Most famous foods in France

It might be a cliché, but you must agree with us, the French make the best cheese in the world and not just that, they also have a huge variety of them.  There isn´t an official number of different cheeses in France, but one can have an idea of how obsessed they are with it, when you hear people saying there is a cheese for each day of the year (yes, that´s 365!)

Cheese by itself is usually really good, you don´t even need to eat it with anything else, but French love it so much, that they have include it in many of the typical foods in France.

Tarte Tatin is an example of how creative French can get when cooking, this cake is just a variation of the famous apple cake but made in a different way and of course with a different taste.

Old legends say the origin of Tarte Tatin was an accident. Apparently in 1898, Stephanie Tatin, was making an apple cake and by mistake, she left the apples cooking for too long. To try to save the dish, she turned the cake upside down, and placed the pastry base on top of the burned fruit. Luckily, the clients did enjoy it and thanks to it, we can now still enjoy this delicious French food.

Another typical and delicious French food you should try is the Onion Soup, also known as soupe à l’oignon.

The history of this traditional food in France is very curious, as even though it is one of the oldest plates in the country, it didn´t become one of the most popular french foods until the 18^th century, the main reason for it, is because it was seeing as  “poor people’s dish”.

Nowadays, things are totally different, and of course people don´t have that kind of prejudices, plus, everyone who have tried it will agree with us that this famous French soup is delicious.

The key ingredient of this easy French recipe is the caramelized onion.

It´s time for the a very colorful and fabulous food in France.

These delicious pastries were brought from Italy, but French people decided to create their own kind, adding the filling inside.

People have got creative with this famous French dish, and nowadays, you will find it of many different tastes. The most common ones are chocolate, coffee, vanilla, or raspberry, but you will also find other types pistachio, green tea, caramel macaron, and many others.

Macarons are the most popular food in France right now, even more in Paris!

We seriously hope you like sweets, because as you can see the famous French cuisine is full of them!

If you want to take your French cooking to the next level, you seriously need to learn how to make crepes. This delicious French food is like the churros in Spain or the gelato in Italy, they are they are often sold as street food in France and you will be able to eat everywhere in the country.

The best part about French crepes, is that they are super easy to make and can be filled with whatever you want!

If you are looking for a famous French meal to eat as a main course, the Cassoulet is the ideal one.  The main ingredients to make Cassoulet are meat, pork skin, and white beans, so as you can tell, it is a very heavy dish, therefore it is important to not eat much appetizers before.

This French dish is original from the south of the country, being more specific, the best places to eat them will be Toulouse, Carcassonne and Castelnaudary. All of them are also amazing cities, so you already know where to go next!

Another typical food in France that everyone knows about is the baguette, you can also call it French bread. Baguettes are an authentic symbol of France; we could even say they are as famous as the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre.

Its origin isn´t clear, but it is thought, the shape was created to make the job easier for bakers. There isn´t much else to say about this famous French food, as you may know, this type of bread is made and eaten all over Europe and every lunch and dinner is served with at least one of them.

Tied with baguette and cheese, the croissant is the most iconic French food, one of the first dishes that comes to your mind when you think about the cuisine of France.

These delicious pastries are usually eaten with raspberry, strawberry or peach jam and the ideal and common time to eat them is in the morning for breakfast, but they can also be eaten as a snack or appetizer.

Something not many people know about croissants, is that they were influence by the Viennese kipferl, which is also delicious, but made with different ingredients.

In despite of what the name sound like and the famous Pixar movie, this authentic French recipe, doesn´t have anything to do with rats (😂) and it is a must try.

At first sight, it doesn´t seem to easy to make, but it is indeed, it doesn´t need much time and the only ingredients you will need are vegetables.

Just like it happened with the onion soup, ratatouille was considered a food for the poor, as it is super cheap to make. Now a days you will find it everywhere, even in luxury and famous French restaurants.

Of course, we had to finish our French food list with another dessert, and we know Crème brûlée won´t disappoint you!

There is a constant fight between France, Spain, and United Kingdom, about the actual origin of this delicious dish. Some say the British burnt cream was the original one, others believe the Catalan cream from Spain is the real one and of course French people think is theirs as well.

We don´t know know what´s the truth here and maybe we will never know, but what we are sure about, is that the recipe is absolutely the same and they all taste delicious!

Believe it or not, the national food of France did not make it to our top 10 famous French cuisine, so it is none of the ones we have said previously.

The French national dish is the Pot au Feu a simple stew made of vegetables and meat.

But why is it so important? If we want to know the real reason, we need to go back to the days where Henry IV ruled France (from 1553 to 1610). He was once said that that all peasants should be able to afford chicken in their pot at least once a week, this created a habit of cooking a dish with meat in and with the time, the Pot au Feu was created.

Well not actually, they are free but only in pubs and restaurants, they are included when ordering the food, just like the tapas in Spain.

Of course, if you want to get a few baguettes for home, you will have to pay. The price is still extremely low and accessible for everyone, from 0,50€ to 1€.

Yes that´s right, French fries is just the term the United States use for it since Thomas Jefferson brought the recipe back from France. France also took the French fries from other countries, which where at first brought from Spain, and Spain at the same time brought them from the Americas, where the first potato plantations were found.  

Something different happens with the French omelet. These French food name comes from Cadiz, Spain. During the conflicts between French and Spain in 1810, many people didn´t have enough food, so as substitute to their favorite food, Potato Omelet, they decided to create it without the potatoes.

As you have seen previously in the list, the most famous foods in France are sweets, pastries, and all kind of desserts. Well, you would be surprised to know, that whenever they are at home, they never get to eat these plates and most of the time, the substitutes are fruit, yogurt, and coffee.

That said, the exception comes whenever they go out with the family or hang out with friends, that´s when they get to eat the traditional French desserts.

Last of all, let´s talk about the French food habits. They are pretty much like in the rest of the European countries. They eat about 3 times per day, and the mealtimes are the following:

• Breakfast: Between 7:00 AM and 9:00 AM
• Lunch: From 12:00 PM or 1:00PM
• Dinner: Between 7:00PM and 8:30 PM

Sometimes they also do snacking between hours, but it isn´t so common.