Do the French eat Crackers ?

[gentlegreen]

What do they dip into their Camembert when they want something more croustillant than that weird bread of theirs ?

 

[mauvais]

Melba toast or whatever it is?

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Biscotte

 

[gentlegreen]

I bought a Jamaican "Spice Bun" and I quite like it - though I think I'll forgo the canned cheddar that it's apparently traditional to eat with it ...

 

[pogofish]

Do the French eat Crackers ?

No. They eat biscuits.

Crackers is an americanism that came along a very very long time after the French (and everyone else in Europe) started baking their own biscuits. Indeed, one of the founders of the US's industrial biscuit and later cracker industry was an expat French biscuit baker.

Also, American crackers are derived from British naval biscuits (AKA Hard Tack) and tend to be significantly different and more tasteless when compared with their European counterparts.

 

[gentlegreen]

Looking at their shopping sites, "biscuits" don't look anything like our "biscuits for cheese" ...

 

[gentlegreen]

Holy crap - 3.3 Euros for a packet of table water biscuits :-

http://www.ooshop.com/WebForms/Catalogue/RechercheResult.aspx?MS=crackers

 

[The Boy]

Holy crap - 3.3 Euros for a packet of table water biscuits :-

http://www.ooshop.com/WebForms/Catalogue/RechercheResult.aspx?MS=crackers

erreur

 

[gentlegreen]

I spoke to a real Frenchman at the pub yesterday (well, Belgian apparently), and he said crackers are too salty - it's always bread.

Apparently they eat "TUC" biscuits by themselves with beer ...

 

[dilute micro]

Anyone else think the French are way overrated on the culinary end?

 

[tarannau]

Compared to what? You can't really fault the French for their huge role ins shaping much Western and contemporary cooking. OK, they're increasingly prone to fast food and the same habits as rest of the Western world, but in general there's a strong, if more hidebound, culture of eating out and hospitality.

 

[gentlegreen]

The same French colleague pointed out that there are vastly more ready-meals in French supermarkets these days.

Eating out over there is certainly regarded as important - they have a reduced VAT rate of 5.5 percent for "la restauration" - the continued use of the word as a verb (and its original meaning) seems pertinent...

 

[dilute micro]

Compared to what?

Compared to the people that have crackers.


And Italy.

 

[tarannau]

Italy's even more hidebound than France imo. Both strong cultures, but the French were arguably far more important in finessing cuisine and exporting their techniques - the number of exiled royal court chefs probably helped to be fair.

Frankly I'd rather have the range and flexibility of produce available to me in London, but I suspect I'd feel differently if I was stuck in a provincial pie eating town with only supermarkets nearby.

 

[Lea]

I've never seen French eat their cheese with crackers. It's always with bread.

 

[Dan U]

i could only find one type of cracker/biscuit in a french supermarket recently.

i think when they are bored of bread and cheese they eat cheese and cheese.

 

[gentlegreen]

i think when they are bored of bread and cheese they eat cheese and cheese.

damn these French and their moreish cholesterol