Overview of French food culture French food pays attention to color, smell and taste, and needs people to mobilize a variety of senses-vision, smell and taste, so French food is undoubtedly a kind of enjoyable food. Usually, an authentic French dish consists of many elements, which are the constituent cultures of French food culture.
The first is the culture of dishes, paying attention to seasoning collocation and simple menu. The French have artistic pursuits in ingredients, cooking, collocation, source of raw materials and delicacy of cooking.
There are more than ten kinds of spices commonly used in French cuisine, such as thyme, rosemary, laurel, parsley, tarragon, nutmeg, saffron and clove bud. Among them, pepper is the most common French dish, and it is used in almost every dish. There are hundreds of sauces, which not only pay attention to the difference of taste, but also comprehensively consider the difference of color, giving people a beautiful enjoyment.
In contrast, the menu of French food is very simple. Only 10 main course is beautifully made and delicious. Generally speaking, it can be summarized as: bread, baked goods, cold food, cooked food, meat products, cheese and wine.
Secondly, French catering culture is also quite famous. French people attach great importance to the etiquette of eating, and the arrangement of tableware and the order of eating have also become a part of food culture. In the dining atmosphere, the French show their unique romantic feelings.
Their definition of food is not in the stage of eating, but in the pursuit of beauty in life to a higher extent. It takes four or five hours to enjoy a formal French dinner, but for the French, eating at the same table is an elegant enjoyment to connect feelings and make friends.
Third, cheese culture. At present, there are 487 kinds of fromage, which has become a must-have item for the French. It can be roughly divided into eight kinds: fresh cheese, soft cheese with flower skin, soft cheese with washed skin, blue cheese, goat cheese, hard immature cheese, hard mature cheese and melted cheese.
Fourthly, French wine culture has also grown and developed with French history and civilization. As the world's leading producer of mountain wine, France has 65,438+00 wine producing areas, among which Bordeaux wine and champagne are the most famous. It can be said that wine culture has penetrated into many aspects of French politics, economy, culture and art, and is closely related to people's lives.
Finally, coffee culture is also a major feature of France. 1686, businessmen from Sicily, Italy, established the first cafe in France, and since then, cafes in Paris have flourished. French people pay attention to the environment and mood when drinking coffee, and the new trend of thought of French literature and art also takes root here. Since the last century, cafes have also become the activity center of social activists, witnessing the rise and development of French politics and culture.
The characteristics of French cuisine culture have been successfully applied for French cuisine for the first time since the catering project was established in the intangible cultural heritage. It is the first time that a country's cuisine has won this honor, and being selected in this list is the best recognition of French food culture. French cuisine has won the attention of people all over the world with its unique cultural connotation and distinctive cultural characteristics.
1. French food culture has a long history.
French diet has experienced a long-term development process from eating to feasting, which is a witness to the economic, social and cultural changes in France for centuries.
Before the rule of Henry II, France was still in a "barbaric" state of grasping rice by hand. All this was until Henry II married an Italian princess, Catherine de Medici, and brought a large number of entourage, including chefs, servants, farmers who grow vegetables and raise livestock, craftsmen who design stoves, and full sets of Italian tableware. With Catherine becoming the queen and empress dowager, the French court banquet began to be "all-round", knives and forks replaced the hand grasp, and the French began to dance with knives and forks gracefully.
The cooking skills of French cuisine reached its peak in the period of Louis XIV. Nowadays, all kinds of French dishes and luxurious dishes with different flavors come from that period, and chefs have become noble and artistic occupations.
Until the French Revolution, with a group of highly skilled chefs wandering among the people, cooking skills spread in various social classes in the form of a popular culture, which truly implanted the cultural essence of the French nation.
After the Franco-Prussian War, snails officially boarded the French table, which also marked the unprecedented richness of French cuisine and reached the peak of world cuisine.
2. French food culture is rich in cultural and emotional accumulation.
The French endow food with cultural significance beyond diet and food itself-the appreciation of food and the fun it represents also form the attitude of the French towards daily life. It contains culture, art and the way of the world, and it is the embodiment of the integration of French simple but not simple elegant life and French national food culture.
According to the survey, more than 60% of French people regard the kitchen as the favorite of all rooms in their homes. People are willing to spend a lot of time cooking in the kitchen according to the formal steps and enjoy the fun of sharing a big meal with friends on an equal footing.
The characteristic of French diet is openness.
The French people's exquisite attention to food has made the French nation the title of "World Food". Michelin Catering Manual, founded on 1900, evaluates restaurants around the world according to French standards and has the reputation of "gourmet bible". Restaurants all over the world are also proud to be among them.
French food culture has begun to influence the food culture and standards all over the world, attracting more than 80 million tourists and chefs from all over the world to visit and study every year. The arrival of these people not only makes French cuisine more famous, but also makes French cuisine learn from others and enrich its innovation in such cultural exchanges.
With the development of economic globalization, French food culture has spread all over the world as a commodity economy. Since 1990s, French cuisine has become one of the pronouns of France in the world. There are more than 5,000 French restaurants in Japan, more than 4,000 in the United States, and all countries in the world have French cooking school.
The reasons for the formation of French food culture The formation of French food and its unique food culture are the products of many factors. "The French live to eat", this sentence vividly summarizes the French artistic pursuit of eating. France experienced the Morovian dynasty, Carolingian dynasty, Cape dynasty, Valois dynasty, Bourbon dynasty and the first, second, third and fourth republics. There were many revolutions and wars in France during the previous republics. French food culture is produced under this historical background. The main reasons are as follows:
First of all, geographical and economic conditions provide a material basis for French food culture.
France is a country with mild climate, fertile land and abundant products, which provides rich raw materials for the ingredients of French cuisine. Historically, many families used animal husbandry as their main means of livelihood, which made rich meat dishes on the French table. On the other hand, in order to preserve cheese for a long time, people in mountainous areas make hard cheese, which further expands the cheese culture.
Secondly, the nationality of the French creates space for the development of French food culture.
As we all know, the French have strong romantic feelings. They enjoy life and create a series of romantic and wonderful life customs. French aristocrats like luxury and enjoyment. In court banquets, hunting and other places, a lot of food and wine are essential. For example, Louis XIV was famous for his love of luxury. During his reign, the luxury of court banquets ranked first in Europe, which also stimulated the re-development and creation of French cuisine.
Of course, the French also pay great attention to diet. They believe that "discovering a new dish is more beneficial to human beings than discovering a new star". The pursuit of delicious food, curiosity and creativity make French cuisine enduring and full of new vitality.
Third, the openness of learning from others enriches the French food culture system.
France is located in the west of Europe, bordering Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Italy and Spain, and facing Britain across the English Channel. The superior geographical environment is conducive to French cuisine. For example, the development of French cuisine depends largely on Italian medici family. At the same time, French food culture is more convenient to spread to all parts of the world. Now Michelin restaurants have opened all over the world, which has a strong appeal in the food industry and enriched the connotation of the French food culture system.
French food culture stands proudly in the world food kingdom with its exquisite and delicious taste enjoyment and luxurious and unique dining atmosphere, and it also brings us a culture different from Chinese food. Let diet become a kind of enjoyment, and let culture spread all over the world. French food culture still has a lot of inspiration and experience.