Thursday, November 10, 2011

What does France really eat?


Now have a look at this: Doesn't the dish on the cover of this magazine look just like a nice, juicy pork roast? I think it does and was more than surprised when I saw the headline "France's best loved dishes". But knowing that France is also the country where McDonalds has the highest turnover outside of the US I thought anything is possible and was intrigued. But no, pork it is not, it is duck breast and "Vie Pratique Gourmand", a very popular cooking mag you buy at supermarket checkouts had asked it's readers to name their top forty favorite dishes. Duck Breast was voted most popular dish, followed by Moules Frites and - Number Three: Couscous!
Classic dishes such as Lapin à la Moutarde - rabbit in mustard sauce (20), Cassoulet (32) or Bouillabaisse (37) were beat by BBQ'd salmon (11), Spaghetti Bolognaise (17) and Pizza (18). Interesting, isn't it?
And what is your favorite dish? Mine seems to be an alltime favorite: Steak Frites, the more saignant, the better! And I am not the only one -  Steak Frites made it to number 6 on the "Vie Pratique Gourmand" ranking.

9 comments:

  1. I would love to see the full list, fascinating. I think our favourite dish is possibly cassoulet, I make it quite often, but then maybe I am wrong, perhaps we just love a simple dish like oysters, yum yum. Not sure which way they would go on our list as 1 and 2. Diane

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  2. Interesting poll, Barbara. Especially for France. I have such a great love for all foods....but I really do love Moules Frites and grilled Porterhouse steak. If I were to pick my "last meal" the menu would certainly include ice cream!!!

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  3. I think I've got to agree with all those other people - duck breast makes me a very happy man. On the other hand, if I walk past a restaurant serving steak frites then I'm likely to change my mind, if only temporarily.

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  4. I am not surprised that French love their duck meat.:)

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  5. I have two favorites. Cassoulet and steak frites. But I love Beef Bourguignon too. Interesting poll.

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  6. Diane - happy to see you are back!
    Susan - do I wish we could get Porterhouse here...
    Phil - funny you'd say that I also only ever eat fries in a restaurant, never make them at home.
    Dzoli and Penny - thanks for your nice comments!

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  7. Barbara, I definitely love duck breast cooked medium rare with all kinds of sauces, especially fruity but steak frites and cassoulet would probably rank higher for me. Have a great weekend.

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  8. I never would have guessed these three!

    I enjoyed your posts about Istambul tremendously. What a feast for the eyes for us, what a treat it must have been for you!

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  9. Well I guess cous-cous is for the strong Arab community, moules and duck breast are also my French favourites

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