Culinary Traditions Of France

by: Kirsten Hawkins

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. About the author: Kirsten Hawkins is a food and nutrition expert specializing the Mexican, Chinese, and Italian food. Visit http://www.food-and-nutrition.com/for more information on cooking delicious and healthy meals. Circulated by Article Emporium

4 Reasons To Grocery Shop Online

by: Stacy Freund

1- Convenient -It’s convenient for people who may find it time consuming to do a weekly grocery shop or for people who have difficulty in making it to the grocery store. -The following groups of people may fall into these categories; working parents, busy singles, seniors, students, the disabled, people without transportation. 2- Fast and easy -With many of the online grocery stores you are able to schedule your deliveries to work with your schedule. -You’re able to order groceries anywhere you have access to the internet whether that be home, school or work. -To make it even easier your shopping history is recorded on your account to make your reordering a breeze. 3- Cheaper -Save time & money on gas and wear and tear on your car, not to mention checkout line ups, trying to find parking and traffic to and from the store. -Take advantage of extra savings with online promotions and coupons. -Your club card discounts are still in affect when shopping online. -You’ll find they offer very reasonable delivery costs, if not free. 4- Safe and secure -Feel comfortable ordering from well established grocery stores knowing you’ll have the guarantee of groceries delivered with care. -Privacy and security precautions are taken when ordering from well established grocery stores. -Helpful and courteous customer service is generally available through toll free numbers. -Groceries are delivered to your door step by friendly and reliable drivers. For further information regarding online grocery shopping and much more please visit www.easy-free-online-recipes.com. About the author: www.easy-free-online-recipes.comis a webpage focusing on recipes, online grocery shopping and fulfilling the publics cooking and kitchen requests.