France is of course, renowned for being the home of haute cuisine, fiery chefs and high-end restaurants and a mecca for enthusiastic foodies the world over. It wasn’t always like that though and France truly came into its own as a culinary powerhouse in the 17th century when Francois Pierre La Varenne – pre-dating today’s raft of celebrity chefs with books out each year by centuries – released Le Cuisinier Francois. This book was truly revolutionary and signalled a move away from Italian cuisine and signalled the birth of French cuisine as we know it.
Fast-forward to today, and France is as popular a tourist destination as ever, with the expanding river cruise industry offering tourists even more opportunities to explore the country in new and exciting ways. Most of the leading river cruise lines offer voyages along France’s most celebrated rivers, including the Seine which passes through Paris, which is of course home to some of the country’s finest restaurants. Then there’s the Rhone, which passes through some of France’s most famous wine-growing regions, such as Provence and Burgundy. After all, good wine is the perfect accompaniment to good food.
So, vive la France, vive la river cruises and vive la French cuisine. Here’s a look at some of the finest dishes you can sample while on your French river cruise, to get a true taste of this truly culinary country.
Paris
Your Seine river cruise will no doubt start in the legendary French capital and here, it’s fair to say you’ll be able to find any dish you want, drawn from any French region. There is of course much more to French cuisine than baguettes and croissants, though admittedly they are well-known for a reason and if you really want to indulge yourself with a big fat tourist cliché, why not do it in Paris?
Normandy
If you find yourself in Normandy on your river cruise and you want to get an authentic taste of the region, then gird your stomach for stomach, because Tripes a la mode de Caen is a traditional dish here and consists of tripe cooked in cider and calvados. Moules a la crème Normande is another popular dish, which is mussels cooked in white wine, Normandy cider garlic and cream. A good old apple pie rounds out the menu for dessert.
Burgundy
Burgundy’s reputation for fine wine goes before it and indeed red wine features in two of its signature dishes, Boeuf bourguignon, which is beef stewed in red wine and Coq au vin, or chicken braised in red wine. I’ve not mentioned snails yet in this blog, so with that in mind, Burgundy’s the place to try them Bourgogne-style, that is, baked in their shells with parsley butter.
Rhone Alpes
The Rhone Alpes region is great for cheese lovers and a number of signature dishes feature it. Why not try Raclette, which is cheese melted on potatoes and ham, or Tartiflette, which is a gratin served with potatoes, Reblochon cheese and pork. There’s a chance to hark back to your 1970s hostess trolley days too, as fondue is very popular here as well.
Provence
There’s a huge range of dishes on offer in this ever-popular region of southern France. The famous Ratatouille is a key dish from this region and for those not in the know, is a stew consisting of aubergine, courgette, bell pepper, tomato, onion, garlic and olive oil. Indeed, stews and soups are popular here, with Bouillabaisse – a fish-based stew – and bean soup also much-loved dishes.
By Simon Brotherton
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