The French Stereotypes :: Les Stéréotypes Français

I'm sure you already know about French stereotypes. They all wear berets, eat baguettes and snails, drink wine, have mustaches, smoke, and wear striped shirts.

even the snail is appalled at the missing fashion swag

The stereotype about the baguettes is true.  Bread is very important here.  Enough to start a revolution when Marie Antoinette told everyone to eat cake instead.

By the way, my host mother says that the French are proud of that story.  She says that the short version is a much simpler version of what actually happened, but the French like it because it represents the grand history of their country.  They're not so fond of Marie Antoinette though.

L'Austrichienne, with emphasis on the chienne

Bread is eaten with every meal, as far as I can tell.  Breakfast?  I tore off a piece of a baguette and slathered some jam on it this morning.  Lunch?  They serve us mini-baguettes with our meal.  Dinner?  Tear off more of the baguette and eat it with the salad, entrée, and cheese (another true stereotype, I miscounted).

They have so many bakeries!  Well, in France, they have a lot of specialized stores.  Walking down a street in France is like walking through a mall in America, except outdoors.  Bakeries are really common, and there's almost always someone in one buying some bread.  

Maybe it's just me, but I was surprised to find out that, unless it's a sandwich, people here don't just bite down on their bread.  They tear a piece off in their hands and then eat it.  Thinking back on it, I understand why it's impolite, it's slightly primitive.  You wouldn't get banished from society if you did it, but it seems slightly less clean.  I guess it didn't really hit me before because I didn't eat a lot of bread in America.  Here?  The carb diet would never become a fad.  

As for the berets.  I haven't seen anyone wear them.  I think they're more common in America, especially during winter.  And by berets in America, I mean the chunky knit caps. 

America = hipster seen here.  France = girl seen here

I don't smoke cigarettes, but I might come back with lung cancer anyways due to all the secondhand smoke here.  My host family doesn't smoke, but I wouldn't be terribly surprised if they did after seeing all the people that do smoke.  

At school in America, at least in my county, I wouldn't know anyone that smokes.  Maybe there are teenagers who smoke, but they're discrete about it, or only their friends know.  In France?  Every break, before school, after school, during lunch, the smokers go out front (since it's forbidden in the high school) to light up a cigarette.  It's a huge crowd, still the minority, but probably big enough to fill the gymnasium here.  

Everyone's friends with someone who smokes.  It's not a secret.  Sure it's illegal, but pfffft.  I guess it's like an accessory or perfume in that it's fashionable.  Cute cigarette lighters are everywhere.  Here, the smokers aren't the shady group behind the school.  I know already some girls who smoke and they're really sweet and help me during the day.

Yellow teeth, the latest trend

You wouldn't stop being friends with someone if they started to smoke or smoked here.  I die a tiny bit inside whenever I find out one of my new friends smokes (literally and figuratively), but I'm not about to shun someone because of it.

So, the wine stereotype?  When I got here, I was like, oh there's no wine bottles anywhere.  Then yesterday happened and BAM 200 WINE BOTTLES.

They have this like secret cave beneath their house instead of a basement and in it are just shelves filled with wine bottles.  My host dad nonchalantly said, "Oh, actually, it might be closer to 300 bottles."  Pfft, yeah, another hundred bottles, no big deal, SAID NO ONE EVER.

I felt like Batman for a moment, next to all the 50-year old wines.  Then they told me that my HSHB's grandpa has three thousand bottles.  Just for kicks.

I haven't eaten any snails here, but I might in the future.  My host mother doesn't like snails, but she says I will probably try them later this year.  I ain't even gonna lie, guess what my host mother put out for her last dinner party.

it wasn't for eating

Apparently snails are traditional around Christmas time, same as oysters and foie gras.  My host parents told me foie gras is banned in several countries because it's so cruel to the animals.  I don't have the stomach to describe the process or to search for pictures on the internet because I know PETA will have put up really graphic ones.  Basically, ducks and geese are force fed fatty corn to get fatty livers.  So, "Foie gras is terrible.  But it's good."