French Snacks - Popular Sweet and Savory Treats From France - Snack History (2023)

FAQs

What do French people eat for afternoon snack? ›

While it traditionally consisted of a slice of bread with butter and jam, or sometimes even a pain au chocolat, nowadays, many children are eating biscuits and cakes, or industrial pastries.

Eating between meals is discouraged in France, yet there is one snack which is never passed up, a beloved tradition known as 'le goûter' (also called 'le quatre-heures' or 'la pause gourmande') and an integral part of French culture.

What does le goûter mean? Goûter is the French verb for “to taste”. But its noun form, le goûter, refers to snack time for children. Le goûter usually falls around 4pm, and can be served to kids at home, at school, or during after school activities.

Yogurt, fromage blanc, fruits, and cereal bars are all popular snacks in France. However, not all French kids eat a healthy goûter. Nutella or chocolate with bread is a common snack which isn't the most healthy. And then there are les danettes, the most popular crème dessert in France.

French people usually eat a smaller meal for dinner, such as a soup or salad with bread and a dessert (often a yoghurt or a slice of cheese). Considering French people famously don't snack, they must survive a long break between lunch and dinner.

French children have three meals a day, and one snack (yes, even the teenage boys): breakfast, lunch, goûter (late-afternoon snack) and dinner.

L'Aperitif: In America, appetizers are the start of the meal; in France, it's l'aperitif, which are small bites typically served with an alcoholic drink. These light snacks might include olives, peanuts, or some sort of canape, or a small piece of toast with a flavorful topping.

Foods that are a staple of the French diet include full-fat cheese and yogurt, butter, bread, fresh fruits and vegetables (often grilled or sautéed), small portions of meat (more often fish or chicken than red meat), wine, and dark chocolate. Make meals a priority.

What does France Call Candy? ›

1. (= confectionery) bonbons mpl. 2. (= sweet) bonbon m. Collins French-English Dictionary © by HarperCollins Publishers.

The French usually consider themselves very different from the English, but when it comes to the word for cookie, both say biscuit. Like a cookie itself, the word can be broken into two parts: bis,a way to say “two” or “twice”, and cuit – “cooked”.

One of the most delicious candies hailing from France is Nougat. This delectable candy is contrived of a mixture of egg whites, sugar, honey, almonds, and sometimes, fruit pieces. As long as the concoction contains 30% almonds and 30% honey, it can be classified as “Nougat.”

Yes, popcorn exists in France. Still, it is not as cherished as it is in the U.S. I remember being shocked to find that most French people don't even put butter on their popcorn while suggesting it to a group of my French friends. I love popcorn.

Le bœuf bourguignon

Also called beef Burgundy, this is one of the most classic French dishes, and usually ranks as France's favourite food.

The average American consumes about 126g of sugar a day, while the average French person consumes about 68g of sugar.

What do the French eat at 4pm? ›

Definition: Goûter v. to taste, n. a light meal in the afternoon. Goûter is an institution in France without a real equivalent in British culture. It's tea-time, almost religiously eaten at 4.30 pm, almost exclusively by children as they come out of school, consisting solely of sweet treats.

1. Crème brûlée. This custard based dessert is topped with a layer of crunchy caramel. The dessert is popular all over the world, but it originated in France, making it a must-try for anyone who's traveling through.

Another thing is that French kids don't drink milk. Babies get formula in bottles, but when they get bigger, they might have hot chocolate with milk for breakfast and that's it. In France, McDonald's Happy Meals don't have milk among the drink choices, but it's typical in the U.S., even in school lunches.

Pediatrician-recommended first foods for French babies are leek soup, endive, spinach and beets. (Not bland rice cereal — have you ever tasted that stuff?) They teach their children that “good for you foods” taste good (broccoli – yum!), whereas we often do the opposite.

As a general rule, in maternity and primary schools, each week comprises 4.5 days of schooling, with the half-day each Wednesday (in a small number of cases, Saturday morning).

An hors d'oeuvre (/ɔːr ˈdɜːrv(rə)/ or DURV(-rə); French: hors-d'œuvre [ɔʁ dœvʁ] ( listen)), appetizer or starter is a small dish served before a meal in European cuisine. Some hors d'oeuvres are served cold, others hot.

7 course meal: A 7 course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, soup, appetizer, salad, main course, dessert, and mignardise.

The average French woman today is just over 5 feet 3 inches tall and 137.6 pounds, compared to 5 feet 2 1/2 inches tall and 133.6 pounds in 1970.

People have breakfast between 6 and 8 am on weekdays. It is rather short. In France, it consists of a hot drink (coffee, tea, hot chocolate) and bread (baguette) or a pastry (croissant, brioche). There can also be jam, honey, etc.

What time is dinner in France? ›

The French typically eat dinner between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., but later evening meals aren't uncommon in major metropolitan areas like Paris. Thanks to its vibrant cafe culture, long lunch breaks are a popular concept in France, and the French tend to enjoy a substantial meal in the middle of the day.

In UK English, potato chips are called crisps (maybe for the sound they make when we eat them), so croustilles sounds like a good alternative. The french word people use in France is also "tuiles". I read it often on packages and use it myself.

In France, the name of the pain au chocolat varies by region: In the Hauts-de-France and in Alsace, the words petit pain au chocolat or petit pain are used. In central France, in southern France and in Paris, pain au chocolat is used.

Brownies in France are called Jeannettes.

The Middle French word bescuit is derived from the Latin words bis (twice) and coquere, coctus (to cook, cooked), and, hence, means "twice-cooked". This is because biscuits were originally cooked in a twofold process: first baked, and then dried out in a slow oven.

Eclair. Like the croissant, the eclair is among the most popular French pastries. It refers to an oblong-shaped choux pastry filled with pastry cream and topped with chocolate ganache. The eclair is one of my favorite French pastries but I never knew that its name literally means “flash of lightning”.

Dacquoise (pronounced [dakwaz]) is a French cake or a dessert similar to a cake, made with layers of almond meringue and whipped cream, buttercream, or ganache. Dacquoise can be prepared with hazelnut meringue as well. The name derives from the Occitan word Dacqüosa meaning "something baked in the oven."

In France, ice cream is glace or crème glacée and the person who makes it is a glacier or glaciere.

The French roots

In France, French toast is actually called “pain perdu”, which means “lost bread”.

What is the number 1 most popular food in France? ›

What is the most famous food in France? It's the humble, staple, French food—the Baguette! It's also one of the most famous French foods in America. The French take their Baguettes very seriously.

As this infographic shows, Cookies are the most popular snack food, with 59 percent of snackers saying they eat the sugary comfort food regularly. Potato chips came in a close second (58 percent), far ahead of their healthier vegetable cousins at just 24 percent.

CRÈME BRULÉE

Crème brûlée is one of the most popular French desserts of all time, and for good reason. The two contrasting layers of luscious vanilla cream under a layer of crunchy caramelized sugar are a perfect marriage. This dessert stands out from all the rest.

Foods that are a staple of the French diet include full-fat cheese and yogurt, butter, bread, fresh fruits and vegetables (often grilled or sautéed), small portions of meat (more often fish or chicken than red meat), wine, and dark chocolate. Make meals a priority.

Popcorn is perhaps the oldest of all. Archaeological sites in Peru and Mexico recently yielded 7,000 year old maize husks said to be evidence of popcorn preparation and consumption by ancient indigenous peoples.

1. Popcorn. There's debate on which snack food pre-empted them all, but since archeologists have dated popcorn back to 6,700 years ago, we're putting this fibrous dish first on the list.

Whether it's the stringy salty mozzarella cheese, the fluffy dough or the sugar in the tomato sauce, pizza ranks first in food addiction, according to a recent University of Michigan study. That's because when you eat it, your blood sugar zip up quickly and then when it drops, you feel hungry again and want more.

What do French people eat at home? ›

Potatoes, salad, beans, asparagus or a plain pasta are common sides in a French dinner experience. Make no mistake, while the items in the meals might appear extremely basic, the French know how to season and spice each dish so that every bite is a worthwhile experience.