Asterix and Obelix, the heroes of these stories, decide to show Caesar that Gaul belongs to the Gauls and that they can go everywhere as they please. So they make a bet with the Romans: they will bring food specialties from around the country as proof. Read the book if you want to know how it ends!

A gratin of cheese

Tartiflette is a gratin of Reblochon cheese, potatoes, onions, cream and bacon. Artery clogging and absolutely delicious. Not difficult to make either. Tartiflette is a traditional and classic dish of Savoyard cuisine. I make tartiflette at home pretty often, but I do my own "lazy and too busy" version. The proper recipe is cooked in the oven, I do mine in a skillet. And no, there is no "light" version of the tartiflette, thanks Toutatis.

In France we use what they call "lardons": it is like bacon strips but very thick and cut in small pieces. I do not like lardons because I just cannot seem to get use to the non-crispy texture of it. Very difficult to get crispy lardons. Lardons are used in all kind of recipes from pizzas and quiches to the tartiflette.

So in my own version of the tartiflette I use bacon strips (you can find bacon strips in French's supermarket, it is just not that popular with the locals). And being Canadian, I know how our yummy maple flavored Canadian bacon is, but please not with this recipe!

Also, Reblochon is a raw milk cheese. You will not find that if you live in the USA. But you can find reblochon-like cheese. It should be close enough to make a good tartiflette. Here's one: Merlemont Reblochon

I rarely use recipes and almost always cook "au pif" as we say in French. It means that I go approximately with the ingredients. So, the recipe I give here is approximately what I use. Since Tartiflette is not pastry, there is no way you can go wrong.

Prep Time: 20

Total Time: 40

Serves: 2

Betises means foolish mistake and these candies were the result of a cooking mistake. Betises are a mint flavored boiled sweets with caramel stripes on it.

I always buy Pouret vinegars. These are high quality traditional Orleans vinegars. I love either their walnut vinegar (really good on a green salad) or their raspberry vinegar (mix it with some mayonnaise for an excellent coleslaw sauce).

A Croque-Madame

A Croque-Madame is similar to a Croque-monsieur but it has an egg on top. Parisien and jambon-beurre is the same: a baguette sandwich with ham and butter.

Kouing-Aman

Kouing-Aman is my all time favorite sweet. It's a dough with butter and more butter and sugar and more sugar and a bit more butter, slowly baked until the Kouing-Aman caramelizes. Kouing-Aman is the Breton word for butter cake.

The Kig Ha Farz are buckwheat dumpling (another Bretagne specialty). The clafoutis is a cherry cake from Limousin region, and Paris-Brest is a choux pastry with praline cream.

Kouing-Aman photo is a courtesy of bochalla under CC BY-SA 2.0

Brigitte Bardot

Brigitte Bardot is responsible for the success of this tarte Tropezienne pie. In 1955, during the shooting of "Et dieu cra la femme" movie in St-Tropez, she indulged herself with what was just called cream cakes. She liked it very much, and rumor wants that she suggest the name "tarte Tropezienne" to the chef who inventetd this cream cake. The rest is history: the movie was an international success, making Bardot a superstar, putting St-Tropez on the map. The Tropezienne tart became St-Tropez staple dessert .

Its oversized omelettes

La Mere Poulard oversized omelettes are cooked on a real fire in copper pans. Also known for decadent Brittany butter cookies

La Mere Poulard restaurant photo is a courtesy of austinevan under CC BY 2.0

Pommes de terre Sarladaise

Pommes de terre Sarladaise is an excellent dish. I always keep duck fat in the fridge, so whenever I feel like it I can do my Sarladaise potatoes express version. Gratin Dauphinois is another classic French recipe: in an oven dish, rubbed with garlic, you slowly cook thinly sliced potatoes mixed with lots of cream.

Pommes de terre Sarladaise photo is a courtesy of romytetu under CC BY-SA 2.0

A quality Dijon mustard is a must have around the kitchen. It makes a delicious salad dressing with shallots and olive oil.

Tourteau

Tourteau is a cake made with goat cheese, sugar, flour and egg yolks. You recognize it by its burned-like charcoal colored top. I love tourteau. You can have them as aperitif as well as dessert. Personally I love them at apero time with a beer.

Tourteau photo is a courtesy of donutgirl under CC BY-ND 2.0

I love Carambar, but don't buy them often because they are so good you end up eating the bag. They are much better than the jokes printed on their wrappers. These jokes are so bad, that the expression "blague carambar" (blague = joke) is now used when you make a bad joke.

THE classic breakfast item in France since around 1915. It has even survived with its very controversial image of a Senegalese man (now much more cartoonish than before). Banania is a mix of chocolate, grains, banana and honey. Mix the powder with milk. Not too healthy but better than Quik because Banania has some fiber in it. And yes, it's good. No wonder it is still around after almost 100 years.

Malabar is the French equivalent of Bazooka bubblegum

Shake it shake it! Seriously you MUST shake this Orangina pop bottle before drinking it. Orangina is the only shakable pop drink I know of.

Many online stores specialized in French gastronomy. Now you can order your favorite French food online: cheese, wine, candies, cookies and yes even bread!

One good start is Amazon, they have a large selection of French food available: Amazon and iGourmet

So how did you do? Are you a French food lover?