We already mentioned cheese in one of our previous article (Let's Speak French Cheese).
But do you really think that one article is enough to talk about the French passion for this dairy delicacy? Certainly not!
A French class in France is not complete without a lesson about cheese, and a French cooking lesson is simple an insult to the concept of “cuisine” if cheese is not a part of it.
Brasserie and bouchon lyonnais: the best places for typical French food
The assertion that French cuisine is famous is an understatement. For decades, the excellency of French cooking has reached the pinnacle, thanks to gastronomy guides like the “Guide Michelin”.
French classes in France will certainly help you read those guides, and looking at the menus will make you salivate for hours.
Many cooks became worldwide stars thanks to their talent, ingenuity and spirit of avant-garde.
French people’s favorite dish is not very french… or is it?
For many years, in most polls that ask the French population about their favorite dish, one stands out among the others. The surprise is that this meal may not sound very French to most people: the famous couscous. This is not what you may have expected from your French courses in France.
Do you remember those first French courses you had ? Unlike many languages, the way to read French is not straightforward. You see the letters, you can clearly read them, but it sounds nothing like the way it should. And you accent has nothing to do with it.
Roanne, the heart of the art of French cuisine
Our school is located in Roanne, and for a very simple reason: our region can be considered (at least by us) as the living heart of French cuisine.
Not far away from Lyon, our area is the home of some of the greatest cooks and restaurants in the world, holding with pride their 3 stars in the famous “Guide Michelin”.
French and bread, a love story
If the history of bread doesn’t start with France, no one can deny the special link between this country and the magical mix of wheat, water, leaven and salt.
Buying a baguette in a french bakery, waiting in line, mixed with the French population, until the seller serves you, is a part of the French “journey”.
Desserts could be divided in two categories: regular pastries that would just give anyone a sweet note to finish a meal. Then there are French pastries. Those are not your regular donuts or cheesecakes. This is also not your regular French courses in France that will let master the pastry vocabulary.
Before you even taste them, you can listen to their names that will sound almost like sweet poetry to your ears.
It is simply impossible to refer to France without talking about wine. One of the main aspect of French culture revolves around its relation to winery, and even its landscapes in many regions of the country have been shaped by the way vineyards were settled, especially in the southern part of France. Any cooking lessons in a French language course in France would be incomplete if we did not mention wine.
If the history of wine in Gaul brings us back to the time when Etruscan and Greeks brought it to the Mediterranean coast of what is now known as France, the modern development of winery is linked to the way Christianity needed wine for its most important ceremonies. This wine was more used for liturgical reason that pleasure. But this will not last. As early as the 13th century, people started to make classifications of wine, from the best to the worst.
Have you ever heard of the “Minitel”? Probably never in a regular French language course. No, it is not a small telephone. It is one of those pieces of engineering that can only come from France, just like the Citroën DS, or … the guillotine.
Where would you learn this if not in a French language course in France? OK, maybe on Wikipedia, but that’s not the point.
Is Cyrano de Bergerac the ultimate French character?
In december 1897, a brand-new play by author Edmond de Rostand was first shown to an audience at the “Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin”.
The name of the play is also the name of its main character: Cyrano de Bergerac. Until today, he still represents the essence of what we would call “L’esprit français”.
French courses in France are not just about learning the language, but also to get a glance of what this French spirit is all about.
