Gourmet Article

French cuisine is the amazingly high standard to which all other native cuisines must live up to. The country of France is home of some of the finest cuisine in the world
and it is created by some of the finest master chefs in the world. The French people take excessive pride in cooking and knowing how to prepare a good meal. Cooking is an essential part of their culture
and it adds to one's usefulness if they are capable of preparing a good meal.

Each of the four regions of France has a characteristic of its food all its own. French food in general requires the use of lots of different types of sauces and gravies
but recipes for cuisine that originated in the northwestern region of France tend to require the use a lot of apple ingredients
milk and cream
and they tend to be heavily buttered making for an extremely rich (and sometimes rather heavy) meal. Southeastern French cuisine is reminiscent of German food
heavy in lard and meat products such as pork sausage and sauerkraut.

On the other hand
southern French cuisine tends to be a lot more widely accepted; this is generally the type of French food that is served in traditional French restaurants. In the southeastern area of France
the cooking is a lot lighter in fat and substance. Cooks from the southeast of France tend to lean more toward the side of a light olive oil more than any other type of oil
and they rely heavily on herbs and tomatoes
as well as tomato-based products
in their culinary creations.

Cuisine Nouvelle is a more contemporary form of French cuisine that developed in the late 1970s
the offspring of traditional French cuisine. This is the most common type of French food
served in French restaurants. Cuisine Nouvelle can generally be characterized by shorter cooking times
smaller food portions
and more festive
decorative plate presentations. Many French restaurant cuisines can be classified as Cuisine Nouvelle
but the more traditional French restaurant cuisine would be classified as Cuisine du Terroir
a more general form of French cooking than Cuisine Nouvelle. Cuisine du Terroir is an attempt to return to the more indigenous forms of French cooking
especially with reference to regional differences between the north and south
or different areas such as the Loire Valley
Catalonia
and Rousillon. These are all areas famous for their specific specialty of French cuisine. As time has progressed
the difference between a white wine from the Loire Valley and a wine from another area has slowly diminished
and the Cuisine du Terroir approach to French cooking focuses on establishing special characteristics between regions such as this.

As part of their culture
the French incorporate wine into nearly every meal
whether it is simply as a refreshment or part of the recipe for the meal itself. Even today
it is a part of traditional French culture to have at least one glass of wine on a daily basis.