Eating habits in France !!!!!!^^"

One of the greatest French treasures is undoubtedly their rich cuisine. French people try to find as many occasions as possible to spend some time at the table, with their family and friends to enjoy the taste and flavor of good food and drinks. What may appear surprising is the fact that France's reputation for food is not based on long-term traditions but rather on constant change. Good eating habits are a relatively new experience for French people as little as 200 years ago about 80% of the population consisted of farmers who ate mainly bread and cereals. This way of eating had been popular in the country since ancient times. The situation started to change in the middle of the nineteenth century with the rise of the aristocracy, when food became a symbol of social position. In the times when great numbers of people suffered from the lack of food, the type of food one ate and offered to guests started to play a crucial role in establishing one's social status.

Now the situation in France as well as in many other European countries is much different. People use a lot of canned or frozen foods for weekdays but it's worth mentioning that cooking evenings or weekend meals prepared from fresh ingredients are still popular. Street markets are still popular among some of the population, where they buy fresh vegetables, meat and fish several times a week, but to be honest the majority of those products are bought at hyper or supermarkets nowadays.

French people usually start their day with a light breakfast consisting of bread or cereals, coffee, fruit or croissants. Their second meal is lunch, that is consumed between noon and 2PM and dinner is the last meal of the day. A typical meal consists of appetizers, usually raw vegetables or salads, a main dish, that is meat or fish with vegetables, pasta, rice or fries, some cheese and quite often with dessert (fruit or cake).

When we think of the drinking habits of France we immediately associate France with wine. The culture of drinking this liquid is quite strongly rooted in the nation, although wine consumption has lessened with time. However there are still people who drink wine daily. Beer has become quite a popular drink, especially among young people. There are also other popular ones, such as pastis, an aniseed-flavored beverage drunk with cold water, or cider which is quite popular in the northwest.

Restaurant cuisine in France can be clearly divided into three categories; cuisine bourgeoise, cuisine du terroir and cuisine nouvelle.

Cuisine bourgeoise includes all the classic French dishes that have become popular over the whole of France, especially among the affluent classes. These dishes focus mainly on rich, cream-based sauces and involve some complex cooking techniques that are generally associated with French cuisine. This category makes use of haute cuisine, a very complex approach to food preparation and kitchen management. This type of cooking is often served abroad as ‘French cuisine' and is viewed by many as a typical French way of eating, not really a true representation as it's very often reserved for special occasions, while everyday meals are much simpler in preparation.

Cuisine du terroir consists mostly of regional specialties, paying more attention to quality of local products as well as traditional recipes. Many dishes that are included in this category aren't considered to be typically French as in many cases regional cooking styles are quite different from the dishes served in French restaurants all over the world.

Cuisine nouvelle or nouvelle cuisine developed in the 1970s as a reaction to traditional cuisine. The characteristic features of this category are: shorter cooking times, lighter sauces and dressings and smaller portions offered in a decorative manner. Cuisine nouvelle is a modern style that is inspired by techniques and combinations from abroad (especially Asia) and has a huge impact on cooking styles around the world.

The three aforementioned trends of cooking visibly dominate French society. More and more people are starting to appreciate cuisine du terroir with its traditional and sometimes almost forgotten flavors. ‘Fusion' cuisine which makes use of a combination of international cooking styles is not so popular in France and it's difficult to find restaurants that serve this type of food. It's not easy to find vegetarian restaurants in France either as vegetarianism is not very widespread in this country.