Freedom Fries

nic   Wednesday, December 01, 2004, 13:53 GMT
Joanne,

you said "well, when hasn't there been conflict between the French government and an English-speaking nation? For a long time it was between France and Britain, now it's France and the United States."


I don't think you can compare 10 centuries of continual wars between


I did not know and as you said : who cares about that. That's true you did not use the word "war", so i apologize for that.

french and english (absolutely not Britain, scottish have never been in war against french, the same with irish and welsh, it was the opposite especially with scottish "the old alliance"


If there were wars like there has been in the past between English and French, France would be erased from the planet.
Steve K   Wednesday, December 01, 2004, 14:09 GMT
In Canada french fries are called french fries not chips in English. they are pommes frites or frites in French. The national dish of France when I lived there was "steak frites". Has that changed?
Lavoisel   Wednesday, December 01, 2004, 14:19 GMT
I'd say the top 3 dishes are le Steak Frites, les Spaghettis à la Bolognaise and le Couscous. Les Moules Frites are very popular too and so are les Sushis.
nic   Wednesday, December 01, 2004, 14:30 GMT
steak frite saignant avec du Bourgogne, my favorite! Couscous is not far away...


We don't use to say pomme frite but simply frites, but that's true sometimes you can read it on menus from restaurant.


About the steak frite, you musn't forget la salade!
Lavoisel   Wednesday, December 01, 2004, 15:08 GMT
Yeah Couscous...
Semolina, chickpeas, sliced onions, carrots, aubergine, olive oil, papriks, harissa... The persistent taste of the spices... The mint tea pourred in decorated glasses...
Got to get back to my favourite Maroccan restaurant and quick!
nic   Wednesday, December 01, 2004, 15:18 GMT
and the famous merguez
Steve K   Wednesday, December 01, 2004, 15:38 GMT
When you mention couscous and merguez, I see myself sitting somewhere in Le Quarter Latin (vintage 1963) adding a bit of hot pepper sauce to my couscous , sipping my red wine and trying to read my University text book while fighting off thoughts of which girls will be in the cafe/bar I will go to after the meal. If I could only just jump on a plane and go back in time. Helas!

And I agree with the salade for the steak frites, salade with the soft butter lettuce not the hard lettuce we often get here. But that takes me back to dusty trucker restaurants along my hitchiking routes from Grenoble, Lyons, Montelimar, Nimes. Arles, Perpignan etc. ah ah

vive la France a bas l'anglais!!! ( sorry I got carried away)

Mais non, mais c'est pas possible, mais pourquoi tu fais ca, mais non, mais oui, mais non. mais si.......ah to argue about nothing like in France
nic   Thursday, December 02, 2004, 07:53 GMT
Steve K,

Arguing is a national sport in France, that's true, sometimes it can be fun, sometimes you meet some people the only thing they do in their life is to argue.

About couscous in the restaurant, i can see we all have try to get the same desert which is not written in the menu : girls Ô sweet girls.Personnally i have a préférence pour les brunes à la peau légèrement mate.
nic   Thursday, December 02, 2004, 08:08 GMT
sorry,

"we all try"
Damian   Thursday, December 02, 2004, 11:04 GMT
"Arguing is a national sport in France, that's true!"

Undoubted! An English couple were having lunch in a cafe in France, and on the next table a small party of French people were having a very heated discussion, with much overshouting each other and arms waving about excitedly. One of the English people asked a French speaking friend that it must be something really critical they were discussing. The French lady smiled, shrugged and said they were talking about a new kind of toothpaste!

Vive la France!
nic   Thursday, December 02, 2004, 12:59 GMT
Damian,


So imagine if people are talking about politic... Sometimes 2 guys starts to talk about it, 20 minutes after the all bistrot is not talking but screaming. The worst is when you have north and south french mixed together, it's called a "civil war" where north and south insult each others but without any violence.

I am from the south but i have friends from the north, they have an expression for us which is "Retiens moi avant que je le frappe!". It means : the french from the south speak a lot, try to scarry us (the north) but when it's time for a fight there's no one! "les grandes gueules".

The best is in small cities, in the past i enjoyed to excite the people (from my mother native's city) together and to not say anything more. We call thet "l'avocat du diable" the devil's lawyer
You have a typical scene, everyone is talking but noone is listening.