A French Food Meme

Croque-Camille is less than a year old, but just reached 15,000 hits. Croque-Camille was born when pastry chef Camille and her husband moved to Paris at the beginning of this year. It chronicles their food adventures and discoveries in Paris, and is much fun to read. So to celebrate, Camille compiled the Frenchie Fifteen, a list of foods that exemplify France and its rich culinary history. Hop over to Camille’s site to read more on it, and find out why the list is actually 21 foods instead of 15. I included my 21 foods below.

Here are the rules:
– Copy/paste the list and rules into your blog, journal, or even a piece of paper.
– Put the foods you’ve had the pleasure of eating in bold. Elaborate and add stories as you see fit.
– If you’re so inclined, leave a comment on here or at Camille’s blog at this post.

The Frenchie Fifteen

1. Croissant — yes, one of my favorite foods, especially when fresh out of the oven.
2. Ratatouille — like it, but don’t love it, except with scrambled eggs and crusty bread. Go figure.
3. Lait cru cheese — yes, many kinds.
4. Kir — love it. In fact, I had some on my wedding day.
5. Croque–Monsieur — yes, and I make a good one at home too.
6. Crème Caramel — yes, though I prefer creme brulee. Yes, I’m needlessly picky.
7. Tartiflette — yes, though ironically I never had it when I lived in Europe. That said, I have had some excellent ones in New York (which really has some amazing French restaurants by teh way). And seriously, how could potatoes, bacon, crème fraîche, onions, and cheese baked together not be amazing.
8. Pain Tradition — sadly, no.
9. Cassoulet — yes, and I agree with Croque-Camille that it may be the heaviest dish in france. I love it with duck confit and some tender slow-cooked pork.
10. Macarons – I am a complete macaron addict, and since my husband recently discovered them, we have been having them a lot lately.
11. Aligot — no, but I bet I would love it.
12. Pissaladière — yes, though ironically I never had it when I lived in Europe. That said, I make a good rendition at home.
13. Pain de Campagne — yes, one of my favorite things in the whole world.
14. Choucroute Garnie — yes, many times.
15. Tarte Tatin
16. Pastis — yes, meh.
17. Roast Chicken — yes, hmmm, maybe I should make some for dinner tonight
18. Eclair — can I just mention that American eclairs, no matter how delicious, look like they ate two eclairs for breakfast.
19. Lentil Salad
20. Entrecôte — yes, usually with a Bearnaise sauce on the side.
21. Escargots — yes, though honestly I prefer the garlicky butter to the snails themselves.

Camille’s idea was excellent — and her list really did provide a tour of culinary France — now I wonder if there is an Italian food meme, a Spanish food meme ….