Table Etiquette

EVERY MEAL IS A CULTURAL EXPERIENCE

“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages.” Luke 10:5-7

You are about to embrace another culture. You will never truly experience French culture if you do not eat with the locals, so consider every meal a learning experience. Tell yourself you like vegetables, even ones whose names you can’t pronounce! Decide to be daring and try everything in this gastronomical capital of the world.

*When we bring our friends over to visit, the menu has been chosen to introduce you to dishes from every region of France, representing what is commonly eatten around the family dinner table, promoting those dishes that allow us to be frugal, and contributing to a well-balanced diet.

THE GRACEFUL DANCE CALLED DINNER...

• Les quinze minutes de politesse - Arrive fashionably late for dinner invitations.
• Take off your shoes when entering a home. If your host has their shoes on, still offer to take off your shoes and insist that you enjoy stocking feet.
• The seat closest to the kitchen is the hosts’. Sit up straight at the table.
• Once someone begins serving the meal you should open your napkin on your lap. 
• Don’t turn your plate once it’s set in front of you.
• Do not start eating until everyone has received their course. Take your cues from the host each course.
• Use your fork and knife. Keep your hands in sight. Cut one small bite at a time. Never fill your fork while you still have food in your mouth. Pose your fork on the table between bites. 
• Never serve yourself a beverage, always serve your neighbor.
• Always accept wine offered, you don’t have to drink it. Do Not finish your glass - Be careful, if you empty your glass it will be refilled for you, by your host.
• Finish everything on your plate. Speak up if you don’t want seconds or you will find a generous heap before you.
• It is considered embarrassing to use the bathroom in someone’s home; avoid asking if you can hold it.

Table Etiquette

Four Meals A Day

Breakfast

Families wake up and eat breakfast together at the kitchen counter. Someone runs to the street corner and buys a nice hot baguette from the bakery and brings it back home. Parents fix coffee-milk (1/2 coffee / 1/2 milk) and children fix hot cocoa and they all prepare their hot drinks in a bowl! In France you don’t cut a baguette, you tear it.

And so, everyone tears off a big chunk of bread spreads it with real butter and dunks it into their hot drink (that’s why it has to be in a bowl). Most kids like to spread Nutella, a chocolate-hazelnut spread, on their bread.

Off To School - Home For Lunch

Children walk to school. It’s fun for neighbors to run to each other’s house’s and ring the doorbell summoning their friends. Then they walk together laughing and talking. Children have an hour and a half for lunch break. 

They don’t really want to get stuck at school that whole time so if their parents don’t work too far away they come home and fix a nice hot meal for the family. (Parents get a two hour lunch break). Otherwise the kids eat at the school cafeteria.

Goûter

Goûter means snack. This is the third meal of the day, and it is just as important as the other three. On their way home from school children stop at the bakery and get a Pain Au Chocolat, a bit of croissant dough rolled around a chocolate bar and baked crispy and golden. This tradition helps the kids transition between work and play and end the school day well.

Dinner

Dinner at home with the family. French kids drink water and only water with their well-balanced meals. They can choose to drink sparkling water if they like. French are famous for beef stews, green beans, and yes, they LOVE French fries!

Four Meals A Day

Eau de Paris

Tap water in Paris is not only safe, it's delicious!

In Paris water is a human right, intended to be appreciated by the masses for FREE!

Drink EAU DE PARIS with pride.

In fact Paris water is the most highly controlled product produced in the city.

It's a source of pride for the mayor, as well as the citizens.

Paris water has it's own marketing campaigns always featuring cutting edge designers and artists. Run your cursor over the EAU DE PARIS header and appreciate their magic on their website

dedicated to nothing other than Paris water.

Fresh Springs

Four underground springs are the source of the majority of Paris water.

It's clean, healthy and yummy.

Need I say more?

Wallace Fountains

Dehydration is the number one cause for illness when traveling. Hydrating with good clean water is the best way to fight jet lag.

Paris actually has 108 public fountains where city water runs continually. Simply hold out your willing water bottle under the stream to carry this life source

with you wherever you go.

"Une Carafe d'Eau S'il Vous Plait."

Don't be fooled, water is always FREE at restaurants. Now, it does happen now and again that tourists walk into a restaurant and get duped. Here's what you need to know ...

If it looks like you don't know French, then they'll assume that you don't know their customs, therefore, if you order, "Water, Please." They'll most likely bring out a bottle of water and add it to your tab. If you order like a Parisian you'll say, "Une carafe d'eau, s'il vous plait." and they'll bring you tap water in a pitcher without hesitation.

On the right, you'll see a restaurant that has decided to charge by the glass. They can do this legally but it must be printed on the menus and posted visibly inside and outside the restaurant.

I might add that fancy restaurants make an exception to this delightful rule. If you are paying more than 10 euros for your main dish, they will only serve you bottled water - on the grounds that it is more classy.

Souvenir Water

You may have probably heard of Evian bottled water, but did you know that Evian is a city in France with fresh spring water on tap? If you go to visit you will find that the water running through the pipes is the same quality as the water they market in bottles.

So, why haven't you heard of Paris brand water? Maybe because Evian has amazing marketing plan. Maybe Paris water will be the next big fashion. While you're in Paris you may want to take home a unique souvenir, this carafe conceived by the fashion designer Frédérique Daubal is intended to be sold to Parisians and refilled endlessly with EAU DE PARIS. You can pick one up at a shop near the Louvre called Machupichu 4, rue des Pyramides, and at a shop not far from Notre Dame called La Marchande de Couleurs 10, rue Lagrange.

Eau de Paris