Why does French food taste so much better than ours?
May 16th, 2006, 03:17 PM
#1
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Why does French food taste so much better than ours?
OMG, we are back from Paris and France (went to Bayeux too) for almost two weeks and I cannot stop talking about the food over there, or thinking, dreaming about it. It is hard to explain to someone how the food over there is all the best ever: The best omelette, the best chocolate crepe, the best sandwiches, the best bread, the best vegetables and fruit in the market (they look like pictures and taste, eh, the best), the best cookes (the macaron), the best duck, the best salads, on and on. Why is this? Are we heathens in the kitchen?
And now that we are back stateside, how can we replicate their food? I mean, the experience has changed my food preferences and expectations. Problem is, I can't get their food over here...or have you all figured out how to replicate the French food over here? I am going crazy wanting to go back there so I can try and eat more of their food!!!
Anyone else suffer from this?
And now that we are back stateside, how can we replicate their food? I mean, the experience has changed my food preferences and expectations. Problem is, I can't get their food over here...or have you all figured out how to replicate the French food over here? I am going crazy wanting to go back there so I can try and eat more of their food!!!
Anyone else suffer from this?
May 16th, 2006, 03:24 PM
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I found that Nutella was sold in my local grocery store, but that's the closest I could get without going to a fine French restaurant. I am a lousy cook and there's no way I could cook that kind of food. If only they made a French-style Hamburger Helper.... 
May 16th, 2006, 03:26 PM
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LOL!
Reminds me of a comment by a young man, a dedicated Republican, who said that the best Coca-Cola he had was in France - not that he "could say anything positive about the French." Obviously, he has a lot to overcome before he can truly enjoy French food!
French food tastes good maybe it's because the French don't doctor their food with additives, preservatives, etc. Pick their produce when it ripens. American food is bred to look good, not to taste good. Oh yes, when you sit down at a restaurant in France, you can stay the entire night and no one rushes you off. Just MHO.
Reminds me of a comment by a young man, a dedicated Republican, who said that the best Coca-Cola he had was in France - not that he "could say anything positive about the French." Obviously, he has a lot to overcome before he can truly enjoy French food!
French food tastes good maybe it's because the French don't doctor their food with additives, preservatives, etc. Pick their produce when it ripens. American food is bred to look good, not to taste good. Oh yes, when you sit down at a restaurant in France, you can stay the entire night and no one rushes you off. Just MHO.
May 16th, 2006, 03:29 PM
#4
Welcome home Heavens! Glad to hear you had a wonderful trip. You know I was cheering you on all the way.
I believe much of it is because they work with very very fresh, local ingredients, and do things by hand. Not so many things are "processed" as happens with way too much food imo in the U.S. Europe is "organic" without a special label and price tag on it.
I can best replicate by home-cooking with ingredients in season from local farmers markets or health food stores.
As for the baked goods and crepes, I would never even try but frequent several excellent French-style bakeries and restaurants in my city.
I believe much of it is because they work with very very fresh, local ingredients, and do things by hand. Not so many things are "processed" as happens with way too much food imo in the U.S. Europe is "organic" without a special label and price tag on it.
I can best replicate by home-cooking with ingredients in season from local farmers markets or health food stores.
As for the baked goods and crepes, I would never even try but frequent several excellent French-style bakeries and restaurants in my city.
May 16th, 2006, 03:33 PM
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You just need to make mental notes of all places in your city... for example, Trader Joe has European cakes and chocolates. Smart & Final has Dutch cheese. Bargain Bank has French wines. Russian stores sell herring from Norway.
Just don't think that Swiss cheese made in Switzerland
Look for imported kinds.
Check you local phone book, yellow pages, for exotic food places.
Just don't think that Swiss cheese made in Switzerland
Look for imported kinds. Check you local phone book, yellow pages, for exotic food places.
May 16th, 2006, 04:01 PM
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All you need is Julia Childs's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." That set my feet on the right path years ago, and I learned that it really is possible to replicate French food here. It takes time but is well worth the effort.
May 16th, 2006, 04:10 PM
#9
ingredients, ingredients!, The freshest herbs, the best virgin olive oil, vinegar you can afford. The fish as fresh as possible, clear eyes(not milky)
firm gills and no fish smell, it should smell almost sweet. The meat should not have much fat throughout the grain and again, a clean smell. Good unsalted butter, fresh vegetables during market days to support the farmers as well as the taste you want, A glass(and more_ of wine and you will never disappoint a guest.
firm gills and no fish smell, it should smell almost sweet. The meat should not have much fat throughout the grain and again, a clean smell. Good unsalted butter, fresh vegetables during market days to support the farmers as well as the taste you want, A glass(and more_ of wine and you will never disappoint a guest.
May 16th, 2006, 04:23 PM
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As everyone has said the key is real fresh ingredients. That means getting fish off the boat - not frozen, and eating fruit and veggies that are local and fresh - not picked early and trained across the country or boated up from SA.
Lots of places you can get this if you look for the best suppliers - but you have to accept that there are some things you can;t really get - like fresh ocean fish in the middle of Kansas.
And you have to eat by the seasons - recognizing really good strawberries just aren;t available most of the year (I can;t abide those gargantuan cardboard ones from California).
Also - it means you have to do like the europeans and shop for fresh food every day - not petrified stuff once a week.
Lots of places you can get this if you look for the best suppliers - but you have to accept that there are some things you can;t really get - like fresh ocean fish in the middle of Kansas.
And you have to eat by the seasons - recognizing really good strawberries just aren;t available most of the year (I can;t abide those gargantuan cardboard ones from California).
Also - it means you have to do like the europeans and shop for fresh food every day - not petrified stuff once a week.
May 16th, 2006, 04:48 PM
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Probably the CocaCola in France tasted better then the Coke in the US because no doubt the Coke in France is made with sugar versus High Fructose Corn Syrup that we have in the US. I say that without knowing..but the Coke in Italy..at least up to a couple of years ago..is made with sugar as our Coke many decades ago was.
Absolutely fresh products does make such a difference. I always get annoyed at anti-American posts but I must admit that I really don't have much of an appetite for a lot of the food that is available in the US for all of the reasons that other have posted. Here I eat to live..I sure don't live to eat except with a few exceptions.
Absolutely fresh products does make such a difference. I always get annoyed at anti-American posts but I must admit that I really don't have much of an appetite for a lot of the food that is available in the US for all of the reasons that other have posted. Here I eat to live..I sure don't live to eat except with a few exceptions.
May 16th, 2006, 04:54 PM
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As others have said, it's about FRESH ingredients. But more than that, my BF, who is a foodie and has written books about cooking and nutrition, told me that it's more than just fresh igredients--they haven't been adding pestisides and insecticides to their soil for years, so they have BETTER soil, which produces better foods. And IMHO, the atmosphere just might lend to the total experience as well.
May 16th, 2006, 05:21 PM
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To those who think that the French have not been using pesticides, I suggest that they rent out Farrebique and Biquefarre, one which shows the old (1946) rural farm and the other one the same farm 20 years later. If the food is not labeled organic, do not assume any purity. But the varieties are different: there are at least 3 or four different kinds of strawberries to be found in French markets, and at most two at the farmer's market in SF ( you could not get much closer to the production area).
May 16th, 2006, 05:46 PM
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THE key is, IMO, knowing what to DO with all those "freshest ingredients" which aren't exactly exclusive to France and neither are foods without additives, etc.
Although I suppose you could say that even BAD French cuisine is better than many other "good" ones!
Although I suppose you could say that even BAD French cuisine is better than many other "good" ones!
May 16th, 2006, 06:02 PM
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You know (well actually you don't bc I have not written my trip report yet. but plan to very soon), but anyway, we did not make any reservations at three star restaurants. We just happened onto various places that we wound up loving.
Even the simple sandwich on the street is like something I have never tasted. The simplest of ingredients, not overloaded with condiments. In fact the day my DH and I were on Rue de Buci finding the perfect sandwich to take to the Luxemburg Gardens for a picnic, there wasn't a bottle of mustard to be found. My sandwich was a simple sliced pork tenderlion on buttered french type bread with sliced boiled potatoes and fresh cracked pepper. How simple is that? My DH picked a hot dog and, you guessed it, the best hot dog either one of us had ever had. Very different from ours. On awesome bread and topped with a little melted cheese.
But these weren't expensive meals in chi chi restaurants. These were just little cafes, boulangeries. Our perfect omelette was from Cafe Flore. But the food over there, even the most simple pain aux raisin (my favorite and I hope not to find it here or I will weigh 300 pounds by next year) is exquisite. They have raised the bar for me. My husband, partner in crime, agrees with me. Btw, as you Fodorites predicted, we did not gain but two pounds on the trip, due to average walking distance in Paris of 7 miles a day...
Even the simple sandwich on the street is like something I have never tasted. The simplest of ingredients, not overloaded with condiments. In fact the day my DH and I were on Rue de Buci finding the perfect sandwich to take to the Luxemburg Gardens for a picnic, there wasn't a bottle of mustard to be found. My sandwich was a simple sliced pork tenderlion on buttered french type bread with sliced boiled potatoes and fresh cracked pepper. How simple is that? My DH picked a hot dog and, you guessed it, the best hot dog either one of us had ever had. Very different from ours. On awesome bread and topped with a little melted cheese.
But these weren't expensive meals in chi chi restaurants. These were just little cafes, boulangeries. Our perfect omelette was from Cafe Flore. But the food over there, even the most simple pain aux raisin (my favorite and I hope not to find it here or I will weigh 300 pounds by next year) is exquisite. They have raised the bar for me. My husband, partner in crime, agrees with me. Btw, as you Fodorites predicted, we did not gain but two pounds on the trip, due to average walking distance in Paris of 7 miles a day...
May 16th, 2006, 06:19 PM
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It might also be related to the old self-fulfilling prophesy thing--we hear that French food is great, we expect it to be great, everyone says it is great, so it's great.
Or it could be--"Everyone says French food is great. If I don't gush on and on about how every morsel of food in France is absolutely the best ever, anywhere, then people will think I have poor taste. And not only does it taste better than the trash served in the rest of the world, it even looks better. Oh, God now I can't eat anything anywhere else in the world--I will starve unless I emigrate to France!"
Or it could be--"Everyone says French food is great. If I don't gush on and on about how every morsel of food in France is absolutely the best ever, anywhere, then people will think I have poor taste. And not only does it taste better than the trash served in the rest of the world, it even looks better. Oh, God now I can't eat anything anywhere else in the world--I will starve unless I emigrate to France!"
