French cuisine is characterized by its extreme diversity. French cuisine is considered to be one of the world's most refined and elegant styles of cooking, and is renowned for both its classical ("haute cuisine") and provincial styles. Many of the world's greatest chefs, such as Taillevent, La Varenne, Carême, Escoffier, or Bocuse were masters of French cuisine. Additionally, French cooking techniques have been a major influence on virtually all Western cuisines, and almost all culinary schools use French cuisine as the basis for all other forms of Western cooking.

Diversity
Traditionally, each region of France have their own distinctive cuisine:

• Cuisine from northwest France uses butter, cream (crème fraîche), and apples.
  
• Cuisine from southeast France uses olive oil, herbs, and tomatoes.

• Cuisine from southwest France uses duck fat, foie gras, porcini mushrooms (cèpes), and gizzards.
  
• Cuisine from northern France uses potatoes, porks, endive and beer, and shows Flemish cuisine influences.
  
• Cuisine from eastern France uses lard, sausages, beer, and sauerkraut, and shows German cuisine influences.

Besides these four general areas, there are many more local cuisines, such as Loire Valley cuisine (famous for its delicate dishes of freshwater fish and Loire Valley white wines), Basque cuisine (famous for its use of tomatoes and chili) and the cuisine of Roussillon, which is similar to Catalonian cuisine. With the movements of population of contemporary life, such regional differences are less noticeable than they used to be, but they are still clearly marked, and one travelling across France will notice significant changes in the ways of cooking and the dishes served. Moreover, recent focus of French consumers on local, countryside food products (produits du terroir) means that the regional cuisines are experiencing a strong revival in the early 21st century, especially as the slow food movement is gaining popularity.

What is often known outside of France as "French cuisine" is the traditionally-elaborate haute cuisine, served in restaurants for high prices. This cuisine is mostly influenced by the regional cuisines of Lyon and northern France, with a marked touch of refinement. It should be noted, however, that average French people do not eat or prepare this cuisine in their everyday life. As a general rule, elderly people tend to eat the regional cuisine of the region where they are located (or the region where they grew up), while younger people will be more inclined to eat dishes from other regions and foreign dishes.

French wine and French cheese are an integral part of French cuisine (both high cuisine and regional cuisines), both as ingredients and accompaniments. France is known for its large ranges of wines and cheeses.

Exotic cuisines, particularly Chinese cuisine and some dishes from former colonies in Northern Africa (couscous), have made inroads.

Ingredients
French regional cuisine uses locally-grown vegetables. Let us cite:

• Potatoes
  
• Green beans
  
• Carrots
  
• Leeks
  
• Turnips
  
• Aubergines (eggplants in American English)

• Courgettes (zucchini in American English)
  
• Mushrooms such as Champignons de Paris, truffles, oyster mushrooms (pleurotes), Porcinis (bolets and cèpes), and other mushrooms, in order of increasing rarity and price.

Common fruits include:

• Oranges
  
• Tomatoes
  
• Tangerines
  
• Peaches

• Apricots
  
• Apples
• Pears
  

Meats commonly consumed include:

• Chicken
  
• More rarely, other poultry such as turkey, duck, Guinea fowl, and rarely goose.
  
• Beef
  
• Veal
  
• More rarely mutton (generally, lamb).

Horse meat is available from special butcher stores (boucheries chevalines), but a minority of people consume it.

Fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as fish and meat, are purchased either from supermarkets and grocery stores, either from markets. Street markets are held on certain days in most localities; towns of a certain importance generally have a "covered market" in which food stores, especially meat and fish retailers, can find better shelter. Generally, a street market for vegetables takes places on certain days outside such "covered markets".

Present-day food and drink in France
For French people, cooking is part of culture, and cooking and good food are well appreciated. The French generally take a high pride in the cuisine of their country, and some, particularly in the older generations, are reluctant to experiment with foreign dishes.

Structure of meals
The normal meal schedule begins by a light breakfast in the morning, generally consisting of:

• Bread with jam and butter spreads (tartines), often replaced nowadays by breakfast cereals.
  
• Coffee or tea
  
• Fruit

Hotel breakfasts often contain croissants, but most people eat croissants at breakfast at home only on special occasions.

Lunch is had at some point between noon and 2 pm, and dinner in the evening (often, 7.30 pm). A normal complete meal consists of:

• Appetizers, often consisting of crudités (raw vegetables), or a salad.
  
• Main dish (generally, meat or fish with a side of vegetables, pasta, rice or fries).
  
• Cheese and/or dessert (fruit or cake).

Meals, particularly lunch, are often followed by a cup of coffee.

Alcoholic products may be consumed as follows:

• The meal may be preceded by an apéritif, typically some dose of flavoured Vermouth or some Pastis.
  
• Wine is often drunk on the meal, though this is rarer today. Occasionally, people consume beer. Typically, wine or beer is chosen to match with the food.
  
• The meal may be followed by a digestif — some small dose of liqueur or other high alcoholic spirit, but this is uncommon.
  

Festive meals may include several main dishes. Some meals incorporate a trou normand — some small dose of a highly alcoholic liquor or sorbet, perhaps calvados, which props up appetite for what follows.

In large cities most working people and students eat their lunch at a cafeteria. In the case of smaller companies, it is commonplace that the employer distributes lunch vouchers (Ticket Restaurant, etc.) that workers use to pay for meals in neighbouring budget restaurants. It is to be noted that corporate and school cafeterias normally serve complete meals (appetizers, main dish, dessert); it is not usual for students to bring sandwiches. In smaller cities and towns, some working people leave their offices to return home for lunch, generating four rush hours during the day (8 am, 12 pm, 2 pm, and 6 pm).

With contemporary lifestyle, especially the reduced number of housewives, the French rely a lot more on canned or frozen foods for weekdays. Cooking evening or weekend meals from fresh ingredients is still popular. In most cities, there are street markets selling vegetables, meat and fish, several times a week; however, most of those products are now bought at hyper- or supermarkets.

Drink
Traditionally, France has been a culture of wine consumption. While this characteristic has lessened with time, even today, many French people drink wine daily. The consumption of low-quality wines during meals has been greatly reduced. Beer is especially popular with the youth. Other popular alcoholic drinks include pastis (in the south), an aniseed-flavoured beverage drunk diluted with cold water, especially in the summer, or cider in the northwest.

The legal drinking age for most spirits is 16. However, it is not customary that shopkeepers or bartenders check for the age of consumers, and teenagers eating with their family in restaurants will be served wine if the family requests so. On the other hand, it is very unusual to witness the kind of public inebriation that is customary in English or Scandinavian cities on Saturday nights. Usually, parents tend to forbid the consumption of alcohol to their children before they reach their early teens. Students and young adults are known to drink heavily during parties (vodka and tequila being very popular), but usually drunkenness is not displayed in public. Public consumption of alcohol is legal, but driving under the influence can result in severe penalties.

Cuisine bourgeoise
Cuisine bourgeoise, which includes all the classic French dishes which are not (or no longer) specifically regional, and which have been adapted over the years to suit the taste of the affluent classes. This type of cooking includes the rich, cream-based sauces and somewhat complex cooking techniques that many people associate with French cuisine. At the 'top end' of this category is what is known as haute cuisine, a highly complex and refined approach to food preparation and kitchen management.

Because this kind of cuisine is what is often served abroad under the name of "French cuisine", many foreigners mistakenly believe that typical French meals involved complex cooking and rich, un-dietetic dishes. In fact, such cooking is generally reserved for special occasions, while typical meals are simpler.

Cuisine du terroir
Cuisine du terroir, which covers regional specialities with a strong focus on quality local produce and peasant tradition. Many dishes that fall in this category do not stand out as stereotypically "French," sometimes because regional cooking styles can be quite different from the elaborate dishes seen in French restaurants around the world.

Cuisine nouvelle
Cuisine nouvelle or nouvelle cuisine, which developed in the 1970s as a reaction to traditional cuisine, under the influence of chefs such as Michel Guérard. This type of cooking is characterized by shorter cooking times, much lighter sauces and dressings, and smaller portions presented in a refined, decorative manner. Its modern, inventive approach sometimes includes techniques and combinations from abroad (especially Asia) and has had a profound influence on cooking styles all over the world.

Today
Food fashions and trends in France tend to alternate between these three types of cuisine; today (2004) there is a distinct focus on cuisine du terroir, with a return to traditional rustic cooking and the "forgotten" flavours of local farm produce. The "fusion" cuisine popular in the English-speaking world is not widespread in France, though some restaurants in the capital have a "fusion" theme, and many modern French chefs are influenced by a variety of international cooking styles.

Vegetarianism is not widespread in France, and few restaurants cater for vegetarians. Veganism is hardly known or represented at all.

As a general rule, foreign "exotic" restaurants can be more readily found in large urban centres.

Notable dishes

Famous French dishes

• French breads
  
• Blanquette de veau
  
• Boeuf a la mode
  
• Coq au Vin (rooster simmered in wine)
  
• Cheeses
  
• Lamb Navarin
  
• Oysters are generally eaten raw; cooking oysters is uncommon.
  
• Pot-au-feu, a kind of beef stew.
  
• Steak au poivre
  
• Souffle
  

Quick food
The following dishes can generally be ordered in brasseries:

• Steak frites (steak with fries; fries can often be replaced by haricots verts — string beans).
  
• Poulet frites (chicken with fries)
  
• Croque monsieur (a grilled Swiss cheese sandwich with a slice of ham)

Generally speaking, frites (French fries) are a common side order for lower-end French-style restaurants. The French generally believe that fries are of Belgian origin; a typically Belgian dish is steamed mussels with a side of fries.

A typical simple, cheap, quick meal consists of pasta (often spaghetti) with tomato sauce.

Common canned food

• Cassoulet
  
• Raviolis (Italian specialty)
  
• Paella (Spanish specialty)
  
• Couscous (Northern African specialty)
  
• Choucroute garnie

Common salty pies

• Flammekueche from Alsace (crème fraîche, onions, and lardoons)
  
• Famiche from Artois-Picardy (with leeks or Maroilles cheese)
  
• Quiche from Lorraine
  
• Pissaladière from Nice (with anchovies and olives)
  Tarte flambée
  

Famous but untypical dishes
The following dishes are considered typical of French cuisine in some foreign countries, but actually are infrequently eaten:

• Cuisses de grenouilles (Frogs' legs)
  
• Escargots (edible snails)

• Crêpes (a speciality of Brittany)
  
• Mousse au chocolat
  
• Pastries
  
• Mille-feuilles
  
• Eclairs
  
• Baba au rhum
  
• Chous
  
• Tarts

Specialties by region/city

• Alsace:
  
  • Choucroute garnie (sauerkraut with sausages, salt pork and potatoes)
    
  • Spätzle
    
  • Baeckeoffe
    
  • Kouglof
    
  • Bredela
    
  • Beerawecka
    
  • Mannala
    
• Alps:
  
  • Raclette (melted cheese served with potatoes, ham and often dried beef)

• Fondue savoyarde (fondue made with cheese and white wine into which cubes of bread are dipped)
  
• Gratin dauphinois
  
• Tartiflette (a Savoyard gratin with potatoes, Reblochon cheese, cream and pork)
  
• Artois-Picardy:
  
  • andouillette of Cambrai
    
  • Carbonnade (meat stewed in beer)
    
  • Potjevlesch (a four-meat terrine)
    
  • Waterzoï (a sweet water fish stew)
    
  • Escavêche (a cold terrine of sweet water fish in wine and vinegar)
    
  • Hochepot (four meats stewed with vegetables)
    
• Auvergne:
  
  • Tripoux (tripe 'parcels' in a savoury sauce)
    
  • Truffade (potatoes sautéed with garlic and young
  • Tomme cheese)
    
  • Aligot (mashed potatoes blended with young Tomme cheese)
    
  • Pansette de Gerzat (lamb tripe stewed in wine, shallots and blue cheese)
    
• Brittany:
  
  • Crêpes
    
  • Far Breton (a flan with prunes)
    
  • Kik ar Fars (boiled pork dinner with a kind of dumpling)
    
  • Kouign amann (a form of shortbread made with a very large proportion of butter)
    
• Burgundy:
  
  • Boeuf Bourguignon (beef stewed in red wine)
    
  • Escargots de Bourgogne (snails baked in their shells with parsley butter)
    
  • Fondue bourguignonne (fondue made with oil in which pieces of meat are cooked)
    
  • Gougère (cheese in chou pastry)
    
  • Pochouse (fish stewed in red wine)
    
• Lorraine:
  
  • Quiche Lorraine
    
  • Potée Lorraine
    
  • Pâté Lorrain
    
• Côte d'Azur/Provence:
  
  • Bouillabaisse (a stew of mixed Mediterranean fish, tomatoes, and herbs)
    
  • Ratatouille
    
  • Pieds et paquets Lambs' feet and tripe 'parcels' in a savoury sauce
    
• Nimes:
  
  • Brandade de morue (puréed salt cod)
• Normandy:
  
  • Tripes à la mode de Caen (tripe cooked in cider and calvados)
    
  • Matelote (fish stewed in cider)
    
• Southwest:
  
  • Cassoulet (a dish made with beans, sausages and preserved duck or goose)
    
  • Foie gras (the liver of a force-fed duck or goose

Un-French dishes
The following dishes may be thought of as French but really are not.

Crème brûlée, actually invented in England, or perhaps in Spain.

Crepes Suzette invented in the United States of America by a French chef.

Peach Melba invented in the England by Escoffier for an Australian diva.