The whole thing is dumb. It’s a tire company. But not just that, it’s a French tire company. Name your top 3 favorite French dishes. Now name your top three favorite French restaurant. If you’re like me, you can’t even name one of either and after thinking about it, I can’t even remember even seeing a single french restaurant in my life outside of like a wine place or French bakery or something. Despite having possibly one of the least popular cuisines in all of the earth they are the ones choosing where we should all eat.
On top of that the system is super dumb. You can only have a Michelin star if your restaurant is in a place that allows them. Most states in the US are not allowed to have a Michelin star. You could be the best restaurant in all of the world but if your not in Chicago, New York City, LA, Vegas, or San Francisco too bad (and I think Miami now? Texas is about to get some too but only in Houston, Dallas and Austin cause… reasons).
In addition, they only allow a certain number of Michelin stars per location. So if you start an absolute kickass restaurant in a place that happens to allow Michelin stars but already has a few restaurants that have stars, well too bad, there aren’t any stars left. Tough shit.
But as dumb as it is… God damn is it phenomenal marketing so I guess… Good job?
It’s actually pretty sensible. The guide was created in 1900 to help people find Michelin tires when traveling, at a time where finding a garage or a gas station was a major issue for drivers. Then they added other stuff like hotel and restaurant recommandations. It came free with Michelin tires so it quickly became popular.
As for french culinary traditions, you may not know the dishes but it’s actually the basis for most of western cuisine… Every chef worth its salt has studied it, and French people take food pretty seriously. So it makes sense that the leading restaurant guide is French.
So if you start an absolute kickass restaurant in a place that happens to allow Michelin stars but already has a few restaurants that have stars, well too bad, there aren’t any stars left.
Every years some restaurants are demoted or even removed from the guide, precisely to make place for new, better ones. The Michelin guide is not trip advisor, it’s meant to provide a small selection of outstanding restaurants.
Seafood if thats “a dish”, tartiflette, raclette, pot au feu, blanquette de veau, fondue, huitres, hachis parmentier… The list goes on and on.
And, but that’s only if it is correctly done (cooking each ingredient a part), you might have heard of it: ratatouille 😋
Food is more than “a dish” in France, it’s a tradition, it’s an institution.
Sure you can get crappy food like the other guy answering your post, I mean get a wrap up food in a tourist place you’ll end up with crappy food for sure, but thats like saying american beer is like piss, I tried a bud once.
Despite having possibly one of the least popular cuisines in all of the earth they are the ones choosing where we should all eat.
It’s also funny because despite having such an “unpopular” cuisine, you likely use either “Hors d’œuvre” or “entrée” to describe the course before the main course and you probably use the word “dessert” for the sweet stuff that comes after. Or perhaps you use the term “restaurant” to describe a place where you might eat. All French.
There are some pretty well known French dishes that come to mind, fries literally being one. I do like me some coq au vin. Never tried ratatouille despite how well known it is. But I think one main problem is that a lot of French dishes that aren’t desserts, are only offered in expensive, pretentious restaurants. I’m probably never going to try foie gras, etc.
It’s also funny because despite having such an “unpopular” cuisine, you likely use either “Hors d’œuvre” or “entrée” to describe the course before the main course and you probably use the word “dessert” for the sweet stuff that comes after. Or perhaps you use the term “restaurant” to describe a place where you might eat. All French.
90% of the English food vocabulary comes from French. Words like beef, pork, vennison, mutton, veal, sauce, omelet, dinner, apéritif, café, soup, … all come from French.
Weirdly and confusingly in the U.S. at least “entree” is used for main course. I don’t know if that’s also the case in the UK or other parts of the English speaking world. “Appetizer” is normally used for the starting course; “hors-d’œuvre” usually only shows up at fancy or pretentious restaurants.
These are fairly simple dishes. I think the main reason that “French cuisine” more generally lacks the clear profile of other national cuisines is that its components and techniques have been adopted in such a widespread manner that it has become indistinguishable from a high-end continental cuisine that is no longer uniquely French.
I not certain to understand how eating snails would be less cruel than making foie gras. You need to starve the snails for several days before you can cook them alive.
It’s debatable, but I would say the distinction has a lot to do with how we, very subjectively, identity with the animal, how cute the animal is. I am certain snails suffer when they are crushed, or starved, but it’s hard to have empathy for them (they are small, slimy, no face, can’t scream). What about jellyfish, or plants? Very hard to define where animal cruelty starts and stops.
I am not lecturing anyone here. Just find it interesting to ponder this philosophical question.
Believe me, I don’t think geese are cute. At all. They’re horrific monsters.
But I also don’t think you can equate the suffering a goose goes through, which takes a long time, incidentally, with the suffering something we normally treat as a pest might go through.
… Invented in Belgium. IIRC some soldiers had them in Belgium and brought them home but mistook the origin to be France since they speak French in Belgium.
It’s not clear where exactly the “French fries” were invented, but the most commonly admitted story is that it was invented in France and perfected in Belgium.
When I was traveling internationally there was a few countries where packing snacks was required. This was especially true if you were stuck in conventions or meetings for the week.
France was the consistently the absolute worst country for food. Everybody pretends to know what they are doing making complex dishes. Here’s a hint, they don’t. I had more inedible food served to me in France than any other country I traveled too.
So why the Michelin star system started in France makes perfect sense to me. In a nation of shitty food, these are passibly edible.
As for the marketing side of it: artificially creating a impression of superiority and exclusivity is a core technique to sell luxury items. It’s been around for as long as some people have believed they were superior to others. Yes it is dumb, but it works.
I live in Belgium and I’ve been to France many times, for both work and leisure. I’ve eaten very well in France on occasion, but generally speaking it is indeed harder to find good places to eat, and reviews and even recommendations by local coworkers often haven’t been in line with my own experience. The amount of overpriced leather shoe sole steaks that I’ve had to endure… Paris is obviously the worst, because of the many tourist traps and it being an unfriendly city in general, but even in the Provence and in smaller towns, we had to be more mindful of which place to pick.
Especially finding good “simple” food in a casual setting can be a challenge, I mean, nobody wants to do the full white tablecloth 4-course fine dining thing every night. Here in Belgium, even in touristy places, you can always find a decent brasserie or casual restaurant where they serve the simple classics well, things like moules frites, a decent entrecôte, flemish stew, or even a simple pasta or burger.
Here in Belgium, even in touristy places, you can always find a decent brasserie or casual restaurant where they serve the simple classics well, things like moules frites, a decent entrecôte, flemish stew, or even a simple pasta or burger.
There are bistros like that everywhere in France (minus the moules frites I guess :), maybe I’m used to spotting the nice ones but I’ve almost never had a bad experience with them.
Next time you should check on le fooding like I said above, that’s what I use when I’m in a new place and so far I’ve never been disappointed.
There are bistros like that everywhere in France (minus the moules frites I guess :), maybe I’m used to spotting the nice ones but I’ve almost never had a bad experience with them.
I know, it’s just that I have had more mediocre experiences with them, to say it kindly.
Didn’t know about le fooding, will try to keep it in mind next time.
This actually reminds me that I had one of the worst steaks in my life in Paris; I asked for medium but it was fully cooked, overcooked actually, yet cold. My onion soup was also cold. The only silver lining was we got a more expensive bottle of wine and only later back at our room noticed on the receipt they didn’t charge us for it. That was our second bad result after looking at “highly rated” nearby listings on Google Maps in Paris so we stopped using Google Maps. Fortunately my wife’s aunt had given her a Michelin “Routiers” book, which I think was less fancy than the standard Michelin guide, and we ate at an excellent restaurant the next night, just not as close to our rental.
It was such a a stark contrast when I would hit 3 to 5 countries in 2 weeks. The only places close to as bad as France was Chile and Tunisia. And honestly it wasn’t inedible in either of those countries just very bland and boring.
It seriously was a shock the fist time I went and put it down to bad luck. Then every return trip was exactly the same.
When traveling for internationally for business, as the guest to the country you don’t pick where you eat. The host normally takes people out to a decent place or has food catered. So these were all places picked by locals.
Thank you for the website; I’ll send this to my wife. Her parents emigrated from France to Canada before she was born and we went to France last year with her parents to visit their family, her first time over since she was a small child. We’re hoping to get back a lot sooner!
The whole thing is dumb. It’s a tire company. But not just that, it’s a French tire company. Name your top 3 favorite French dishes. Now name your top three favorite French restaurant. If you’re like me, you can’t even name one of either and after thinking about it, I can’t even remember even seeing a single french restaurant in my life outside of like a wine place or French bakery or something. Despite having possibly one of the least popular cuisines in all of the earth they are the ones choosing where we should all eat.
On top of that the system is super dumb. You can only have a Michelin star if your restaurant is in a place that allows them. Most states in the US are not allowed to have a Michelin star. You could be the best restaurant in all of the world but if your not in Chicago, New York City, LA, Vegas, or San Francisco too bad (and I think Miami now? Texas is about to get some too but only in Houston, Dallas and Austin cause… reasons).
In addition, they only allow a certain number of Michelin stars per location. So if you start an absolute kickass restaurant in a place that happens to allow Michelin stars but already has a few restaurants that have stars, well too bad, there aren’t any stars left. Tough shit.
But as dumb as it is… God damn is it phenomenal marketing so I guess… Good job?
It’s actually pretty sensible. The guide was created in 1900 to help people find Michelin tires when traveling, at a time where finding a garage or a gas station was a major issue for drivers. Then they added other stuff like hotel and restaurant recommandations. It came free with Michelin tires so it quickly became popular.
As for french culinary traditions, you may not know the dishes but it’s actually the basis for most of western cuisine… Every chef worth its salt has studied it, and French people take food pretty seriously. So it makes sense that the leading restaurant guide is French.
Every years some restaurants are demoted or even removed from the guide, precisely to make place for new, better ones. The Michelin guide is not trip advisor, it’s meant to provide a small selection of outstanding restaurants.
Found the salty american 😁
Okay so for my top 3:
Seafood if thats “a dish”, tartiflette, raclette, pot au feu, blanquette de veau, fondue, huitres, hachis parmentier… The list goes on and on.
And, but that’s only if it is correctly done (cooking each ingredient a part), you might have heard of it: ratatouille 😋
Food is more than “a dish” in France, it’s a tradition, it’s an institution.
Sure you can get crappy food like the other guy answering your post, I mean get a wrap up food in a tourist place you’ll end up with crappy food for sure, but thats like saying american beer is like piss, I tried a bud once.
🧑🍳🫕
My top 3 French foods
Have you heard of the “pain au chocolat” vs “chocolatine” wars?
No my military history knowledge doesn’t extend that far
It’s also funny because despite having such an “unpopular” cuisine, you likely use either “Hors d’œuvre” or “entrée” to describe the course before the main course and you probably use the word “dessert” for the sweet stuff that comes after. Or perhaps you use the term “restaurant” to describe a place where you might eat. All French.
There are some pretty well known French dishes that come to mind, fries literally being one. I do like me some coq au vin. Never tried ratatouille despite how well known it is. But I think one main problem is that a lot of French dishes that aren’t desserts, are only offered in expensive, pretentious restaurants. I’m probably never going to try foie gras, etc.
90% of the English food vocabulary comes from French. Words like beef, pork, vennison, mutton, veal, sauce, omelet, dinner, apéritif, café, soup, … all come from French.
Weirdly and confusingly in the U.S. at least “entree” is used for main course. I don’t know if that’s also the case in the UK or other parts of the English speaking world. “Appetizer” is normally used for the starting course; “hors-d’œuvre” usually only shows up at fancy or pretentious restaurants.
Are you fucking high? Not that there is anything wrong with being high, but this take is psychedelic levels of weird.
name your 3 favorite French tires
These are fairly simple dishes. I think the main reason that “French cuisine” more generally lacks the clear profile of other national cuisines is that its components and techniques have been adopted in such a widespread manner that it has become indistinguishable from a high-end continental cuisine that is no longer uniquely French.
Man outraged map of Western Seaboard doesn’t contain directions to the moon.
fuck foie gras!
No no no, eat foie gras! Not fuck foie gras.
ban foie gras!
Escargot is fucking amazing, but foie gras is just food based on cruelty.
I not certain to understand how eating snails would be less cruel than making foie gras. You need to starve the snails for several days before you can cook them alive.
Because they’re snails and not geese.
Or are you going to say that people who kill snails when they’re invading a garden are practicing animal cruelty?
It’s debatable, but I would say the distinction has a lot to do with how we, very subjectively, identity with the animal, how cute the animal is. I am certain snails suffer when they are crushed, or starved, but it’s hard to have empathy for them (they are small, slimy, no face, can’t scream). What about jellyfish, or plants? Very hard to define where animal cruelty starts and stops.
I am not lecturing anyone here. Just find it interesting to ponder this philosophical question.
Believe me, I don’t think geese are cute. At all. They’re horrific monsters.
But I also don’t think you can equate the suffering a goose goes through, which takes a long time, incidentally, with the suffering something we normally treat as a pest might go through.
French fries!
… Invented in Belgium. IIRC some soldiers had them in Belgium and brought them home but mistook the origin to be France since they speak French in Belgium.
It’s not clear where exactly the “French fries” were invented, but the most commonly admitted story is that it was invented in France and perfected in Belgium.
Yeah that’s what I remember as well, I was joking :)
Coq au vin
Croissant
Blancmange
When I was traveling internationally there was a few countries where packing snacks was required. This was especially true if you were stuck in conventions or meetings for the week.
France was the consistently the absolute worst country for food. Everybody pretends to know what they are doing making complex dishes. Here’s a hint, they don’t. I had more inedible food served to me in France than any other country I traveled too.
So why the Michelin star system started in France makes perfect sense to me. In a nation of shitty food, these are passibly edible.
As for the marketing side of it: artificially creating a impression of superiority and exclusivity is a core technique to sell luxury items. It’s been around for as long as some people have believed they were superior to others. Yes it is dumb, but it works.
Next time avoid tourist traps and go to places listed on le fooding or, well, the Michelin guide :)
I have to side with @[email protected] here.
I live in Belgium and I’ve been to France many times, for both work and leisure. I’ve eaten very well in France on occasion, but generally speaking it is indeed harder to find good places to eat, and reviews and even recommendations by local coworkers often haven’t been in line with my own experience. The amount of overpriced leather shoe sole steaks that I’ve had to endure… Paris is obviously the worst, because of the many tourist traps and it being an unfriendly city in general, but even in the Provence and in smaller towns, we had to be more mindful of which place to pick.
Especially finding good “simple” food in a casual setting can be a challenge, I mean, nobody wants to do the full white tablecloth 4-course fine dining thing every night. Here in Belgium, even in touristy places, you can always find a decent brasserie or casual restaurant where they serve the simple classics well, things like moules frites, a decent entrecôte, flemish stew, or even a simple pasta or burger.
There are bistros like that everywhere in France (minus the moules frites I guess :), maybe I’m used to spotting the nice ones but I’ve almost never had a bad experience with them.
Next time you should check on le fooding like I said above, that’s what I use when I’m in a new place and so far I’ve never been disappointed.
I know, it’s just that I have had more mediocre experiences with them, to say it kindly.
Didn’t know about le fooding, will try to keep it in mind next time.
This actually reminds me that I had one of the worst steaks in my life in Paris; I asked for medium but it was fully cooked, overcooked actually, yet cold. My onion soup was also cold. The only silver lining was we got a more expensive bottle of wine and only later back at our room noticed on the receipt they didn’t charge us for it. That was our second bad result after looking at “highly rated” nearby listings on Google Maps in Paris so we stopped using Google Maps. Fortunately my wife’s aunt had given her a Michelin “Routiers” book, which I think was less fancy than the standard Michelin guide, and we ate at an excellent restaurant the next night, just not as close to our rental.
It was such a a stark contrast when I would hit 3 to 5 countries in 2 weeks. The only places close to as bad as France was Chile and Tunisia. And honestly it wasn’t inedible in either of those countries just very bland and boring.
It seriously was a shock the fist time I went and put it down to bad luck. Then every return trip was exactly the same.
Such a very french answer…
When traveling for internationally for business, as the guest to the country you don’t pick where you eat. The host normally takes people out to a decent place or has food catered. So these were all places picked by locals.
My bad, I assumed you’d have done a little bit of research and exploring before labeling the extensive and varied French cuisine as “shitty”.
Thank you for the website; I’ll send this to my wife. Her parents emigrated from France to Canada before she was born and we went to France last year with her parents to visit their family, her first time over since she was a small child. We’re hoping to get back a lot sooner!