All About French Foods & How To Cook Them At Home

Foie gras from Dordogne, escargots from Burgundy, oysters from Brittany & baguettes from the corner boulangerie! Whether it's a simple sandwich jambon or a 5-course meal, the French food should be a highlight of your trip to Paris, and we're here to help you make it so.

All the best of the foods of France find their way to Paris, the capital of gastronomy. And the food is one of the reasons we love to be in Paris. From an impromptu picnic on the Champs de Mars with a 5€ bottle of Bordeaux and a wedge of creamy Camembert, to a multi-course meal at La Grande Cascade, it will also be your duty (and pleasure) to discover the bounty of best of French food.

Food & Wine Activities

By now it's clear that food is an important part of French and Parisian life, so it should also be an important part of your visit. You'll get a great head start by reading the guides we've mentioned in this article, but if you want to really get into the culinary culture, we always recommended you sign up for a couple of food activities while you're in Paris.

We've collected together our top recommendations and tell you how to sign up. Remember, though, be sure to book in advance, before you leave home. These activities are very popular.

Guide to Paris Food Stores

Caviar, foie gras, oysters, cheese, champagne and of course, truffles. For many regular visitors to Paris (like us!) and for would-be travelers, French food has an irresistible pull to the City of Light.

To get the biggest bite of French gourmet food plan your culinary itinerary in advance, starting with our guide to the best of Paris food stores, including icons like Ladurée and Fauchon.

Food Markets in Paris

Ever wondered what famous French foods you're going to encounter in a Paris street market or one of the city's covered markets? The tradition of weekly and daily markets in France goes back perhaps 2,000 years, to the Romans and the Gauls, and it's still strong today. Markets are where we find the greatest selection and the freshest, best-looking, and tastiest products.

Join us on a virtual walk as we learn all about French markets, unearth the mysteries of the AOC system and find out what all those mysterious produce signs mean!

The Aligre Market in the 12th Arrondissement

Paris is filled with street markets (where stalls line the street on certain days of the week) and market streets (where food shops have concentrated) and they are found in every arrondissement and every neighborhood. But perhaps the greatest food market experience in the city is in the 12th Arrondissement along Rue d'Aligre. Here you'll find stalls and store jam-packed with the best products of France. There are both food shops and food stalls plus one of the few remaining covered markets in Paris.

The 10 Top Cheeses Of France

With something like 1,000 types of cheese produced in the country (and 56 of them with the coveted AOC designation) it can be hard to choose when you drop in our local fromagerie. To get you started, try our easy guide to ten of the top cheeses made in France, from Comté to Pont l'Évêque.

The 10 Best Cheese Shops In Paris

Now that we've told you about the top cheeses of France you're going to want to know where to find them when you're in Paris. That shouldn't be a problem sine there are at least a couple of hundred dedicated cheese shops in the City of Food. We know you don't want to visit all 200, so we've narrowed it down to the 10 best cheese shops in Paris. Les fromageries par excellence.

By the way, most of them are run by women !

The Best Baguette in Paris

Bread is taken seriously in Paris. Every year, the Office of the Mayor holds a competition for the best baguette, the results are published, the list is debated in the media, and Parisians flock to the winning bakeries.

The grand prize winner of the Grand Prix de la Baguette de la Ville de Paris has the honor of supplying baguettes to the President of France at the Élysée Palace for the entire year.

10 Foods Not To Miss At Your Local Epicerie

Paris cuisine is the thing that keeps us coming back time after time after time. The great thing is that these 10 French gourmet staples can be found at virtually every Paris epicerie — small grocery store. Our list starts with duck confit, includes crepes, and ends with escargots. There may just be a surprise in store as well! (See what we did there — "store"?)

Scoop Up the Best Paris Ice Cream

Ice cream in Paris isn't some gaudy-colored industrial product. It's made with the same skill and care and attention to flavors that goes into all the best French foods. We'll tell you where to scoop up the best ice cream on the Right Bank and on the Left Bank and even on the Paris Islands.

Read Our Book of Culinary Adventures

We've spent a lot of time exploring the food culture of France, and we've collected the best of our adventures in the book How to Cook Bouillabaisse in 37 Easy Steps – Culinary Adventures in Paris and Provence. We were absolutely thrilled when it was recognized at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards held in Paris.

We'll tell you more about our book and how you can buy it. It's available at Amazon!

Famous French Foods

As everyone knows, the food of France is word famous, and justly so. No matter where it originates in the country, the best French foods make their way to Paris where the largest hungry population awaits.

So, it's worthwhile before you hop on the plane to learn a little bit about some of the fabulous foods you'll find that may not be all that common — or quite as good — back home.

Some Famous French Foods

• French Cheese…	• Baguettes…
• Croissants…	• Caviar…
• French Butter…	• Oysters…
• Black Truffles…	• Beef, Poultry & Seafood…

Easy French Recipes to Make at Home

After all this talk about the great French food in Paris you probably want to eat some right how. (At least if you're like us!)

It's easier than you might think to turn your kitchen into a French bistro — we do it every night! We're happy to share our recipes with you. So have a look at ten or so staples of French cooking.

Easy French Recipes

• Quiche Lorraine…	• Quiche Pastry Dough…
• Steak au Poivre…	• Coquilles Saint-Jacques…
• Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing…	• French Bread…
• Parisian Roast Chicken…	• Sole Meuniere…
• A French Omelet…	• Duck Magret…

French Dessert Recipes You, Too, Can Make

The only really good way to end a French meal is with a French dessert. Some of the desserts you've eaten in Paris restaurants may have looked complicated, but they're really not that hard to make. We'll share with you four fairly simple recipes that will delight your friends and family. Just don't let on how easy they were!

Four Fabulous French Desserts

• Crême Brûlée…	• French Chocolate Truffles…
• Profiteroles…	• Molleux – Chocolate Cakes…

Paris Food Facts

As we have said many times, Paris is a food city, perhaps the food city, and there are not only a lot of gourmet comestibles but a lot of food lore. Did you know, for instance, that 97% of Parisians eat a baguette every day? Here are a few more fun food facts —

• French law dictates that a baguette can only contain three ingredients — flour, yeast and salt. A baguette also must weigh in at 250 grams. The law was established to keep the precise standards of this essential French food.
• There are over 1,000 varieties of French cheese, and what sets them apart is that many are made from unpasteurized milk, resulting in greater fragrance and flavor.
• There are outdoor food markets found throughout the city, and some of them have been running continuously since the 10th century.