to think that the French can't cook?

[Idratherbemuckingout]

I base this on experience, as I live in France. Okay, they have lovely restaurants, but the general public CANNOT cook.
My friend Dominique has just told my husband that she has bought a turkey for her family. She is going to boil it. He explained how the english cook theirs, but she thought it sounded too complicated.
Hmmm.
In the supermarkets you can of course buy fresh food, but having stood behind french people at the till countless times and seen their mountains of ready prepared meals, I doubt that many of them actually BUY the fresh food. Or if they do, that they cook anything interesting out of it.
I have a friend called Isabelle who is quite mad. We asked her once if she liked spicy food, thinking to cook her a curry. She declared that she did, but that she would bring us her signature dish. Chocolate Chicken. Yes, I kid you not, it was like chicken in chocolate sauce and it was NOT very spicy.
She also once asked us if we liked eating snails, and foolishly we said yes. "Ah," she said, "I 'ave a secret recipe zat I will cook for you. I shall collect snails in my garden (!!!!) and put zem in my snail 'otel and feed them special food and zen we will eat them together."
Well, the first year they died (silent sighs of relief) but the second year she did it again, and we were duly invited to her house. The kids refused point blank to go. DH tried to but I made him come with me. She had cooked us 200 snails. TBH they tasted much like all the other snails I have eaten - snaily. Not enough garlic in my opinion. That wouldn't have been so bad, but she followed it up with duck with apricots (very rich too) and then American Peach Pie. We had indigestion for days.
ANd they can't make coffee either. Never have I been to a french house and had a decent cup of coffee, or tea either if it comes to that.
They don't seem to possess kettles you see, so they heat the water in the microwave, to not boiling point. Then they give you the cup of hot water and a sachet (I kid you not) of instant coffee to stir into it, or a teabag to dunk.
My DS was at the local primary school and after the Christmas (not) spectacular, we stayed for the buffet meal. Poo Sausage was the highlight. You know you are mixing with peasants when the offal is high on the menu.
Poo Sausage (my DH called it that)is actually called Andouille, and is a bit like chitterlings, should any of you know what those are - ie made of some horrible bit of the insides of an animal.

I could go on, but I won't or this is going to look like an essay.

I don't think not possessing a kettle is a particularly French trait. They're unusual in lots of other European countries and the US too. Most people tend to have some sort of filter coffee maker but not an electric kettle ime.

I think it's certainly a fallacy to say every French person can cook or is knowledgeable about food. Certainly I've noticed a massive ready meals section in French supermarkets! They used to be the leaders in cuisine for a long time but I think other countries have taken over, including the UK.

I did learn some foodie things from living in France 15 years ago. How to cook steak - rare (I didn't like it until I tried rare steak in France). How to cook a proper crepe - thin thin thin. What to do with couscous. What do do with lardons. Slow cooked food is more tasty. What proper patisserie tastes like. What really good lager tastes like (though that was strictly Belgian). Beaujolais nouveau is really good especially after the fourth glass, but you will almost certainly leave your jumper behind at a house party while partaking.

We stayed with French friends last year - very little cooking was done. Chips were frozen, steak was fried - that was cooked freshly...all accompaniments were bought in, tarts etc and pudding. Cheese was incredible, as was the wine and the bread and all the other alcohols we were offered but our hosts did not cook, not what we'd call cooking...still not that we minded, we were well cared for but interesting observation made by the OP - it's not the first time I've heard it.

All I remember from the French Exchange I went on when I was 12 was a plate of spaghetti topped with a cold fried egg.

So OP based on my wide and varied experience of many years YANBU.

Oh how could I forget, how to make really good coffee. I bought a French filter machine which lasted me years. I couldn't buy a toaster in the same department store though :( Also when I was there I felt really enormous with massive feet and huge bazoomas. I 'm 5'7", was no more than a size 12 then, 34C bra and size 6.5 shoes.

Three words: Tartare aller-retour

In defence of Americans I have to say that the microwave tea is a modern thing; it's just that if you have a big coffee maker & you don't ever drink any other hot drinks that having a kettle (all hob top sort, electric work too slowly with the USA current) seems superfluous.

While we're slagging off trivial aspects of other cultures, may I formally bid for Italy as having the most revolting restaurant toilets on the planet? Given how gorgeous the food is, how wonderfully everyone dresses, but poo all over the walls in the loo? Perfectly normal & no shame in it (it would seem).

I think we have very different experiences of French cooking. I had hundreds of wonderful meals in Paris when I lived there and almost every French person I know can cook extremely well... In fact I've yet to meet one that can't after 12 year sof living here. Which is more than can be said for the UK.

So IME YABU

I love food. I try everything and would eat anything. Im all for fusion cooking and all sorts of cuisines.

The worst food I have ever had was in parid :(

Have to agree, we've yet to find anywhere in the north-west (where our house is) that can serve us something memorable, delicious, or even just 'nice'. We don't do top restaurants mind, so maybe we're not going to the right places? I just don't understand where the reputation for gourmet food comes from? do't even get me started on DH being vegetarian ("Aah yes, we have fish" "no he eats no meat" "chicken then?" Aaaargh!) Actually, thinking about it there is one place near us that serves really good food, but the chef & owner is Welsh!

We've noticed the same things too in our local supermarkets and with our neighbours - they buy (and I have to assume, eat) crap. Frozen, packaged and tinned/bottled crap. We've also experience the heating water in the microwave thing - what is that about!!?

So I'dratherbe . . . I have to conclude that, No YAmost definitelyNBU

bugger...Paris!

Many French people can't cook because they eat out most of the time, and don't need to learn.

I find French people can cook soup and raw hamburgers, salmon fillets, and fried potatoes, maybe rice, but not much else. Fine if you are in France and the beef is of good quality, not so good if you are in Spain and the meet is dubious. I Have never been so scared I would get worms or worse.

Andy why they think the English boil everything is beyond me.

YABVU

We just spent Christmas weekend with my French MIL. Gorgeous food as always. She even checked the menu with me beforehand to make sure it was ok with my parents and happily changed a couple of things to suit them.

My ex's mother (French) on the otherhand used to manage to burn pasta

So it all depends on who is cooking - much like in the UK!

oh and I know some very good, not pricey restaurants in Paris

Yy Lynette. Worms.

Tartare aller-retour.

Worms.

god, we had some awful food there...worst ive ever ever ever had and im in my late 40's and have been so many places.

Well I haven't read the whole thread but have you considered leaving France? It doesn't sound much like you like it there from your tone!

I correct myself - I have met one French person who can't cook.

Other times when I haven't enjoyed the food it has been because I didn't like the ingredients. Ie shellfish.

Where are you OP?

Yanbu based on my French exchange experience in the 90s.

One night we had rabbit burgers for dinner. Just rabbit burgers alone on the plate.

They didn't have bread for making sandwiches for lunch and the only cheese was bland plain slices.

There was no fruit to snack on.

And my experience of eating out in Paris wasn't much better.

Yeah, and their cheese isn't all that either!

I've had pretty much the same experiences. Funnily enough, I was having a conversation along these lines with DH the other night. You can certainly have a good meal in France, but you have to know where to go. Otherwise you'll just wind up eating something very ordinary, probably with lots of cream poured over it. We came to the conclusion that the two countries we've been where picking a place at random is most likely to get you a good meal are Spain and oddly enough, Germany.

CatPussRoastingByAnOpenFire Tell us why you think their cheese isn't all that?

YANBU!!!!!!

Instant mashed potatoes made with UHT milk. Served with slices of tongue in aspic.

Once a week. I kid you not.

And people who have posted about restaurant experiences are missing the point (et sont tous cons ). We are talking about HOME cooking.

Oops, forgot to say YANBU

What I don't like is being taken for a ride by shops. Why should I put up with that? If I was taken for a ride by a UK shop (or in any other country for that matter) I would be equally annoyed.
BUT - the french have the cheek to call us a nation of shopkeepers. Read into that what you wish about how I view them after our experiences.
And, if you live in France you may THINK you have not been conned in a shop, but I bet you have. As it happens to us regularly almost EVERY week (this is the times we have noticed, so there may be other incidents we have not noticed) I think it is safe to say it is a pretty universal thing. We can't be unlucky enough to have the only dishonest shop keepers in France serving our area. Can we? How unlucky would that be?
AND - the french have this very undeserved reputation and sneer at British food and cooking skills. Okay, there are people the world over that can and can't cook, but why should the french maintain a reputation for which they are unworthy, when we have a host of good chefs in the UK?
ANd we are more cosmopolitan in our tastes, not just in wine.

Living in a country doesn't mean you always want to eat their food, does it? In the UK we can eat (even in the smallest towns) in ordinary British restaurants, Chinese ones, Indians, Greeks, Turkish, Italian, Mexican etc etc.
Try finding a foreign restaurant here. Afraid of the competition.
Okay, there are a few, but far between.
I love good french food, I like living in France, but there is nothing to say that I have to like EVERYTHING about it, much as I never liked everything about living in the UK.
You have to be able to discriminate and not just accept everything as being "perfect" just because it is french.