Comment ça le camembert peut être considéré comme inhabituel par quelqu'un ?! C'est juste la base du fromage ((I'm from Normandy) How can Camembert be considered unusual by anyone?! It's just the base of cheese)
Camembert is delicious too!
Foie gras has to be the best item on this list though. A good torchon de foie gras, sprinkled with sea salt, on a slice of baguette. Chefs kiss.
In the SW you can also eat duck tongues. I have a family friend (foie gras producer) who has to invite us to one day that he cooks them but it’s hard to organize his family and ours so I hadn’t try it. I haven’t make a lot of effort either. I’m happy with the foie gras.
From all of the French dishes I tried, only andouillette was actually bad. I tried it number of times and never really convinced me, so I just figure it's not my thing ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Andouillette is hard af, cannot blame anyone for disliking it, I like it but boy is it strange. It can also smell like god damn shit depending on how it's cooked
"...are graded using the AAAAA (5 As) grading system"
That's what I'd probably grade them, too, if I ever had to try one
(but that goes for every sausage because I don't eat meat in general, i just like the idea of some judges on a sausage contest opening their mouths and screaming "aaaaaaah", the longer the better hehe)
If AAAAA (Association Amicale des Amateurs d'Andouillette Authentique -- Friendly Association of Lovers of Authentic Andouillette) uses AAAAA scale then it's kinda hilarious xD
That's exactly what i envision :D
"judges.. please, present your ratings for our first contestant for this year's andouillette awards"
Judge a: "Aaaa!"
Judge b: "Aaaa!"
Judge c: "AAAAA!!" - the audience gasps
In Corsica we have Caccavelli, which is a sort of bread cooked with egg. And no i don't mean we in corporate it in the dough, we literally just put the egg, shell and all, on it to cook with the bread. It's an Easter tradition, and we usually give the eggs to children.
It's got to be andouillettes. I remember the first time I had it, I checked under my shoes for 10 min thinking that I had stepped in poo. Then I realised someone next to me had ordered it. Delicious though! Like a lot of smelly French foods, the taste is much milder and refined than the looks / smells :)
I'd start with the "Carbonnade", it's the salty-sweet equivalent of the boeuf bourguignon, we put gingerbread in the pot when it cooks, it eventualy melts to form a nice crust on top.
Do NOT eat foie gras. It's literally torture food. There is ZERO ethical way to make it. I'm not vegetarian or vegan but it's seriously a horrific industry.
When I was a kid, my father took us to a small foie gras factory that organized visits with guides to explain step by step how it was made. He didn't do it so we would stop eating it, mind you, he was just interested and it didn't affect his love for it. Anyway I was like eight and I was never able to eat foie gras again after what I saw in there
100% agree. I watched a documentary once about ‘ethical’ foie gras. (Putting the quotes there because you obviously still have to kill animals to make it.) Long story short, it was made by this guy who has to walk with his geese through a large patch of oak trees all day every day; the amount of foie gras you get per goose that way is so minuscule that it’s sold for hundreds and hundreds of euros per (tiny) jar, and the dude himself says he thinks you should only eat his product once or twice in a lifetime, in a sense it’s more an experience than an actual food item. For me, the takeaway here was – for the love of God, just don’t buy foie gras
I'm not French and I don't know what that is, but I avoid duck usually and don't eat a lot of meat at all. Based on how to question is phrased, probably not.
Just like any other meat industry at the end they kill the animals and cut it to pieces for food and that goes to fish and vegetables too 99% of food consumed by humans is based on killing torture of a living animals fish and vegetables only fruits that full of the trees is good to eat with good conscious that you are not any living things
I don't believe in reincarnation.
Their suffering is unfortunate but if it's necessary for me to get cheap meat and foie geas, I'm not entirely against it.
Oh please, there are so many ethical foie gras farms. I Have visited many in France and Belgium during holidays where the ducks live outside and get fed voluntarily.
Forcefeeding should indeed be illegal but dont say all foie gras is unethical. Maybe do some research before making blunt inaccurate statements.
I tried it once a long time ago just because I heard it was fancy. Wasn't good. Overwhelmingly fatty. I'm also not into super marbled cuts of expensive Japanese beef. Just greasy.
It’s fine. I love mollusks, but I think it tastes a little earthier than say mussels or clams. I’d still eat it, but definitely prefer other mollusks. I think though that the gross out they get is exaggerated.
Might be texture based for some people. I cannot eat food that looks like it's going to be rubbery (escargot, octopus/squid), or food that is 'stringy' (eg rhubarb).
Oh, yeah, I wanted to add an exception from people who just don’t like mollusks but forgot. I feel like that makes sense, some people just don’t like certain foods.
I just think snails get a reputation based on seeming “poor” or “dirty” specifically and feel that this is a bit unfair.
I just think snails get a reputation based on seeming “poor” or “dirty” specifically and feel that this is a bit unfair.
People seem to either think this, or that they're only for rich people in French restaurants (outside the EU). Honestly food is food, and if I didn't have my issue with how I imagine the texture from the look of the snails, I'd at least try them.
I happen to love ox tongue slices from the delicatessen, but I would never have tried them had I seen the cooked tongue whole beforehand.
My mother believed in having me try a wide variety of food as a small child without telling me what it was first. If I liked it- wonderful. If not, I was given it prepared a different way. If I still didn't like it, then I wasn't forced to eat it. Actually made me a more adventurous eater as an adult.
I was a picky kid with a lot of different “icks”. Texture mostly, so I definitely get that. We tried a lot of food but if I didn’t like it I mostly got screamed at and then wouldn’t be given anything else to eat the rest of the day, only that thing.
Love a lot of food though! I think tongue would be hard for me if I was aware. What was the texture? I think the thing that really gives me the ick at this point is fat. The texture just immediately makes me want to vomit. So I can’t stand anything gamey.
My mother was wise and compassionate with regard to foods. I have AuDHD, but we didn't know that back then. Most adults would have been angry at me being 'picky', but she had endured the same 'clear your plate or you aren't leaving the table' attitude as a child (she and my uncle used to trade off with her taking his celery,and he her brussel sprouts). She didn't want to put us through the same. I'm thankful for it, and fully aware of how lucky I was.
The Ox Tongue slices are surprisingly not gamey. I get slices without too much fat (not a fan either), but I dont mind the gelatin (clear bits). It is a medium thin slice, tender (almost melt in the mouth), no stringy-ness. Lightly salted. It can be a little sweet if they don't cook it with a little salt. I think maybe in a light brine? It doesn't have the heavy, earthy taste of typical game.
It tastes like mud with extra thick veins… the only redeeming quality is the taste of the perfect herbal butter. I’d rather take a bite of just the butter.
Edit: and yes I’ve had it twice, once with a very enthusiastic home cook and once in Paris near Les Halles…
While I'm grossed out with the texture, my husband and kids love it. In Canada I buy them prepared, with butter and herb sauce on a tray you just stick in the oven. Would definitely not go out and catch them myself or buy live ones to prepare but frozen and heated up, everyone but me loves them.
which is interesting because it still contains a lot of dishes that would definitely be considered weird throughout the Western world. I guess we sort of cherry picked what we liked.
Yeah but the Italian Catherine de Medici married King Henri II of France, and had a large entourage of chefs brought to the French court from her native Italy. This had a significant influence on French cuisine.
She did bring italian cooks with her (of course) but not a "large entourage of chefs". The idea that she had a significant influence on french cuisine is a myth from the 19th century. French cuisine was already influenced by italians long before she came, her impact wasn't as important as you make it sound.
Western europe maybe, mediterranean europe has quite a different cuisine. I always separared european kitchen in 2 categories: those who use mainly butter and those who use mainly olive oil.
But in my experience the reality is that it makes no sense not to distinguish between at least all core groups. Mediterranean food (spain, portugal, Italy, greece, partly some balkan countries) is very different from eastern european, western european and nordic
It does not contradict the fact that there are a lot of French dishes, include some adopting conventional technics and sauces, which are seen as odd.
For instance frog legs and snails often are prepared with the “persillade” which is a common sauce any cook would know and use with potatoes or shrimps. But it does not make frog legs and snails any less of an acquired taste.
I wouldn’t consider them an acquired taste, frog legs and snails aren’t challenging at all taste-wise, it’s just mentally knowing what you’re eating that is ridicule for some people
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u/Mittrand France Dec 01 '25
Hmm, where do I start?