Posts Tagged ‘French Cooking’

Why would anyone need to learn French if they lived in the United States? Where do they speak French?

1. Montreal and Quebec in Canada are French speaking. In fact, if you travel to Montreal or Quebec, it feels the same as being in France.

2. Traveling to Paris or Wine-Country in France is the dream of many people in the United States. Sometimes it is cheaper to fly round-trip to France than it is to go to parts of French speaking Canada that are closer to us.

3. French is considered a very romantic language by many people and it would be fun to be able to say a few phrases in French just to get the attention of someone.

4. Another reason to learn languages is so that we can better understand other cultures. Have you ever taken another language? Doesn’t it make you wonder how that language was ever conceived? All languages aren’t alike. The sounds that you make in French require that you move your tongue and lips in different ways than in English.

5. There is only a limited amount of information that can be shared by expressions and gestures. Knowing another language is very important if you are visiting people who speak differently.

6. French food is very good. If you learn the French language, you will be able to read a French menu or recipe and know what you want to order. Even with wines, the French wines have many French words in their names and they tell you what you can expect from that wine. It won’t be all about the color of the wine. It may also have something about the flavor of the wine or the area where the grapes were harvested.

7. Maybe you want to have an exchange family or student come to the United States and you want to be able to speak to them. Or maybe you want to be part of an exchange to another country.

Author: Lucy Becker
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Latest trends in mobile phone

Tags: exchange family, france 2, French Cooking, french menu, French Wines, french words, latest trends, montreal quebec, romantic language, wine country

When you’re learning to speak French you are usually told that a potato is a “pomme de terre” – which literally translates as apple of the ground. When you go to the market though, it’s much more common to ask for “patates”. It’s just another one of those things that learning French in France gives you – the language that’s in use every day rather than the language of books and CDs. It’s those little nuances that you really can’t pick up any other way.

Dishes with mashed potato – what we know of in the UK as shepherd’s or cottage pie – are called “parmentier”. Quite often these are a mix of beef mince and chunks of pork sausage, which is an unusual combination if you’re used to the English dish but quite nice. It’s not refined French food, this is a peasant dish as it was in the UK. The most interesting thing about “parmentier” though is the tale about how it got it’s name.

It seems back in the 16th century the French would not eat potatoes. As far as they were concerned, potatoes were for pigs, quite literally. The French government even banned the growing of potatoes in 1748, believing they caused leprosy!

Despite the fact that the peasants were starving, and despite every country around them eating them, the French just wouldn’t have it – until Monsieur Parmentier came on the scene.

To cut a long story short, Parmentier, an army pharmacist at the time, was captured in the seven years war by the Russians. While a prisoner he was fed potatoes and saw others eating them with no ill effects. He became convinced of their benefits and on his return to France began to try to spread the word about how good the humble potato could be for people.

Still there was great resistance. No matter how poor, people still thought them pig-food or poisonous. So Parmentier hatched a plan. He planted a large field of potatoes and had the guarded by soldiers day and night. Of course human nature being what it is, the peasants thought that if it was guarded, it must be valuable – so they bribed the guards or stole the potatoes and ate them themselves!

After that, dishes with potato (usually mashed) were called “parmentier”.

The truth might be a bit less romantic, and it was probably famine which finally broke French people’s resistance, but Parmentier did spend years and years working with all levels of society getting his message across and he did plant considerable areas of land for that purpose. Anyway, why let the facts ruin such a great story? Next time you’re having your pomme de terre, or patate, remember Monsieur Parmentier!

Author: Frank English
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Duty on LCD/Plasma TV

Tags: cottage pie, english dish, French Cooking, humble potato, ill effects, learning french in france, parmentier, pig food, pomme de terre, pork sausage