Best Cuisine / Food in France

[portermisch]

I was just wondering what cuisines are there in France. What can you suggest I order especially if I'm a tourist?

[Bevdeforges]

Hi and welcome.

Depends on where you will be in France and when you will be here. With a bit more information perhaps we can guide you.
Cheers,
Bev

[Matou]

Well, I think that what matters much is not the kind of cuisine but how and by whom it is made... Depending on where you will go as a tourist I suggest you to try to get informations from the locals. Every one has his/her best restaurants list... ...and will probably be very happy to share it if asked nicely. If you want some info re Paris and read some French you can refer to the "Pariscope" a weekly magasine (0.4 €) published every wednesday and available in any street newspaper booth. It provides a lot of useful info for the Paris area (restaurants, bars, cinema, theatre, etc)...

[whitelilac]

Hello,

In general they say Lyon is the gastronomic point of France (the best chefs/restaurants can be found there); however, France is very diverse and each region has its own special treats that others don't have.

For example I lived in Charente and they are famous for their beef stews and their pineau (a type of alcoholic drink which is not aged unlike the wine).

There is the canneles bordelais, which originated in Bordeaux, and if you eat it in Paris its not quite the same, maybe its a psychological thing. Same foes for the macarons that you will probably enjoy better at the house of its creator in Paris Mr Herme.

Where are you in France? I am sure there is a variety things to choose from there.
However me personally as a non French, I find some specialties not to my taste. Like the froie gras, that they offered me to eat from New Years.

I read about it before hand on the internet, basically it a forced fed duck liver fat!!!So I passed that one at the table.

But other things I like, I love croissants! Oysters are ok too to try one time, but I prefer other foods.

Originally Posted by portermisch

I was just wondering what cuisines are there in France. What can you suggest I order especially if I'm a tourist?

[frogblogger]

Stereotyping greatly, the Savoie and Alsace regions aren't my favourites, being more suitable for those people whose digestive systems can handle vast quantities of cheese and/or stodge. Savoie/Haute Savoie being cold for a good part of the year, and the Alsace being both pretty cold and a bit too close to Germany, I suppose it's understandable. Not my thing though.

I used to love the cooking in the Burgundy/Lyonnais regions, but again if you have a sensitive stomach, it can be a bit rich and indigestible.

My personal favourite is Provence, with the less rich/heavy cuisine adapted to the hotter climate.

[LPPBS]

Regarding the food in France you'll have many choice.

You can have a typical food which differs from which region you'll be in.

For example if you're in the south east, you'll be more likely to have some fish plate like some boullaibaisse. If you go to south west, you will bor likely to have some typical cassoulet, or some confit de canard.

If you go to a region next to strasbourg, you can have the typical choucroute and of course by going around you should have a taste of all the different cheese.

Enjoy

[richardc]

For food recommendations, as everyone else in this thread has hinted, it really depends on what parts of France you visit - EVERY region has something different worth trying.

Particularly if you're travelling outside Paris, your host will enthusiastically advise you on the "spécialités régionales", and recommend the best restaurant/market to get it from. If you ask, waiters will always inform you about any local specialties on the menu too.

In my experience most restaurants generally offer something local, unless its very obviously a specialist Italian/Chinese/Thai/Alsatian place. Be adventurous, try something new!

[SuzieN]

Restaurant in south of France are better for local stuff

[Suzele]

Most people think Alsace is all sauerkraut and sausage, but it's not...

I will say that Alsace has the most starred restaurants in France after the Paris region...

So you can do the "peasant food" thing in Alsace or the gourmet thing in Alsace.

I don't know much about the other regional specialties in France...yet...

Just to say, that many Vietnamese/Indian/Cambodian/Thai/Chinese cuisine restaurants are adapted to the local tastes and are mostly very poor.

Some are now moving more up market and becoming more authentic. So, unless you get good reports Asian food is best eaten in the big cities.

Peter