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Regarding French gastronomy, and specially comparing to the Spanish which I know the most about, I heard a French acquaintance saying that it's pretty bimodal,

by jxub 8y ago

Regarding French gastronomy, and specially comparing to the Spanish which I know the most about, I heard a French acquaintance saying that it's pretty bimodal, with lots of so-so places to eat and many amazing but expensive spots, leaving little place for the middle of the road reasonably good and inexpensive places. Could someone confirm that?

scrollaway 8y ago
I'm biased because I'm french :) But french food, like every other food, is average in most places. There's certain things we do really well, which somehow nobody else does. Bread for example. If you're into meat, there's excellent paté both in the north (Bretagne) and south (Corsica and PACA), and some of the world's finest beef in central france (Limousin). Corsica also has amazing Saucisson. We also do really good pastries. One French specialty is called the Calisson, you can find loads of it in/near Aix-en-Provence (Calissons d'Aix). These things are all very commonplace and not expensive if you live there. And as long as you stay out of big restaurant chains, fast food, etc it's very easy to eat healthy and delicious food in France. I miss my country.
- blattimwind 8y ago
  > Bread for example. I must disagree on this one. I find German bread on average better than what I managed to get over in France. Although only very, very few bakeries do their own bread and bread rolls from scratch these days, the quality is quite good and even across bakeries. Between that and Thüringer Mett I'm practically certain I wouldn't move anywhere I can't get both of these in the morning (1st stop: butcher, 2nd stop: bakery).
  - scrollaway 8y ago
    French bread has a lot more varieties to it in general -- if there's a kind of bread you like, you might find it in France under a different name (eg Campagnard). What kind of german bread are you thinking about? Most of the german rye breads are absolutely appalling to my palate. But you know what they say about taste :)
    - blattimwind 8y ago
      When it comes to loafs of bread, my favourite is proper grey bread (which seems to be a lot less popular in the east and is somehow different, less sour in the south), a mixture between white and rye bread. For bread rolls, I usually go with plain white or white with poppy or white with white-sesame. I'm a simple man.
      - chopin 8y ago
        Unfortunately it has become very hard to buy a good sour-dough bread in Germany, even in rural areas. I resorted to baking my own which is far superior to the ones one can commonly buy. Strangely, even small bakeries (outside super-markets) tend to make poor industrial-like bread (with some exemptions).
- bengalister 8y ago
  And some very good cheese like the Beaufort or Comté (smellier than the cheddar but not that much) and many more varieties than you can eat as a starter, before dessert or as a main course like the cheese fondue or raclette. And wine, etc. the list goes on. Sadly, nowadays, many of the restaurants in the 10 to 30 Euros a meal price range just serve dishes coming from big industrial food suppliers like Metro. There are fewer home-made dishes being served in restaurants in France, especially in touristic areas. Also many of the "boulangeries" just bake industrial bread and sell patisseries, viennoiseries coming from industrial suppliers.

by jxub 8y ago

scrollaway 8y ago

I'm biased because I'm french :) But french food, like every other food, is average in most places. There's certain things we do really well, which somehow nobody else does. Bread for example. If you're into meat, there's excellent paté both in the north (Bretagne) and south (Corsica and PACA), and some of the world's finest beef in central france (Limousin). Corsica also has amazing Saucisson. We also do really good pastries. One French specialty is called the Calisson, you can find loads of it in/near Aix-en-Provence (Calissons d'Aix). These things are all very commonplace and not expensive if you live there. And as long as you stay out of big restaurant chains, fast food, etc it's very easy to eat healthy and delicious food in France. I miss my country.

blattimwind 8y ago
> Bread for example. I must disagree on this one. I find German bread on average better than what I managed to get over in France. Although only very, very few bakeries do their own bread and bread rolls from scratch these days, the quality is quite good and even across bakeries. Between that and Thüringer Mett I'm practically certain I wouldn't move anywhere I can't get both of these in the morning (1st stop: butcher, 2nd stop: bakery).
- scrollaway 8y ago
  French bread has a lot more varieties to it in general -- if there's a kind of bread you like, you might find it in France under a different name (eg Campagnard). What kind of german bread are you thinking about? Most of the german rye breads are absolutely appalling to my palate. But you know what they say about taste :)
  - blattimwind 8y ago
    When it comes to loafs of bread, my favourite is proper grey bread (which seems to be a lot less popular in the east and is somehow different, less sour in the south), a mixture between white and rye bread. For bread rolls, I usually go with plain white or white with poppy or white with white-sesame. I'm a simple man.
    - chopin 8y ago
      Unfortunately it has become very hard to buy a good sour-dough bread in Germany, even in rural areas. I resorted to baking my own which is far superior to the ones one can commonly buy. Strangely, even small bakeries (outside super-markets) tend to make poor industrial-like bread (with some exemptions).
bengalister 8y ago
And some very good cheese like the Beaufort or Comté (smellier than the cheddar but not that much) and many more varieties than you can eat as a starter, before dessert or as a main course like the cheese fondue or raclette. And wine, etc. the list goes on. Sadly, nowadays, many of the restaurants in the 10 to 30 Euros a meal price range just serve dishes coming from big industrial food suppliers like Metro. There are fewer home-made dishes being served in restaurants in France, especially in touristic areas. Also many of the "boulangeries" just bake industrial bread and sell patisseries, viennoiseries coming from industrial suppliers.