How can I be more "French"?

[hangingoutattheendofmywick]

So this morning I did an Ocado shop and stumbled across the world foods department. There is a French section and I was immediately transported to my holidays when I was young at Keycamp in France. I basically ordered a shed load of French delights and as I'm currently really down in the dumps and life is a bit shite I've decided to BE more French.

Other than learning the language again (I've lost it since GCSE) and eating / drinking all my French delights I'm wondering what I can do to make my life a bit more French. Any ideas?

I'm looking for :
Music
Literature
Recipes
Drinks
General ways of living.

Ta!

Oh yes, definitely agree with the dog poo.

Let your dog poo all over the sidewalk & on the street between the cars. Do NOT pick up the poo. When surprised tourists say "Wow, it's so nice here and we'd love to look around more but we can't take our eyes off the ground in case we step in dog shit. Why is there so much of it everywhere?", snub them with a curt "Where else should they do their toilet? At home?" (I witnessed this exact conversation)

Emily - Bins are emptied every day here in the South. Frankly, I'd expect nothing less, given the extortionate levels of tax d'habitation that we pay.

Branleuse
When driving, do not stop at zebra crossings. Weave in and out of traffic on motorways, and definitely dont bother looking for traffic coming up behind you at speed in the lane youve just weaved into without indicating. This is even more important the further south you go.

I laughed at this! I bought my first car from a lovely French colleague. Obviously it was left hand drive, and there was just the one wing mirror on the driver's side. On asking him how he managed to master the blind spots created by this lack of a second mirror, he threw his arms up and said, simply, 'you only need to worry about what's in front of you, the rest can avoid you'

Dress in as chic a manner as you can in the morning, and don't change later for dinner - just some lippy and tie your scarf differently. It's a real British thing to 'dress for dinner' and suggests you'll be in your safe suburban home putting the kids to bed before you go out. French women just drift into evening activities seamlessly. lord knows where their kids are

I've been feeling a bit homesick for France after reading this thread, so much so that I had to put on a bit of French music in the car this morning on my way to work.

I'm very embarrassed (but not so much I won't share ) that I put on my old French-speaking Celine Dion CD that I've had since I was 16. That's what happens when you grow up in France, your sense of musicality gets completely shot. It's completely nostalgic, and I like to argue that Celine Dion's French music is nothing like the terrible English-speaking stuff she's produced.

Being a teenager in the late 90s, I used to listen to Patrick Bruel, Pascal Obispo, Calogero and Zazie - also Francis Cabrel, you can't get more French than a bushy mustachioed guitar player who sings about the countryside (and is also mayor of a small village). And let's not forget the classic NSFW Mylene Farmer. Atrocious music and 'interesting' videos. You can find these guys on YouTube. You can thank me later (or not)

Côte, yes I remember the everyday binmen in the south (normally about 5am). I guess though, apart from this week, your rubbish normally starts to smell a bit faster than ours. Our taxe d'hab is pretty high too, though.
I also remember all the chic, stick-thin women in the Var.; quite a shock round here when we moved, to see very heavy, pear-shaped women dressed in polyester and tucking into huge portions of rice pudding with such gusto.
That's it though really isn't it? There isn't just one France.
I guess the OP needs to choose which bit of French she wants to be.

This bin thing. I remember staying in a gite in the early 90s. We put all our rubbish in a sort of huge communal bin. It was absolutely crawling with maggots.

Cote, I'm in England. Bins are emptied FORTNIGHTLY!

Oh yes the bins are up the road. Takes about half an hour stopping for a bisous and chat with all the neighbours....

Binmen pass at about 8 PM around these parts. I know because the truck makes a noise like Armageddon. I wouldn't want them to pass at 5 AM tbh.

I was in London when I realised that bins are emptied maybe once a week. AND you are not allowed to put them in the garbage bins on the street. I still wonder what people do. Live with their rubbish in the house? Do they have a rubbish room? Does it all get stocked on the balcony?

Vive entente cordiale!

The herb apericubes are my favourite.

Maman I'm not being rude, just observing.

We spend a lot of time in France, my parents spend longer. It is a rural area and the local people have been very welcoming, while at the same time clearly being bemused by various of the things that we do. It is all dismissed with a shrug of 'les Anglais', which is totally good humoured but very much in same vein as my post above.

You are being unnecessarily defensive.

These are the same neighbours that we drink kir aligote and eat aperocubes come 7pm.

This thread has made me yearn for an apericube....despite not really knowing what they are! Cubes of flavoured Laughing Cow cheese? They don't look very chic bit I will defer to the French on this.

Mysotis Considering that you are criticising some of us for 'using clichés You display an interesting disdain of the provincials that is also a cliche;. I remember the Parisians being extremely snobbish about them, for no good reason, apart from wishing to appear superior which is an unkind trait.

But isn't that the same in any country. People in London (journalists) talk about other areas of Britain as 'the provinces'.

Oh dear. I suppose for your entertainment, I could photograph the faces of my traditional French friends when I tell them that Mumsnet says only the English take ice in their rose however... I'd quite like to maintain relations cordiales so I'll probably just let them have their ice.

Add message | Report | Message poster ppeatfruit Thu 02-Jul-15 10:28:26

We had a party to introduce ourselves to the village, we stupidly chose a Sunday so the world and his wife turned up and were very snippy about our soup until it was tested out, Then they enjoyed it thoroughly and were very surpised that the "anglais' could cook something good!

Yes! I have been grilled over my cooking too.
What do you cook? Le Pizza? Le takeaway? Oh ho ho!
I had to list a few things and was then grilled on how exactly I prepared them.
I've had less tense job interviews!

biscetti I think the code de la route states you must remain in control of your vehicle at all times so if you go into the back of someone's car you are at fault from an insurance point of view, regardless of how they were driving.

I thought dogs were supposed to poo in the gutter in france?

I agree that the difference in bin emptying frequency is probably due to cooler temperatures.

As a French mum living in the UK, I am having a lot of fun reading the replies to this post, thank you!

I would say that French culture for people my age (in their 30s) is:
Music: Jean Jacques Goldman, Vanessa Paradis
Movies: all the movies with Sophie Marceau, also "les bronzés", "le pere Noel est une ordure", more recent "l'auberge espagnole", "Amelie Poulain"
TV: les inconnus, un gars une fille
Comic books: asterix et obelix
Books: all the classics that were mentioned, although Proust is a bit too much for me! In more recent literature: les yeux jaunes des crocodiles

Misc: a lot of interest in politics, having an opinion about everything, protesting in the streets...
L'apéro est vraiment sacré - very important :)

However, I have always preferred British music and British or American movies/TV shows, like many French people! So therefore I do not have a lot of recent references... Sorry.

Enjoy!

Marion.

PS: I am a vegetarian - yes it exists in France!

I remember the Parisians being extremely snobbish about them, for no good reason, apart from wishing to appear superior which is an unkind trait.

Huh. Just about every single one of my friends here is from the 'provinces'. Everyone comes here for work.
Nantes, Nancy, Bretagne (not sure where), the lady upstairs est une vrai pied noire', Clermont-Ferrand, etc.

Mince, j'ai mal conjugué ces adjectives. Bother concordance.

marion if you want a taste of French music, you can get Cherie fm and a few other radios from the net/apps.
It's a nice way to 'be' French maybe ?

Strange if it's anything like London, those who grew up in the home counties or provinces are all the keener to identify as city folk. The "proper Londoners live in zone 1 in a rented flat" thing, ignoring all the established residents.
Does this happen in other cities?

Ppeatfruit,

So, only English can make use of clichés about French, here? Interesting.

For your record, I'm a Ch'ti, grown-up in a village & my MIL is Pied-Noir.

I've also lived later in Paris, London and Canada. And I maintain that what you claim having witnessed may just apply in your tiny village and cannot summarize the French culture on its own. There are LOTS of differences between French as well as between English, I suppose. I for instance feel closer to Belgium than from Southern French, being from the North.