Food Culture Challenge: France vs USA 

We don't serve butter with the meals because there's already 150g of butter in the dishes 😅❤

For water in restaurants, just ask for une carafe d'eau😊 More than often chilled and definitely free!

9:25 Eating while driving is actually an infraction. The Code de la route states that the drivers attention must be exclusively on the road and that they must be abble to manoeuver safely at any time. Similarly smoking while driving has become an infraction aswell. People still do it, but if a cop sees you doing it he can pull you over.

I laughed when I saw your videos on the French food culture. I’m an American, married forever to a 🇫🇷 guy. We live in the US, but have always gone back to 🇫🇷 for family, a couple of times each year. When I was newly married , I was astonished by the amount of time my MIL would have for meals. Because she was so happy we were there, she’d invite ppl for lunch & dinner. We would eat breakfast-tartine et café, & then go out in Paris to shop for lunch. This involved going to the crémerie, le boucher, l,épicerie, thé boulangerie, etc. Then, we’d go home to prepare a 3 course meal FOR LUNCH. After the meal, we’d clean up & DO THE EXACT SAME THING FOR DINNER! I thought it was insane, but now, I love the 🇫🇷 food culture. Takes getting used to.

We must not forget that buying local products is not only a question of the freshness of the products. It is also a contribution to the reduction of co² and prices. This makes it possible to limit transport costs and the pollution emitted by these means of transport. And this makes the local economy work and especially the small producers and not the big manufacturers, who will supply the supermarkets.

I don't have a problem asking for butter for the baguette in the restaurants and it is never refused. Just gotta ask!

Eating on the go; the one thing people do here is breaking off the top of a baguette on coming out of the bakery... can't resist a warm baguette. Loved this video TY

I'm French and I've never seen anyone eat a hamburger with a fork, and most of my friends and I eat pizza with our hands. As for butter, we use it in pasta and rice, but we often prefer to replace it with olive oil (healthier). From my point of view, the major difference between the United States and France is that our approach to food is based on conviviality and health (health food).

you should go to britany. They are si proud of their salted butter that they serve it for each meal !! And they are right, it's awesome !

i guess you understood that we do not eat just to feed ourselves, we love food, we talk about food when eating, discussing other recipes. It's a moment to enjoy with others.

My "correction" POV as a French but I live in a big city : Fork & Knives : for me it's more a generation thing. Young people eat way more with their fingers globally. But yes, the majority of +30 people eats their burger with forks & knives (sometimes when I'm eating with coworkers I'm the only one eating with my fingers, thank god I'm a pro). Water & Ice : There are restaurant that brings you tap water automatically in France : good ones^^. Don't be scared to ask for a "carafe d'eau" added to your drinks : waiters are use to it. For Ice yeah sorry about that but it's globally a colder country 😂 As a french I'm always fascinated with your crappy motels that Always propose a fridge of ice, wtf 😂 And finally butter^^ : I think your POV is more a regional thing. I really think butter consumption vary a lot in France depending on the region. In some regions, we eat it at every meal, in others, only salted butter (In Bretagne especially, don't get me started on ther patisserie made of 80 % butter 😅). So keep exploring, you'll be surprise. PS : gj on the titre de séjour !

Here's another category concerning French food culture: the service when eating out. First, one only leaves a small tip if any tip at all. A couple of euros is normal. Servers in France receive wages and are not dependent upon tips. This leads to a second point: servers neither hover over guests nor interrupt the meal nor try to upsell. French service is very discreet. Servers will watch from a distance and reappear as if by ESP when a guest is ready for another course or has another need. In the U.S., I am often tempted to respond to "can I get you anything else?" with "yes, you can get me some time without you bothering me. If I need you, I will let you know."

The only time I had butter served to me with bread in a restaurant was in France, in Bretagne. We didn't ask for it and I was pretty perplexed, but apparently butter is expected to always appear on your table in Bretagne 😂

In restaurant, ask for "tap water" (carafe d'eau). For butter, it's not only for breakfast. We eat butter also with some cheeses and some cold meats (charcuterie). And we have diiferent kind of butter : non salted, half salted and salted. Make your choice ;)

In Brittany or Normandy, you can eat butter all the day. In Brittany, butter with salt , and in Normandy without salt.

Butter ! 🤣 You don't live in Normandie obviously. Butter is mandatory there, for each meal

So I am half British, born and raised there, and I grew up with having proper manners drilled in...to include ALWAYS use your fork and knife. Then I went on a date with my future husband and he took me to a place that sold fried chicken! His face was priceless when he realized that I had taken that chicken to bare bone...with a fork and knife! LOL

French people are just more sophisticated then us I’m here for it 🇫🇷🥂

Your videos are cool! 1/ Water: there are 3 choices in restaurants. Tap water, still bottled water, sparkling bottle water. No ice though 😊 2/ Butter: You are not in the right region for that. Brittany it is. Here, restaurants will even serve you butter with your basket of bread by default.

The butter doesn't really disappear during the day, but it's not in the form you're hoping for. In a large northern part of the country, cooking is done with butter unlike in the South, where people cook more with olive oil. If I can give you some advice, one day at a restaurant, try the Sole Meunière or the Raie au Beurre, 2 very fine fishes with which cooking with butter goes wonderfully.

I am an American that has lived in France for 21 years now. The butter thing is definitely not just for breakfast in most of France. Here in the North east and in Paris, it is a big thing to have butter and ham on baguette for lunch.

Re meal times : what you are describing is mostly small towns/rural areas (where many working people do go home to eat lunch). It's quite different in large cities and in Paris where you can eat whenever you want, with more round the clock services, and people commute from afar and therefore eat in company cafeterias. More generally restaurant opening hours reflect local habits and also labour laws. Fast food is big in France, as you have noticed, with international (with a local sourcing of food) and local franchises. What you could have noted also (that might be an interesting new episode) is that in traditional wine drinking countries like France, "wine and cheese" is not a thing, wine is mostly consummed with meals, sometimes during aperitives. Wine is generally not a stand-alone drink (except for some urban yuppies) you drink in the sunset, after a 6 o'clock dinner, before going to bed (which is mostly an Anglo-saxon fantasy) although there is a vanishing tradition of "digestives". Therefore French wine is mostly meant to be paired with food, unlike "new world wines" which in my perception are typically tannic, woody, heavily flavoured because people mostly drink them outside meals. Thanks for your interesting contributions!

We have a number of very different experiences. For example, the water example. Here in the SW, the server will bring a large bottle or carafe of very cold water. One never has to ask. Plus, we see multiple people eating fries with their fingers. The bottom line is the differences may be regional. I love the structured meal times. My husband hates it. 😉

We’ve lived in France for nearly 20 years, you definitely do get butter with your bread in Michelin* restaurants (usually from a small local producer). Also if you ask for butter in a restaurant they’ll likely bring you some. We have friends from Lille and the tradition there is to have butter on your bread when eating cheese, so when they’re in a different area they’ll simply ask for some butter and I’ve never known them be refused.

Speaking of eating in cars, I remember when my French brother-in-law's cousin came to the US with her boyfriend in the 1980s. I got some last minute tickets to an exhibition by the US Olympics basketball team. (It was a big deal to me, basketball wasn't so big in France at the time.) We had to leave right away, no time for dinner but I pulled into a Burger King drive-in window, ordered some food and handed it to them to eat as I drove to the Dean Dome. They sat there with the food in their laps looking like they didn't know what to do with it. Eat in a moving car???!!! No way! Different culture where food is to be savored, not gobbled on the way somewhere.

Worth noting that we have "apéritif dînatoire" which is an apero which doubles as evening meal, in these ones we have much more consistent food alongside our booze. Try it one day, bake some savory cakes, set some potato chips or anything you want. Don't hesitate to ask people to bring stuff to eat too.

😂The French would faint at seeing a US chain store selling croissants with "bioengineered food" in the ingredients list.😮 (WEIS)

16:30 We also serve butter with certain dishes like radish, and we also use a lot of butter in the cooking, especially if you are living in Brittany or Normandy for instance, but it's true in the south they use a bit less butter and more oil. Note that too much butter isn't very good for your health anyway :D

🎉Thanks! Very enjoyable video!😊

Welcome here you guys! Hope French people treat you well! 🤗

It's awesome how you've been able to understand our (food) culture so quickly... and so rightly without any real mistake! Pro-tip : If you want butter at restaurant, look at the "charcuterie" entrées they usually serve it with butter (and bread of course), and you can ask for more eventually.

You. Just. Start. The. Butter. War.

I heard this very often from US citizens visiting France, that restaurants don’t offer free water. It’s something that very common to have tap water. Just ask for « une carafe d’eau ». It’s true that waiters will ask you if you want a bottled water or tap water. The more they sell bottles, the better their business is. There are a kind of restaurants called « Brasseries ». Usually they open from 6-8am till 12pm-2am non stop.

Having lived in Texas, and now living near where you are in SW France, I know which I prefer. France every time.

But the French use a toooooooooooooooooon of butter in their cooking. So you are having indirectly all the butter you want. 😂 I love butter too. Especially in Europe. What we call butter in the USA is 2 molecules away from plastic. 😯

you have free water in all restaurants and it is often served cold, so no need for ice cubes, and especially not in wine, fortunately…

US wins Butter... Really? It's a joke?

I am French and having a meal without a dessert is just impossible. I just feel as if I have not finish my meal. So i am still "hungry" (not really but some food is missing) so it has hard to concentrate on work/sleep (depending if it was lunch or diner)

Interesting observations. I've always asked for a carafe d'eau in a restaurant (which, by law, is free) and sparkling water when that is what I desire. Some restaurants have brought butter at lunch/dinner, but may be because they realized I am American. I noticed you didn't mention butter with the cheese course!

Nice piece! Thank you for the video!

As a french, i know nobody who eats pizza or burger or fries with a knife and fork, except in fancy places ! Cool video guys

sono italiano ma amo anche io la cucina dei nostri cugini francesi , le baguette e tutti i prodotti da forno sono una cosa magnifique🙌

Hi, Bonjour, I m not agree with you when you say that butter is only for breakfast. We use it to cook, especially meat. We have butter with radish, smoked salmon. Our "sauces", (how do you say "sauce"in english ?) often contain butter. We put butter in our pastas and vegetables especially green beans. In some regions you have butter with cheese (and nearly everywhere with Roquefort cheese). Our most inconic sandwich is Jambon-beurre (Ham and butter). Nearly all our pastries contain butter (especially in Brittany). The thre of you are amazing, thank you for sharing, i think i undersatnd a little more american culture thanks to you when you pointed out differences between the two cultures.

Je souscris entièrement au commentaire de Christophe77700 : Nord de la France, cuisine au beurre. Sud de la France : cuisine à l'huile d'olive. Et oui, en Bretagne, le beurre est salé.

And by the way, my mother was taught to peel peaches with fork and knife at her boarding school in the 30s. She let it down, but showed it us from time to time for the fun of it.

Nice video, but I would like to add two more points: TIPPING goes to France by a mile! While in USA you HAVE TO tip 18-20% everywhere, in France is zero. That makes a huge difference on the bill. Second point, breakfast in France is mainly croissant or pain au chocolat and coffee, (or something similar) while in USA is eggs and bacon, or similar. In UK is English breakfast, which is huuuuge😅. Enjoy your stay in France and keep the videos coming. Thank you

We can eat butter at lunch with some specifics items like seafood, radish, blue cheese, boiled eggs, etc.

It s pleasant to see that you apreciate the French food culture because it's so important for us. We would be so sad if we had to give up this tradition because of modern life.

I will always remember the look on my American husband (I'm French) the first time he saw me eat a hamburger over there, you would have thought I had two heads! His parents were confused too. The first time my father went to a McDonald's, he was looking for the silverware everywhere.... haha.

Being French, I love to hear you give these positive feedback of France especially when the French are often grumpy and negative to their own country. Concerning butter, your experience is linked to the place you live. North of Paris you would find butter at the table at ALL meals. Extensive use of butter is a very strong regional marker for northern France. A bit like chocolatine or pain au chocolat 😊

for the butter it dependend in which region you are, in britany or normandie you might have butter with your bread

Dans l'ouest de la France et plus particulièrement en Bretagne ,il est courant d 'avoir du beurre à tous les repas 7H 12H 19H Avec du pain évidemment !!!! J'adore vos vidéos. Continuez ainsi. French fan

French people eat butter on lunch and diner too. However, in restaurants you have to ask and they generally give you mini portions of butter, like 5 grams or so. That's especially the case when you have to wait some time before being served your "entrée". You also can ask for butter if you take cheese at resaurant.

Just found out about your channel and as a French it is really interesting to hear your point our view on our culture. It really is interesting to see that things I consider to be the most normal thing, really are not on the other side of the world. For the meal courses point, in 2023 a study showed that the French spend the most time at the table in the world (2:13h/day in average vs 1:02h/day in the USA). But your explanation of why it is like this is really good. It is the time where you gather with your friends or family and talk about everything. Once i saw a reportage on a family in the US and they did not eat at the same time, they’ll eat sitting on their phone and rushing back to their bedroom. I was shocked, in 18 years with my parents I don't think we have ever eaten not all together at the table.

i like your channel i'm french and it is cool for learn english

We cook with butter and you can ask for butter after breakfast to eat with ham and pickles, or if you are eating radishes. But I suppose you settled in the south “the oil zone of France”. In the north of France, we would use and eat more butter.

If you want to eat butter more often, you just need to travel in 'poitou' 'Bretagne ' or 'Normandie ' they are using butter everywhere.

Boulangeries are opened from 6:30 am to 8-9 PM. It's were you get "snacks" everytime you're hungry. 😉 After that, kebabs can be open until 2 am.

In northern regions of France people bring butter to the table at meals.

Good job!

So interesting. I'm English so I learnt a bit about American culture as well as French!

You mentioned HEB in another video about supermarches. We Texans know exactly what you mean! We also love the super marches in France. I enjoy your videos.

I am norman and I eat butter (beurre doux here in Normandy) at lunch and dinner especcially with bread and cheese or saucisson. I think it is the same in Brittany but with salty butter. Mostly depending on the region. May be most common in northern France. I eat a entire 250g plaquette of butter each week ... made in normandy of course (Isigny) ...

Yeah I kinda disagree with some of them but for a different reason. Americans are all about immediate gratification (I'm American as well.. but live in Portugal) so I think only getting butter or food at certain times allows you to look forward to something and appreciate it more than just having it whenever you want. Portugal is VERY similar to France in many, many ways and I've adjusted to their culture and I really appreciate it now.

Très intéressant

hello, the butter is there ! in the food itself 😊

Even though butter may be limited to breakfast in France, my wife and I would give the point to France purely on taste. Most (if not all) American butter doesn’t come close in terms of flavor. Whenever possible, we buy beurre français in the US … and look forward to our next trip to France, in eager anticipation not just for the butter. Great list that we can agree with otherwise. :-)

butter spread on bread, with cheese. and half-salt is even better, even at breakfast, with jam

Very late to the party, but I'm so old I was a teenager when McDonalds and Burgerking came to Europe, and we were fascinated by the concept. However, it turned out at my first visit to Burgerking that I didn't have the skills to eat without a knife and fork. I literally couldn't do it. And this is with the background of my mother who had travelled abroad and was very much into eating with ones hands. I had eaten corn on the cob, and artichokes.But a burger? Impossible.

AOP is also a E.U. denomination. Earlier, in France we used AOC (C for Controllée/Controlled), you can yet find it on old wine bottles. There's also a less restrictive appellation named IGP (earlier VDQS in France), which is only a geographic specification.

I will be interesting to have a follow up of this video in few years, to see how you vision change and what you didn't notice before.

Love it. The only AOP type designation I know of in the US is with Vidalia onions. They are grown in Vidalia, Georgia and by state law it also governs when they are released for sale AND all others grown outside of that region are "sweet onions".

The part with the butter is funny, we live in SW too and sometimes use butter in meal ; for example to soften saucisson or radishs.

I’m British and married to A Frenchman, we live in Britain! All those things you have pointed out apply when he eats, laying the table, knife and fork, no snacks, 3 meals a day, however, British bread is horrid , you need butter to make it taste better, but french bread is so gorgeous, you just don’t need it. I love your videos. You look so happy and fulfilled with your life in France. Bonne chance ❤

For the convinience food, it's because you are in a smaller town I guess. In Paris, it's like in the US, you can find "brasseries" that serve meals whenever you want.

In Italy, the DOC and DOCG are like the AOP; a standard that must be adhered to to be called by a specific name, even Pizza Napolitano. Every type of food has that provenance. The "G" at the end of DOC stands for "guarantee" so is even stricter.

About the butter: you can often find it at lunch. As an entrée, you can have some "radis" (radish) "à la croque au sel". People would serve just the vegetables with some bread, butter and salt. It may sound frugal but indeed, it’s very tasty and a good way to have your kid eat some "crudités". Also, one of my kid doesn’t like cheese. At dinner, instead of cheese, he often asks for a tartine or two. Loving cheese, I didn’t even think about it, but he made a point here!

AOP is also protecting the geographic origin of the food. This means that you can’t call it champagne unless it’s from that region. It guarantees the quality and the craftsmanship. It means Appelation d’Origine Protegée , or “protected designation of origin”.

Of course we have butter at lunch or dinner, mostly with "entrée" food, like seafood, radish...

I don’t know where you live in france, but in my part of France, we eat butter from breakfast to bedtime. For real.

you love butter ? let's try kouign amann ! A special desert from bretagne ! They will give it to you with a special paper for your fingers not to be greasy...

Sometimes I refer to the Netherlands (yes, yes , yes , I am Dutch) as the 51st state of the USA. There is McDonalds everywhere, Subway, Burger King and all kinds of snackbars with french fries to go. Everybody speaks english. The Dutch and the French are quite different.😮

Nous passons plusieurs lunes par an dans la région de l'Alsace et nous reconnaissons une grande partie de votre histoire. Lorsque nous mangeons à l'extérieur, que ce soit au petit déjeuner, au déjeuner ou au dîner, le beurre n'est jamais un problème.

Butter is mainly used for cooking (dishes and especially pastries!).

The origin of food is required by law and french people want to help the producer next d'or. In Bretagne salty butter at every métal, and in the cuisine

It’s so interesting to see the cultural differences we are not even aware of if we don’t travel. As for the butter, you will find some in restaurant if you eat seafood, especially in Bretagne or Normandy. It’s true that eating butter after breakfast is not common, except in Normandy where people eat butter in every meal at home, even with cheese, what a food faux-pas! For eating with hands, we avoid doing that in restaurant. We do that when we eat a take away lunch or at home with no guests, but as you, i eat my fries with my hands, it’s part of the pleasure, even in a restaurant !

Speaking of long meals, I wonder what's your take is gonna be if you one day experience the typical countryside, relaxed Xmas french dinner. At my parents' house (Alsace-Lorraine) we used to start it around 2pm and end it around 2am, eating while playing boardgames and such with the family, watching the typical french Xmas movies like "Le Père Noël est une ordure", "Les Bronzés font du ski", etc.

butter : North and Bretagne, you'll get butter . as a kid in the north we had demi sel/ sel / non salty on the table. and in good restaurants. and the quality of the butter is crazy in france

For butter at every meal , please comme to Britanny.

About fast food: you forgot to mention that most of the bakeries propose sandwiches and salads...

I love your videos since I discored it. This one is nice and I agree with most of your choices but I would like to add my own ;-) I laughed a lot with the "fork and knife" section as I remember I organized with a deep countryside kids group (I am a former school teacher) a trip to Bordeaux with a lunch in a Mac Do restaurant. For most of the kids it was a first fastfood experience and for the mayor of the village who was there, sure it was the first one too !! With my teacher colleagues we had a very nice moment when we saw him pulling out his Opinel knife from his pocket for cutting his burger. Sure he thought it was the good way as he could just have kill a wild pig in the forest for eating. But now it is very common for everybody to eat with his own hands a burger, a sandwich, tacos ... Thanks for this appreciate part of the US culture. In fact, the fork invention is not so old ! It was completly usual in the old days to eat with hands and "fourchette" which means "petite fourche" was just add to the french way of eating at the royal court of Louis, I can't remember the number ;-) ... It went on the full society gradually after. I am not sure it could be invented in France. Maybe it went from another european country. The only point I completly disagree with you is the use of butter. Sure I love good butter traditionnaly made with raw milk and salt as it is made in the north west, Brittany, Pays de Loire, Charente ... I never eat butter for breakfast but I use butter for cooking which can swift with oil for better taste if you care to not burn it. I cannot imagine eating oysters or radis (I am lazy to search for the english word) without bread and butter. I loved my only one trip in the US as I met nice people on the riversides, it was a fishing trip in Utah and Oregon. But I don't have a nice memory of the food ... It is a kind way of telling it ;-) I was also very shocked by the large number of young people in an overweight situation ... It seems it would be better for exerybody if the US people follow our way of eating but sadly I think french people are rather following the US way and loose ours. Thank you for your appreciations on our differnent ways of living, to give me opportunity to train my english and once again welcome in our old country.

Personally, I use 2 types of butter: farm butter that I buy directly from the producer on the market for breakfast toast (and which is rather expensive), and classic supermarket butter for cooking (white sauces , pie crust dough, etc.). However, both are organic and salty (because even if I am not Breton and I don't want to upset the Normans, I clearly prefer salted butter).

Talking about knives and forks, what amuses us in the UK about Americans, is that you don't use them throughout the meal. You cut up the food beforehand and then just use the fork. We've see this on Celebrity cruise ships.

Actually it's four courses, don't forget the cheese moment before dessert !

You can find butter on the table for lunch or dinner, especially if you go to the North-West part of France, in Bretagne or Normandie. I remember seing butter on the table at familly meals. But people don't usually put butter with greasy food like "foie gras" or "saucisson sec" (except with strong cheeses, to make them taste milder). Or people will simply put it on a small piece of bread (my familly called that "beurotter" and used it in sentences like: "Arrête de beurotter ou tu n'auras plus faim pour la suite"). You can order a "carafe de Chateau la Pompe" (tap water) in restaurants. Most French people will use their hands to eat specific food in specific curcumstances. "Canapés" at a buffet or pizza slices at a friends gathering are eaten with hands. In urban areas, you'll see people eating patisseries, sandwitches, quiches and other "fast food", in public places, using their hands. But nobody eats while walking or in public transports. French people are generally less selfish and entitled than Americans. They usually focus on driving rather than risking to kill other people because they couldn't refrain from eating while slowly cruising on the left lane like in America. (There's 8 times less people killed by car accidents in France).

AOP/IGP products are available all over Europe (all countries). Also, you can perfectly get butter with your bred in higher level restaurants, but rest insure that the meal in front of you has probably been cooked with butter 🙂

One remark: it concerns poultry. The 'étiquette' way of eating poultry is with your hands, so chicken wings are eaten with the hands. It is virtually impossible to eat these small goodies with fork & knife.

The knives & forks made me laugh. Totally agree - how can you eat a burger with cutlery, but most French people would or cut smaller bits. I also hate eating a pizza without cutlery 😂. But for some of it it's about food etiquette and good banners, you don't want to appear rude. Might be different eating at home.

I a m from Britanny , west of France, and i often ask for salt butter in restaurant, they rarely reffuse.

Regarding butter, as a Frenchman, I was in heaven when I visited Wisconsin because it was butter and cheese paradise. I''m not talking about Land o Lakes, but real artisan butter almost AOP quality. It was awesome. I agree, butter all day, everyday.