Internationally renowned for its fine cuisine, France is a country of art and gastronomy. The French know how to enjoy themselves spending an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes every day on mealtimes.
Each region of France has its own speciality dishes and it counts Lyon as its capital of gastronomy. Examples of popular dishes include gratin dauphinoise, boeuf bourguignon and galettes bretonnes (crusty cakes or pancakes, usually made with a savoury filling).
Famous for some unique specialities that you may not have had the opportunity to try, the French eat no less than 500 million snails every year!
No meal is complete in France without bread which is always found on the table at restaurants and when enjoying a meal at home. Also passionate about cheese, the French boast at least 1,200 different types - with the average person eating 25kg each year.
We’re increasingly falling in love with food in the UK with a growing range of international foods and ingredients available to us in supermarkets, restaurants and other eateries.
We know that as food lovers, you enjoy every step of the food journey from shopping for the right ingredients and lovingly cooking the recipes (perhaps with a cheeky wine in hand) to taking care over dish presentation and enjoying the carefully prepared meals at dinner parties with friends and family.
Known for their style and elegance, the French are most likely to use our Circulon Symmetry cookware range for its high technology performance and elegant, flared shape adding eye catching pieces to any kitchen.
The Circulon Symmetry cookware range not only provides practical cookware so you can get on with enjoying preparing delicious meals, but also adds style to impress guests. Cook some of these dishes while enjoying a chat before sitting down for your meal to both delight dinner guests and tantalise their taste buds.
Why not add a little joie de vivre to your next dinner party by having a French theme and trying one of our recipes here.
A few extra touches on your dining table can really set it off with French style and elegance:
• Table cloth and embroidered napkins
• Fresh flowers
• Sliced bread in a wicker basket
• Fresh fruit
Delight your guests with a cheese board presenting this before dessert to stay true to the theme. Cheeses could perhaps include a strong Roquefort, the sheep’s milk cheese from Southern France, or the soft and creamy camembert cow’s milk cheese which originates from Northern France.
The biggest wine producer in the world, France makes between 7 – 8 billion bottles of wine every year. If you’re treating guests to beef bourguignon, French red wines will go down well as an accompaniment.
Merlot is popular and known for being easy to drink. These grapes are widely grown in Bordeaux and it is believed that the name derives from the French word for blackbird describing the colour of the grape.
Pinot Noir is another great alternative. The name comes from the French words for pine and black describing the shape and colour of the grapes which are grown mainly in the Burgundy region.
Guests will be impressed with your knowledge of the origins of these dishes: gratin dauphinoise is a traditional French dish based on potatoes and crème fraiche and comes from the historic Dauphine region in the South East of France; beef bourguignon, a stew of beef braised in red wine, originates from the Burgundy region, while gallettes bretonnes are from Brittany.
We hope you enjoy your food journey. Bon appétit and au revoir!