So, I'm French. I grew up in France, near Paris, but I also lived in different countries: in Guinea, in Ireland, in England and in Argentina. And I find it interesting to discover the rituals and habits around eating: from how the meals are structured, to how people host when they invite someone for dinner, but also everything related to eating out.

So many things surprised me abroad, and I actually talked about it in my last episode. But then I was wondering what aspects of the French Eating Culture surprise foreigners? So what do foreigners find surprising here in France when eating out or when eating with French people? 

So, I did some research and asked foreign people what they find surprising. I want to thank everyone who helped me and in particular the Facebook Group Living in France because I’ve had almost a 100 people sharing ideas with me and telling me what surprised them. For today’s episode, I’m going to concentrate on the perspective of Americans, British and Irish living in France. And I’m going to give an overview of the main ideas.

And for the learners of English, you can find in the E-learning section of my website the full transcription and an explanatory video on the difference between the adjectives: “surprising” and “surprised”.

Introduction
02:38 Quote from Jean
04:45 Eating is a social event in France
06:00 There are several courses
09:00 Bread -and especially baguette
09:35 The wine
10:22 Table manners
11:00 Some extra quotes just for fun