Drinking in France The French have a fairly easy going relationship with alcohol. Kids are introduced carefully to wine at family dinners rather than by sneaking around. People will usually eat a good meal when drinking and they generally don’t drink to get drunk. Wine is drunk in restaurants and at home with the meal. In bars people usually drink beer and spirits. It is possible in France to buy a whole bottle of spirits over the bar at a fairly reasonable price. The barman will provide you with as many glasses, ice and mixers as you require and if you don’t finish it they will write your name on the bottle and hold it for up to 12 months. Beer is usually tap (called pression) beer of the French variety such as Kronenbourg or 1664. Heineken is also popular and of course the ubiquitous Fosters. In the north there is the interesting influence of Belgian beer and its many different fruit flavours. In the south the big drink is pastis which is an aniseed tasting liquor developed in Provence. It is clear, but goes cloudy with the addition of water. Ricard is the biggest selling brand along with Pernod and is really best left to the crusty old black beret wearing types.
French wine regions: Bordeaux, Bergerac, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone, Champagne, Languedoc-Roussillon, Cognac, Chablis, Sancerre, Armagnac Wikipedia article on French wine Wines of France website Alsace region official wine site Bordeaux area official wine site Burgundy wine official site Champagne region official wine site Rhone Valley wine official site Wine Lingo – talking a good game Cognac and Armagnac - both are brandy producing regions along the central west coast of France, but most people have only heard of Cognac. The French will tell you that the only difference between the two is marketing and many in the know prefer Armagnac over Cognac. Champagne comes from the Champagne region otherwise it is sparkling wine. Bordeaux comes from Bordeaux, Burgundy from Burgundy and so on.
Cardonnay comes from Fountain Lakes and is not available in France, neither is Bundy Rum so BYO. We wont wax on about wine. It is there to be appreciated not talked about. It ranges from good to bloody marvellous (except for the stuff that comes in the brown plastic 5 litre barrels) with the price tending to correspond with the length of the name. In Brittany they have compensated for their lack of vineyards by inventing cider and calvados (kind of an apple moonshine). Bretons work hard and play hard. The Sieur d'Arques winery in Limoux near Carcassonne (Languedoc-Roussillon Region) extends a warm welcome to visiting Australians.

Food and Dining
The range of food available and dining options in France is pretty impressive and its not as pricey as you might think, in fact eating out can often be cheaper than in Oz.

There are quite a few foods and dishes that may be new to you, but an adventurous palette will be rewarded. See our food dictionary.

If you were to nominate one food that is most central to the French diet that would be cheese (fromage). Workers at smoko will eat wheels of cambembert like an Aussie would eat a pie or an apple. The variety of cheeses available is staggering and the price is very reasonable. Every region has its own varieties and treats them the same way as wine. Names like Camembert, Brie and Roquefort are named after the place in which they are made and have strict rules about the naming of cheeses just like the controls on wine. For an idea of what a big deal cheese is, see the International Cheese Database.

A trip to the supermarket (hypermarche) or even village market is an adventure in itself.

Types of Restaurants
Restaurants cover a multitude of sins, but in this case will be used to refer those that are listed in the Michelin Guide. Usually they will have Menu Formule (formula menus) that have a set price like 12, 17, 25 Euro. You get 3 to 4 courses with a choice of 2 or 3 dishes per course. This represents pretty good value as ordering individual dishes a la carte at the same restaurant works out more expensive. When was the last time you had a four course meal in an Australian restaurant for around 30 bucks?
Bistros are small, intimate, informal, usually moderately priced restaurants. Traditionally, they were small family run restaurants with a limited, but respectable menu.
Brasserie is French for brewery. Most started life as large busy bars that served food, now they are more like restaurants that do a good range of beers. Typically brasseries are large, bustling, metropolitan establishments that serve several daily specials.
Cafés are a French institution. Not just somewhere for café and a croissant, many serve substantial meals as well, such as entrecôte (steak) with french fries (frites). Most cafés are bars as well and don’t seem to be bound by silly concepts such as opening hours. If you want a beer at 8.00am that’s quite ok.
Pizzerias and trattorias are common in France, and one of the few ‘ethnic’ cuisines they do well. They are usually a reliable and cheap option and most are licensed.
Table d'hôte is a French phrase which literally means host's table but is used to indicate a menu where multi-course meals with limited choices are charged at a fixed rate. Such a menu may also be called prix fixe ("fixed price") and consist of several courses (usually appetizer, entree, main and dessert, plus wine and/or coffee). This is usually very good value.
Relais Routiers are small family run inns in the countryside usually located along Routes Nationale that are popular with truckies and travelling business people for lunch. They have a set menu that changes daily and is usually very good. Typically you will get entree, main, dessert, cheese and coffee plus a bottle of house wine for about 10 Euro. Make sure you get there early because the good ones are very popular. Most do dinner too. Les Routiers are real local's joints so dont expect bi-lingual staff and a fancy menu.
Fast food: all the major food groups are represented in France’s major cities, much to the resentment of traditionalists who have been known to blow up or drive their tractor through the odd McShite outlet. At least you can get a beer or wine to go with your ‘Royale avec Cheese’. If you must have a burger, why not try the local version called Quick.

Check out our short cut to restaurant French.

If you ever get invited to someone’s place for dinner it is usually a great experience. They tend to go all out, starting with pre dinner drinks (aperitif) usually beer and spirits. There is often a wine to go with each course (up to 5) including dessert. The coup de grace is the ‘digestif’, often Cognac, Armagnac or some regionally derived rocket fuel (eau de vie – the water of life). The theory is that this stuff gets in there and ‘vaporises’ most of the calories you’ve just consumed much the same way that Drano does. There may be something to that theory as the rate of obesity is far lower in France than the English speaking countries. In Australia we have either lost or never had many of the dining traditions of the Mediterranean countries.

These meals can go for hours and require some staying power, but it gives a nice insight into French family life where there could be three or four generations at the table discussing anything and everything.