Thousands of French families hunch over their Scrabble boards every weekend, as it’s the country’s favorite board game. But did you know that French Scrabble is different from the English-language version? And that its highest-scoring word is the name of a Scottish tipple?
And…it’s hard to believe…the French Scrabble world champion doesn’t speak French!
Read all about it in France Today!
France has a long and rich literary tradition, and the country has won more Nobel Prizes in Literature than any other. But that doesn’t mean that all French books are stuffy and boring–there are plenty of ripping good reads coming out of France!
But where do you find them? One good place to start is by looking at the winners of France’s literary awards. Many of these winners later get translated into English and are widely available. I’ve read a number of these books and really enjoyed them.
There are six big French literary prizes and they’ve all just been awarded. I’ve written an article describing them, to give you an idea what they are all about. If you want to skip the article, here’s on thing to remember: the Goncourt Prize. It’s the biggest of the Big Six awards and the books that win this are almost always great.
Read all about it in My French Life!
In 1991, Henri Cosquer made a remarkable discovery: he found a grotto filled with prehistoric paintings. Even more remarkable is that the cave is only accessible via an underwater passageway.
Cosquer was a professional diver, leading underwater tours near Marseille. He also dove for pleasure, exploring the nooks and crannies of the rugged coastline.
One day, Cosquer noticed a narrow underwater passageway. Intrigued, he followed it and found himself in a labyrinth of tunnels going here and there. Over multiple dives, he followed these tunnels until, one day, he surfaced inside a cave filled with prehistoric paintings.
This has now been recreated so you can visit it (no swimming required, thankfully.) The French are brilliant at this, having previously recreated the caves at Lascaux and Chauvet. It’s a must-see sight in Marseille, and is an easy walk from the Old Port area.
Read all about it in Perfectly Provence!
Graphic novelist Riad Sattouf has lived a fascinating life. Born in 1978 to a French mother and a Syrian father, he spent much of his childhood in Libya and Syria before moving to France for his teenage years.
Sattouf dreamed of becoming a pilot, but his talent as a cartoonist took him in another direction. His first graphic novel (bande dessinée in French, or BD) was published when he was just 21, and he soon joined the staff of the famous French magazine, Charlie Hebdo. But it was his BD, The Arab of the Future, that catapulted him to nationwide fame, making him one of the most successful authors in France today.
BDs are a big deal in France, much bigger than in the US. They are not comic books, but rather cover a wide range of subjects, from humor to history to politics and more. Remember Persopolis, the Oscar-nominated animated film? That started as a BD that sold more 2 million copies worldwide.
Sattouf’s Arab of the Future is now a series of five BDs, all of which have been translated into English. They are a fascinating look into two sometimes strange societies, including France’s!
Read all about it in Frenchly!
When tourists take day trips from Paris, it’s usually to Versailles or Fontainebleau or maybe Giverny. But a hidden gem is the Château de Chantilly. It’s as elegant as Versailles but more intimate, and is just a short hop from Paris.
The château and its vast grounds were the main estate of the Duke of Aumale, son of the last king of France and one of the country’s richest men. He donated it to the Institut de France in 1884 and it has been a tourist attraction ever since.
What’s there to see? Lots! There’s the château itself, in pristine condition, which houses one of France’s most important art collections. There are the exquisite gardens with their mile-long grand canal. There is the equestrian center with its racetrack and fabulous stables. And you can have strawberries with, yes, chantilly cream!
Read all about it in Frenchly!
Val and I are traveling around Europe and have been in France for the last month. I am responsible for doing the laundry in our family, and French washing machines present a special challenge.
Every time we land in a new place, I have to figure out a new washing machine. You would think they would be standardized—or at least kind of similar—but you would be wrong.
Charles de Gaulle famously said of the fractious French, “How can you govern a country with 246 types of cheese?” He could easily have been talking about French washing machines, but I suspect it was Madame de Gaulle doing the laundry while Monsieur le Général sat around eating cheese.
The trick is to find a wash cycle that doesn’t take all day, because French washing machines are a lot like French bureaucrats—they take a long time to get anything done.
Read all about my French laundry adventures in The Good Life France!
I still remember walking into that cave. There wasn’t much light and I could barely make out the stalactites, one of them twisting its way all the way down to the floor. As I walked further in, I could see bones scattered about—not human, I hoped. Then I saw bear skulls, arranged in a semi-circle. Spooky!
I kept going, stepping carefully, and suddenly there they were, straight ahead of me: paintings, beautiful paintings. I could see horses and buffalo and rhinos that almost seemed alive. It was mesmerizing.
I was in the Grotte Chauvet 2, a nearly-perfect recreation of a nearby cave. It’s like the famous cave at Lascaux, only the paintings are older–the oldest ever found. How old? Let’s just say Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals were still duking out for control of Europe (spoiler alert: we win.)
A trip to the Grotte is a must-do if you are in the area. Read more about this fascinating place in Frenchly!
The Académie française was founded long ago to regulate French grammar and spelling. It still does that, but often finds itself pulled into arguments over what words should be allowed in French. English words that find their way into common usage are a particular sore point.
Should “computer” be allowed? No, let’s coin the word ordinateur.
How about “software”? Mais non ! We must use logiciel.
“Weekend”? Well, ok, but let’s add a hyphen so it’s not really English.
The latest battle is over French national identity cards. European regulations require that the words “Identity Card” be included, but the French government has gone further, much further. All the terms are shown in French and in English, so there’s “SEXE / Sex,” “LIEU DE NAISSANCE / Place of birth,” and on and on.
Cue the gasps.
The Académie is up in arms (they all have ceremonial swords, after all) and are threatening to sue the government to have all that nasty English removed. This would be a unique case, and a treat for legal scholars.
Will the government back down? Will the Académie? No one knows…but watch out for those swords.
Read all about it in My French Life!
Powerful rulers have hosted lavish dinners since time immemorial, as a way to demonstrate their power and to forge alliances. But does anyone do it as well as the French, with their state dinners in the glittering Elysée Palace?
A Bit of History
King Louis XIV set the tone when he made eating a public spectacle. Every day, crowds would gather to watch the royal family enjoy a sumptuous meal, the Grand Couvert. It was a way for the Sun King, Europe’s top dog, to make a daily demonstration of his wealth and power. His descendants continued the tradition until it, like they, died out.
A century later, the “art of the table” is credited with maintaining French power after the defeat of Napoleon. When the victors met at the Congress of Vienna to carve up Europe, French representative Tallyrand hosted lavish meals for the delegates, night after night. Many believe that these led to France’s remarkably lenient treatment.
Official French state dinners—dîners d’État—began in the 1870s under the presidents of the Third Republic. What better way to seduce a potential ally than by plying them with fine French food and wine? Unfortunately, considerable stamina was required, as those 19th century meals could last for hours and include up to 20 different courses.
By the time of World War I, reason had prevailed and the number of courses had dropped to seven. They dropped further in the 1950s when the austere Charles de Gaulle became president, as he cut them to five courses and limited the meal to an hour and 15 minutes.
De Gaulle was followed by Pompidou, who was a bon vivant and loved fancy dinners. Not only did he host state dinners at the Elysée Palace, he also took fine French dining with him when he traveled. He would load his plane with chefs and elegant tableware, then host dinners at the French embassies of the countries he visited.
Despite Pompidou’s enthusiasm, dîners d’État have continued to get shorter, with President Hollande cutting them to their current length of one hour, and four courses. And they have become less frequent. While presidents in the 1960s and 1970s hosted state dinners nearly six times a year, recent presidents have averaged less than two.
A Strict Protocol
Dîners d’État are part of what the French call gastrodiplomie (gastronomic diplomacy), a kind of French soft power, and must display the glories of France.
Held in the Salles des Fêtes of the Elysée Palace (or occasionally at the Grand Trianon of Versailles), they use dishes and silverware from the finest French artisans. Dishes are made by Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres, France’s top porcelain maker, with some elegant pieces from the 19th century still in use. Chrystal is provided by Saint-Louis and, of course, Baccarat. Silverware is made by Chrisofle and Puiforcat, and stamped with the Republique Française coat of arms. And the Elysée kitchen still uses some of the fine copper cookware made over 200 years ago.
The guest list is chosen with great care. Two thirds of the guests are selected by the French president and the rest by the guest of honor. The French selections are carefully balanced, with half coming from politics and business, and the others coming from the worlds of science, the arts, academia, and sports.
Music is provided by the Garde Républicain’s chamber orchestra, with pieces chosen from the guest of honor’s country, though Mozart is also a popular choice.
Planning a State Dinner
Planning a dîner d’État is a high-stakes game, with lots of rules and protocol to follow. And things are even tougher when the guest of honor is none other than Queen Elizabeth II. Has anyone on earth been to more state dinners than the Queen? She was the guest of honor in 2014, on the 70th anniversary of D-Day, at a state dinner attended by multiple monarchs and presidents.
Planners went into overdrive. What dishes should be served? What wines? And what about the music?
After long contemplation, the Elysée’s head chef, Guillaume Gomez, took the safe route. He designed a menu full of classics—the Queen is rather big on tradition, after all. There was foie gras to start, then lamb from Sisteron with vegetables, a cheese course, and a selection of summer desserts.
What about wine? Gomez conferred with the Elysée’s sommelier in the palace’s 12,000-bottle cellar. Again, they went with classics—Sauternes and first-growth Bordeaux. There are occasions when an “edgy” Jurançon from a hip young producer might be appropriate, but this was definitely not one of them.
The cheeses were an interesting choice—Gomez wanted fine cheeses but also those that were easily identifiable, like Rochefort and Reblochon. When there are hundreds of guests to serve in a short period of time, it’s not possible to explain the cheeses to everyone.
As for the music, what could be more, um, interesting than the Beatle’s Yellow Submarine played by a chamber orchestra? Let’s just say that Mozart also made an appearance.
If you’d like an entertaining look at the preparations that went into this dinner, here’s a video for you (in French).
From French monarchs to French presidents, grand dinners have been a tool of the country’s soft power. And with a menu that showcases the glories of French food and wine, who wouldn’t want to be a guest, even vicariously? Bon appétit!
Last year, Val served canned meat for Thanksgiving dinner. You might think this horrified our guests, but in fact it was a big hit. That’s because the canned meat was French confit de canard (duck leg confit) and it was delicious.
We have always loved confit de canard but Val pooh-poohed the idea of getting it out of a can. We would see it at our weekly market in St-Rémy-de-Provence and she would turn up her nose and say it was better at our local butcher.
But then one day we had French friends visit us in California and they brought a can as a gift. We had it for dinner (so easy!) and it was a revelation, as good as in a top French restaurant. And don’t tell our St-Rémy butcher, but it was better than his.
Read all about delicious French canned meats in The Good Life France!