North Americans and French cooking

[polyn1708]

Hello everyone !

I am a French student, and within the framework of a school course, I am doing a research project about "North Americans and French cooking".

I would like to know :

1) According to you, what is the most typical French food product ?

2) If a French grocery was to open in your town, what would you like to find in there ?

3) What's your nationality ?

I really thank you in advance for your answers, it would help me a lot
Any other comments about your vision of French food is also welcome !

 

[4meandthem]

1.Croque Monseur as a dish and cheese as a single item.Just guessing.

2.Wine,cheese,charcuterie,bread.

3.Scottish

I assume it is about the same as California fresh anymore but with more offal avaialable and more butter involved.Again just guessing.

 

[bethzaring]

1. cheese

2. tinned seville oranges

3. 10th generation American

 

[Andy M.]

Cheese

Quality French foods including cheeses, dried/cured meats

American

 

[ChefJune]

1. Do you mean dish, or a product you would buy at a marche? And then, from which region? Most representative dish might be Boeuf Bourguignon, or it might be Choucroute, or it might be Bouillabaisse, or it might be Cassoulet. Depends upon where in France, non?
2. Tinned Escargots, French butter (other than President), Dubernet foie gras and other products, French confitures, and other very hard to find French products.

3. I'm a "mutt." (Mom's side - 14th generation American; Dad's side - 2nd generation from the Warsaw ghetto).

I've been teaching French cooking and traveling in France for the past 25 years, so maybe my answers are not too representative.

 

[buckytom]

i apologize in advance for my answers. but i can't help myself...

1. fries

2, the french army (or i could have gone with carla sarkozy)

3. 'merican

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Wine

Wine and cheese

Mutt with a heavy dose of Eastern European

 

[luvs]

eh, i oft refuse 2 bolster another's homework, though i'm being generous tonite, so here~

-escargot
-we could find most foods here, already, so...... -& i'm American; & genetically, many nationalities, there, from German 2 Native American

 

[velochic]

1. Individual items: breads, cheeses, wines, sauces. Dishes: steak au poivre, with fries in a typical brasserie; sandwiches (baguette, meat, cheese) on the street; and in the restaurant, probably moules-frites, a meat course (roasted), cheese/salad, and light fruit dessert.

2. Hard to answer because I've spent a lot of time in France and have grocery shopped quite a bit, so I know what to expect. French version of most American products with some changes: chips with different flavors (like paprika), easy-to-find creme fraiche (and a choice of those), different canned vegetables, a butcher and a cheese monger in the store, french beverages (not just wine, but different flavors of soda pop), prepared french hors d'oeuvres that we'd have to prepare ourselves in the US, jarred sauces that we don't know of in the US, tinned fish that you can't get here easily, UHT milk and creams... I guess that's enough for now.

3. My maternal grandparents are French (from the boat, one from northern France, the other from southern France... in fact there is a Paris subway stop that is the same name as my mother's family) and on my father's side, several generations American from English roots... so French and English (and yes, the two sides never got along )

 

[urmaniac13]

1 & 2 identical, rich variety of cheeses, wine, and wonderful authentic bakery products--croissants, cakes and pastries (but if I see anything intriguing and new I would love to try!)

3 naturalized American and have been living in Rome Italy for 7,5 years and counting

 

[Chef Dave]

1) According to you, what is the most typical French food product ?

French bread ... all of the supermarkets seem to carry French bread.

2) If a French grocery was to open in your town, what would you like to find in there ?

Since I live in a rural town in southern Arizona, I don't think this would ever happen. This is a meat and potatoes or beans and tortillas sort of town.

However ... if a French grocery were to open, I could go for some foie gras, duck confit, truffles, and truffle oil. For that matter, I really like French pates. Duck pate, goose mousse, country style ... it's all delicious.

3) What's your nationality ?

Are you asking about ethnicity or citizenship? I'm an American citizen.

I really thank you in advance for your answers, it would help me a lot
Any other comments about your vision of French food is also welcome !

Many years ago, I met a French chef who had come to the United States in the hopes of starting a French restaurant. He told me that there was no reason for French food to be so expensive. He wanted to open an affordable French restaurant for the "common man."

He opened his restaurant and nearly went broke. The customers just weren't there. He varied his menu. He offered specials. In a final act of desperation, he asked his diners what they thought of his establishment.

The diners agreed that the food was fabulous but several of them suggested that the food was underpriced.

Chef Andre scoffed at the notion that his food was underpriced. He was proud that his restaurant was selling affordable French food ... but with nothing to lose, he tried raising his prices ... and something amazing happened. His higher prices attracted customers.

People who had been put off by the affordable menu (because cheap French food couldn't possibly be very good) now flocked to the restaurant. Today, it's hard to get into this place without a reservation and reservations need to be made weeks in advance.

The moral of this story is that perception in the food service industry is everything.

People go to burger joints expecting juicy flame grilled burgers. They go to a Chinese restaurant and expect to see fried rice and chow mein on the menu. Customers at a French restaurant expect high prices and fine dining.

Are all French restaurants fine dining? Of course not ... but as Chef Andre found out, perception is everything.

 

[CMM]

1. Croissants? Pastries?
1. Since I am new to French Cooking - I would love to find a shop with cheeses and someone to explain them, fresh herbs, breads or authentic ingredients for making :0)
3. French/Indian on one side - English/mixed veggie on the other

 

[babetoo]

cheese and wine, at reasonable prices.
i am an american

 

[taxlady]

Hello everyone !

I am a French student, and within the framework of a school course, I am doing a research project about "North Americans and French cooking".

I would like to know :

1) According to you, what is the most typical French food product ?

French bread? Dijon mustard? Wine?

2) If a French grocery was to open in your town, what would you like to find in there ?

Dijon mustard powder, a helpful grocer. Real whipping cream, as opposed to this 35% stuff, full of guar gum/and or carageen and weird chemicals that we get here.

I can probably get most French ingredients locally. We have excellent local baguettes, French bread, croisssants, pâtés, etc. here.

3) What's your nationality ?

I live in Greater Montréal, Québec, Canada. My parents were Scandinavian and I lived in Denmark.

I really thank you in advance for your answers, it would help me a lot
Any other comments about your vision of French food is also welcome !

 

[Selkie]

I would like to know :

1) According to you, what is the most typical French food product ?

2) If a French grocery was to open in your town, what would you like to find in there ?

3) What's your nationality ?

I really thank you in advance for your answers, it would help me a lot
Any other comments about your vision of French food is also welcome !

1. Cream... creme fraiche.

2. Very dry white wine, large selection of cheeses, baguettes.

3. Scottish-French (American).