Food of France
French cooking is built on fine butter, cream, cheese, bread and carefully seasoned stocks, with strong regional identities from Normandy's apples and cream to Provence's olive oil, tomatoes and herbs. Meals follow a gentle rhythm of fresh bakery bread, simple lunches and shared family dinners. Technique matters, but so does the market: seasonal vegetables, fish, poultry and cheese lead the menu.
Pot-au-feu
A gentle boiled dinner of beef and root vegetables served with mustard and coarse salt.
- Main dishes (8)
- Breakfast (5)
- Street food (5)
- Soups (4)
- Salads (3)
- Breads (3)
- Desserts and sweets (9)
- Drinks (6)
- Fruits and produce (7)
Staples
- butter
- wheat flour
- cheese
- potatoes
- poultry
- cream
- apples
- eggs
Signature flavors
- thyme
- tarragon
- Dijon mustard
- garlic
- herbes de Provence
- shallots
- lavender
Main dishes
Slow-baked white beans with sausage, pork and duck under a golden crust.
Key ingredients: white beans, pork sausage, duck, tomato, onion, breadcrumbsFull guide →
A Provencal vegetable stew of eggplant, zucchini, peppers and tomato.
Key ingredients: eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, tomato, garlic, olive oilFull guide →
A buttery tart filled with an egg-and-cream custard and smoky bacon.
Key ingredients: pie crust, eggs, cream, bacon, nutmegFull guide →A gentle boiled dinner of beef and root vegetables served with mustard and coarse salt.
Key ingredients: beef, carrots, leeks, turnips, potatoes, bouquet garni
Pan-seared steak with a pile of crisp fries, a bistro staple.
Key ingredients: beef steak, potatoes, butter, shallots, pepper
Tender veal in a creamy white sauce with mushrooms and small onions.
Key ingredients: veal, cream, egg yolks, mushrooms, carrots, pearl onions
Thinly sliced potatoes baked in cream until golden and meltingly soft.
Key ingredients: potatoes, cream, milk, garlic, nutmeg
An Alpine bake of potatoes, onions, bacon and Reblochon cheese.
Key ingredients: potatoes, Reblochon cheese, bacon, onion, creamBreakfast
A flaky, buttery crescent that is the classic French breakfast pastry.
Key ingredients: flour, butter, milk, yeast, sugarFull guide →
Laminated dough wrapped around two bars of dark chocolate.
Key ingredients: laminated dough, dark chocolate, egg wash
Fresh baguette with butter and jam, dipped in a bowl of coffee or hot chocolate.
Key ingredients: baguette, butter, fruit jam
A soft, rich, slightly sweet bread enriched with eggs and butter.
Key ingredients: flour, eggs, butter, milk, sugar
French toast made with day-old bread soaked in egg and milk.
Key ingredients: stale brioche, eggs, milk, sugar, butterStreet food
A toasted ham and cheese sandwich topped with bechamel.
Key ingredients: bread, ham, Gruyere, bechamelFull guide →A savory buckwheat crepe folded around ham, cheese and an egg.
Key ingredients: buckwheat flour, ham, Emmental, egg, butter
The simplest Paris sandwich: baguette, good butter and ham.
Key ingredients: baguette, butter, ham
A thin chickpea-flour pancake from Nice, crisp at the edges and soft inside.
Key ingredients: chickpea flour, olive oil, water, black pepper
A thin pancake sold hot with sugar, lemon or chocolate spread.
Key ingredients: flour, eggs, milk, butter, sugarFull guide →Soups
Deeply browned onions in beef broth under a melted cheese crouton.
Key ingredients: onions, beef stock, baguette, Gruyere, thymeFull guide →
A saffron-scented fish stew from Marseille served with rouille and bread.
Key ingredients: firm white fish, fennel, tomato, saffron, orange zestFull guide →A Provencal vegetable and bean soup finished with basil, garlic and olive oil.
Key ingredients: white beans, zucchini, potatoes, tomato, basil, garlic
A silky chilled soup of potatoes and leeks.
Key ingredients: leeks, potatoes, cream, chicken stock, chivesSalads
Tuna, green beans, eggs, tomatoes and olives in a vinaigrette from Nice.
Key ingredients: tuna, green beans, eggs, tomato, olives, anchoviesFull guide →Frisee lettuce with warm bacon, a poached egg and a sharp vinaigrette.
Key ingredients: frisee, bacon, poached egg, croutons, Dijon vinaigretteWarm toasted goat cheese rounds on a bed of greens with honey.
Key ingredients: goat cheese, baguette, mixed greens, honey, walnutsBreads
The long, crackling loaf bought fresh every day.
Key ingredients: flour, water, salt, yeastFull guide →
A rustic country loaf with a sourdough tang and chewy crumb.
Key ingredients: wheat flour, rye flour, sourdough starter, saltA leaf-shaped Provencal flatbread with olive oil and herbs.
Key ingredients: bread dough, olive oil, olives, rosemaryDesserts and sweets
A vanilla custard topped with a brittle caramelized sugar crust.
Key ingredients: cream, egg yolks, sugar, vanillaFull guide →
Almond meringue sandwiches filled with ganache or buttercream.
Key ingredients: almond flour, egg whites, sugar, ganacheFull guide →
A choux pastry finger filled with cream and glazed with chocolate.
Key ingredients: choux pastry, pastry cream, chocolateFull guide →
An upside-down caramelized apple tart.
Key ingredients: apples, butter, sugar, puff pastryFull guide →
A baked custard-batter dessert with fresh cherries or other fruit.
Key ingredients: cherries, eggs, milk, flour, sugar
Choux puffs filled with ice cream and drizzled with warm chocolate sauce.
Key ingredients: choux pastry, vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce
Layers of crisp puff pastry and vanilla cream under glossy icing.
Key ingredients: puff pastry, pastry cream, icing sugarSmall shell-shaped sponge cakes with a buttery, lemon-scented crumb.
Key ingredients: eggs, butter, flour, sugar, lemon zest
A light, airy chocolate dessert made with whipped egg whites and cream.
Key ingredients: dark chocolate, eggs, butter, sugarDrinks
Strong coffee with an equal amount of hot milk, served in a wide bowl or cup.
Key ingredients: coffee, hot milk
Thick, rich hot chocolate made with real dark chocolate and milk.
Key ingredients: dark chocolate, milk, a pinch of sugarFresh lemon juice served with water and sugar to sweeten to taste.
Key ingredients: lemons, water, sugar, iceCold water flavored with fruit syrup such as mint, grenadine or peach.
Key ingredients: fruit syrup, cold water, ice
A soothing herbal infusion of lemon verbena leaves.
Key ingredients: lemon verbena leaves, hot water, honey
A cold, pink strawberry-flavored milk drink beloved by children.
Key ingredients: milk, strawberry syrupFruits and produce
Normandy orchards produce crisp apples for tarts, compotes and juice.
Key ingredients: tarte Tatin, compote, fresh juice
Juicy pears poached for dessert or eaten with cheese.
Key ingredients: poached pears, cheese board, tartsA fragrant orange-fleshed melon from Provence, eaten chilled.
Key ingredients: chilled slices, ham, mint
Small golden plums from Lorraine, used in tarts and jams.
Key ingredients: tarts, jam, compote
Sweet strawberries from Brittany and the Loire valley, a summer treat.
Key ingredients: fresh with cream, tarts, jam
Sun-ripened apricots from the south are eaten fresh, baked or turned into jam.
Key ingredients: fresh, tarts, jam
A prized aromatic fungus grown in Perigord, shaved over eggs and pasta.
Key ingredients: omelets, pasta, butterDish guides from France
More cuisines of Western Europe
Descriptions written by Intercontinental Chef. Dishes are listed as commonly eaten today; many are shared across neighbouring countries.
- Bowl of cassoulet: BrokenSphere, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Ratatouille home cooked: Jack145945, CC0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Quiche de Lorraine: Donna Alvita, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Pot-au-feu SAM 2724: Muesse, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Reel and Brand - September 2021 - Sarah Stierch 05: Missvain, CC BY 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Blanquette de veau à l'ancienne 04: Arnaud 25, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Gratin dauphinois: Ludovic Péron, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Une tartiflette sortie du four: Benoît Prieur, CC0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Croissant-Petr Kratochvil: Petr Kratochvil, CC0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Pain au chocolat Luc Viatour: Luc Viatour, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Tartine bakery exterior in 2006: Carl Collins from Brooklyn, NY, USA, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Brioche: Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- FrenchToast: Jonathunder, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Croque monsieur: Michael Brewer, CC BY-SA 2.5 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Sandwich jambon-beurre: Boulanger: Nat / Photographer: Nat, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Socca EuroCup 2024 - Moldova - Italy: Melange, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Crepes dsc07085: David Monniaux, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Soupe à l'oignon: Ludovic Péron, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Bullabessa: Slastic, CC BY 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Vichyssoise: BocaDorada, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Nizza-Salat an der F Mittelmeerküste: Wusel007, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Baguettes, Paris, France - panoramio: Nick Thweatt, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Pain de Campagne: grongar, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- 2014 0531 Crème brûlée Doi Mae Salong (cropped): Takeaway, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- VanillaMacaron: Michelle Naherny, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Two Safeway Chocolate Eclairs (19043880936): Willis Lam, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Franse tarte tatin: Djenghisz, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Clafoutis3: Rotem Danzig, Attribution (Wikimedia Commons)
- Paris 2e - Rue Vivienne - Restaurant Le Vaudeville - Profiteroles au chocolat: Romainbehar, CC0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Mille-feuille français 1: Zantastik, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Chocolate coffee mousse: Lu from Seattle, USA, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Café au lait: Tim Boyd from Brooklyn, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Chocolate cup Chantilly porcelain 18th century: World Imaging, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Aloysia citriodora 002: H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Binggrae Banana Flavored Milk 03: KOREA.NET, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- 95apple: Agricultural Research Service (Research agent of United States Department of Agriculture), Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
- Pears: Keith Weller, Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
- Prunus insititia 01: Kuebi = Armin Kübelbeck, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Garden strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) single2: Ivar Leidus, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Apricot jam: Rita, CC0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Truffe noire du Périgord: moi-même, Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
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