French food is probably the most famous and the most praised in the world. And you don't have to go to Paris to enjoy it. In the United States, French restaurants and specialty food shops are often very expensive. But just across the border, you can find total satisfaction at reasonable prices in Montreal.
In the United States, people eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Wouldn't it be simple if only three words designated les repas (lay ruh-pah) (the meals) in all French-speaking countries? Well, it simply isn't so. Québec has kept some of the seventeenth-century French of its first settlers and uses the words that were used then (as do the people in some parts of the French countryside):- The word for "breakfast" is:
- le déjeuner (luh day-zhuh-nay) in Québec
- le petit déjeuner (luh puh-tee day-zhuh-nay) in France
Le déjeuner (in Québec) is probably a remnant from the days when farm workers ate a big hearty meal in early morning, another big meal at midday, and only hot soup with bread at the end of the day. Then breakfast was more a déjeuner (meal) than a petit déjeuner (little meal). Also, the Quebecois are North Americans and thus more used to a big breakfast than the French are. So, if you're meeting someone for le déjeuner in Montreal, don't wait until lunch time! Unless your hosts invited your for le brunch — no explanation necessary, right? — they won't be expecting you.
- The word for "lunch" is:
- le dîner (luh dee-nay) in Québec
- le déjeuner (luh day-zhuh-nay) in France
- The word for "dinner" is:
- le souper (luh soo-pay) in Québec
- le dîner (luh dee-nay) in France
- These nouns are also verbs; to have lunch or dinner is déjeuner, dîner, or souper.
A note about breakfast
As we mention earlier, a Canadian breakfast looks much like its American or British counterpart. The French breakfast, on the other hand, is more like what hotels call a continental breakfast. Many French don't even eat the famous croissant (krwa-sahN) with their morning coffee; they're often satisfied with just a quick espresso before boarding the train or the subway. Nowadays, like North American children, many French children have cereal and milk, les céréales et le lait (lay say-ray-ah-lay luh lay) for breakfast.
Still, the traditional French breakfast is usually made up of the following:- le café (luh kah-fay) (coffee)
- le café au lait (luh kah-fay o leh) (coffee with hot milk)
- le café crème (luh kah-fay crehm) (coffee with a little milk)
- le thé nature (luh tay nah-tewr) (plain tea)
- le thé au lait (luh tay o leh) (tea with milk)
- le thé au citron/le thé citron (luh tay o see-trohn/luh tay see-trohn) (tea with lemon)
- le pain (luh pahN) (bread)
- le pain grillé (luh pahN gree-yay) (toast)
- les tartines (lay tahr-teen) (slices of bread with some kind of spread)
- le beurre (luh buhr) (butter)
- la margarine (lah mahr-zhah-reen) (margarine), not as popular as butter but used nevertheless
- la confiture (lah kohn-fee-tewr) (jam)
- le croissant (luh krwa-sahN) (croissant — crescent-shaped)
- le pain au chocolat (luh pan o sho-ko-lah) (same dough as a croissant, but a different shape and with a chocolate bar inside)
- le chausson aux pommes (luh sho-sohN o pohm) (applesauce-filled danish)
- le pain aux raisins (luh pahN o ray-zan) (a sort of raisin bread)
