Food is part of the culture of a country or region. In my opinion, the development of a country's food culture is relevant with its innate sensitivity or even sexuality. France has always been a place that is teem with philosophers, artists and writers. Like its culture and art, the richness and exquisiteness of French food culture always amaze me. Of all French food, I have to mention French desserts and baked goods.
In Paris, apart from large or small cafes most commonly seen on streets, you can see boulangeries and patisseries everywhere. You can find staple foods like breads in a boulangerie, and sweets and desserts in a patisserie. Or sometimes all of them in one place. There are a great varietyof sweets and desserts, which can be divided into two categories: salty and sweet. In France, sweets are not exclusive to ladies, gentlemen also love them very much.
The best-known French confection should be macaron, a kind of small round cookie. There are many macaron flavors, including traditional flavors like chocolate, vanilla, raspberry, chestnut, almond, peanut, caramel and coffee, recent new flavors like green tea, orange, orange blossom and coconut, and even mixed flavors with brand recipe fearures. They are all very popular because of their lovely shape and color. But for a foddie like me who does not particularly favor macaron, there are several other desserts that are more representative of French baked goods, especially Opéra (Opera cake) and Tarte aux fruits rouge (red berry tarts).
Speaking of Opéra, I have to mention a famous old pastry shop in Paris-- Dalloyau. The history of the shop can be traced back to 1682, when Charles Dalloyau was the servant of prince Condé. Once, when King Louis XIV visited Condé, Dalloyau prepared some small breads for the king, which completely won the king's heart. The king handpicked Dalloyau to make desserts specially for the Court of Versailles. From then on, four successive generations of Dalloyau family had been serving French royal families and nobles. Dalloyau brothers were even crowned as royal nobility by King Louis XIV. So Dalloyau, the brand, becomes a symbol of traditional French aristocracy baked goods.
Paris's rich people have always liked to spend weekends in their country houses. In the 1950s, Cyriaque Gavillon, the baker of Dalloyau pastry shop, developed a kind of pastry that was easy to package and preserve: mille crepe cake made from Joconde sponge biscuits soaked with coffee syrup, coffee, butter and chocolate pastes and covered with a layer of dark chocolate. The baker's wife Andrée named it Theater Cake to commemorate a star opera dancer who frequented the shop and her young students who loved to play jumping-up-and-clicking-heels in the shop. This cake has since become one of the representatives of French baking, and is still Dalloyau's best-seller.
Fruit rouge in French is a general name for small black and red berries and stone fruits, including the blueberry, blackberry, strawberry, raspberry, mulberry, blackcurrant, gooseberry, cherry and so on. This series of fruits have enchanting colors and rich tastes, and are especially suitable for making jams and desserts. Tarts with red berries are good in taste and color, and are loved by all.
There are too many delicious foods in France, like wine, cheese, dry sausage and goose liver paste, but all of them are not so elegant as French desserts.
