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An after-dinner spirit is offered, not poured, and it arrives in a very small glass. Its function is to mark the end of the meal rather than...
Directly on the cloth, torn not cut, and present from the beginning to the end of the meal. There is no butter with it unless there is somet...
From October, French hosting shifts to gratins, roasts and things that live in the oven for an hour. The house smells right, the kitchen war...
Sunday midday is the fixed family meal in France, and it holds across generations. Nothing is scheduled against it, and the invitation does ...
French children sit with the adults, eat the same food, and stay for the length of the meal. There is no separate children menu and no early...
Fully laid, including glasses, before the first guest is at the door. Laying a table with people in the room makes them feel they arrived to...
Clearly, quickly and without elaborate excuse. A French no is easier to receive than a vague maybe, and declining does not damage the relati...
September brings the first indoor dinners of the year and the French use them to restart social circles wholesale. Invitations cluster in th...
French apartment buildings hold an annual fete des voisins, and beyond it the convention is that neighbours are greeted but not befriended b...
The apero drink is usually wine, kir, pastis or something on ice with two ingredients. Mixing drinks to order puts the host behind a bar, wh...
Coffee is served after dessert, small, black, and usually away from the table. It is the signal that the meal has ended and the evening is n...
A French host who spends the evening in the kitchen has planned badly. Everything is done before guests arrive, and the host eats what every...
The August meal is lunch, not dinner, and it lasts until the afternoon is gone. It starts around one and the table is not cleared with any u...
Cheese between main and dessert is a structural device as much as a course. It fills twenty minutes with no work, lets the table breathe, an...
Half a bottle per guest for a dinner, plus one spare. French hosts buy fewer, better bottles rather than more, cheaper ones, and nobody is t...
What do you do is not the opening question at a French table. Conversation starts with what is happening rather than what people are, and pr...
A French dinner is often a single main dish, preceded by something bought and followed by cheese. Three-course complexity is restaurant beha...
Provencal rose is drunk cold, young and without ceremony from June to September, and then abandoned entirely. It is a seasonal drink, and dr...
Guests arrive at 20h, sit at 21h, and leave near midnight. The gap between arrival and the table is deliberate: it is where the evening actu...
Wine, flowers or chocolates. Never a dish, unless it was agreed in advance. Bringing food unasked implies the host might not have enough, wh...
Guests arriving at a French home are shown to a seat, not around the flat. The house is not on display, and asking to see the rest of it wou...
An apero has a beginning and an end, usually 18h to 20h, and it does not become a meal. Guests know they are leaving to eat elsewhere, which...
From June, French meals move outdoors wherever there is any outdoor space at all, however small. A balcony with two chairs counts, and the m...
The French rule: match the wine to the season, not the food. Light whites and roses in summer. Reds in winter. This simple principle elimina...
When French hosts invite you over, they never say "excuse the mess" or "sorry it is small." They welcome you warmly into whatever space they...
French dessert at home is rarely a baked showpiece. It is fruit, perhaps with cream. A slice of good chocolate. A simple yogurt with honey. ...
The French do not wait for perfect conditions to have people over. A roast chicken, a green salad, bread, cheese, and wine. That is a comple...
A French dinner table has: plates, glasses, cutlery, cloth napkins, and a single low arrangement. No placemats over tablecloths. No plastic ...
In France, the aperitif is sacred. It is the 30 minutes before dinner where guests arrive, drinks are poured, and conversation begins. Simpl...