Les Français ont la réputation d’accorder la plus grande importance à ce qu’ils ont dans leur assiette, ce qui suppose de consacrer du temps à préparer et à prendre leurs repas. Certes, notre époque moderne qui subit la mondialisation et les impératifs professionnels tend à modifier certaines habitudes bien ancrées chez les Français. Mais à quelles pratiques gastronomiques et à quels plats sont encore attachés les habitants de l’Hexagone ?
Bread, an essential part of French gastronomy
Bread accompanies every meal, even if its consumption has fallen sharply. On average, the French eat the equivalent of half a baguette a day, three times less than in the 1950s. Hand-made, the traditional baguette is still the favorite of French people, who appreciate its honeycombed crumb and incomparable crust. Who doesn’t love crossing the threshold of a bakery in the early hours of the morning and smelling the crisp breads and croissants just out of the oven?
This video can explain it more:
Every meal is a moment of conviviality
Our traditional breakfast is an important moment to get the day off to a good start, even if its composition is not the most balanced! It’s generally a fairly light meal. With too many carbohydrates and too few proteins, it’s not always enough to avoid the 11 a.m. munchies. Buttered toast, jam, baguette, pains au chocolate, croissants, hot coffee or tea form the basis of the traditional breakfast.
Three meals a day is the norm, except perhaps for children who are accustomed to having an after-school snack. What is true is that the meal is a moment of sharing and conviviality that accompanies life’s important moments. Only 20% of French people like to eat alone. Does this mean that we don’t nibble and that no one eats on the run? No, because the French are still big fans of sandwiches, as demonstrated by the 2.4 billion units consumed in France every year! Half of these are ham-and-butter sandwiches, which means that the French remain attached to their traditions, and that the hamburger doesn’t yet hold the monopoly!
Lunch more important than dinner
For the French, the main meal of the day is lunch, with dinner sometimes reduced to a secondary consideration. This makes sense, given that we still have most of the rest of the day to spend, and have more time to digest the meal. A recent survey suggested that the French take longer to eat lunch than people in other countries. Although this also means that many fall asleep at their desks, apparently.