Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Both are still a delicacy in France, but they're a lot less common than they once
were (ironically, you'll probably only find them in smarter restaurants nowadays).
Contrary to popular belief, the French don't simply eat any old snail they find on
the garden path - the only one you'll find on menus is the
escargot de Bourgogne
(Burgundy snail, also known as the edible snail). They are most often eaten in a
rich sauce of butter, parsley and garlic. This once-common snail has been all but
obliterated as a wild species in France due to pesticides, and the vast majority of
escargots
now have to be imported from Turkey, Greece and Eastern Europe.
Similarly,
cuisses de grenouille
usually come from edible frogs (also known as the
green frog or common water frog), which are specially reared on frog farms. The
most common way to serve them is fried in breadcrumbs; the taste is said to be
similar to chicken.
Cakes & Sweet Treats
Like many European nations, the French have a terrible sweet tooth. In any boulan-
gerie or patisserie you'll be faced with an irresistible assortment of pastries, cakes
and sweet treats, including the classics: the
croissant
(butter pastry),
pain au
chocolat
(butter pastry with dark chocolate in the middle) and
éclair
(which comes in
chocolate and coffee varieties). Other treats to look out for in bakeries are
macar-
ons
(macaroons),
meringues
(meringues),
sablés
(shortbread biscuits) and
tartes
aux fruits
(fruit tarts).
Dessert is equally indulgent. Common ones include
tarte tatin
(upside-down
apple cake),
fine tarte aux pommes
(apple tart, usually served with cream) and vari-
ous types of
gâteaux
(cakes) and
glaces
(ice creams, served by the
boule
, or
scoop).
Another common dessert is the
crêpe
, a thin pancake served with a sweet filling
of jam, chocolate or ice-cream. Crêpes can also be eaten with savoury fillings (es-
pecially in Brittany).
Galettes
are similar to
crêpes
but made with buckwheat flour.
Wine & Other Drinks
The French may no longer start the day with a shot of red wine to
tuer le ver
(kill the
worm), but France still ranks in the world's top 10 boozing states. Wine, predictably,
is the nation's favourite tipple, with seven key areas producing the vast majority of
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