A Taste of French Cuisine

26
JohnM
Wednesday, 12 June, 2013 - 15:04

I lived in France for three months in a small city called Montbliard. My time there
wasn't long, and it wasn't very exciting, but I tried to make the most of it by
exploring as much French culture as possible...particularly, la cuisine franaise. The
French love their food, there's no doubt about it. They have a real passion for both
cooking and tasting and this passion comes in various forms.

Id say that something unique about France is its love for bread, cakes and pastries.
Bakeries specialised in cakes (ptisseries), normally merged with regular bakers
shops (boulangeries), are found all over the country. Every morning, for example,
the Montbliard locals would walk to and from their favourite bakers shop with a
paper bag of warm baguettes, just made and ready to eat. I soon adopted this
routine and whether I wanted some fresh bread for soup or I felt like something
sweet, it didnt take me much effort to find the nearest ptisserie, full of delicious
cakes and treats my favourites being croissants, pains au chocolat and tartes aux
fraises. But there were also various sandwiches, prepared baguettes and even hot
foods like paninis, croque-monsieurs and quiche.

Its very easy to find sweet treats in France. Sometimes Id order a chocolate crepe
with a coffee; in fact, I lived very close to a crperie that offered a variety of crepes,
both sweet and savoury, for an actual meal or just for desert. But I always chose the
crpe au nutella which was really good.

Although there werent many, I managed to find a few good restaurants in

Montbliard. One night, my friends and I went to La Cocotte, where I ordered a
steak, with chips and a large green salad. I had asked for my steak to be rare
(saignant), since I was in France, and when it arrivedwell, who needs ketchup
when you have blood? The steak was very red more or less raw! But I enjoyed it.
Another night, we went to a very typical French restaurant to try some snails
(escargots) but I still cant decide if I liked them or not. They're unusual. But they
came in a really nice sauce.

After three months in Montbliard, I only really experienced a small part of la cuisine
franais. But I really liked it even if it was quite expensive. And now that Im back
in Scotland, I'll definitely miss the occasional crpe au nutella and Im probably
more likely to take my steaks slightly rare now...

Nonetheless, I doubt Ill be hunting for snails in the garden and cooking them for
dinner.