HowRob's Profile

I've lived in France for over 10 years and I'm quite intrigued by the comments. Some very funny by the way.

It seems that this lady has been asked by a magazine to give tips on how to host a PARTY!

Which means she's not encouraging people to drink Champagne before every meal. I also don't think it's an attempt to register once and for all what it means to be French, or what the rules are ... are there any rules by the way, nobody's told me?

Now I've been to quite a few dinner parties in Paris and I have to say there has been a lot of Champagne. Doesn't always have to be the expensive stuff either. Personally I like it well chilled, that way it's nice down to the last sip (nothing worse than lukewarm champagne).

Handwritten menus, I don't know, those don't mean much to me.

But elegant and understated, that's not a bad thing, just another way of saying, "put a few flowers in a vase, cook something wonderful ... but don't waste time trying to impress everybody by building a replica of the Eiffel Tower out of, well I don't know what.

People here are serious about wine though. It's not about money (or at least not just about money). When I am invited to dinner parties I always bring wine. I try to bring something inventive, something that's hard to find or nobody's heard of. I always appreciate when my hosts pay attention to wine, it leads to interesting discussions, a lot of dinner parties end up being "mini" wine tastings. I like that aspect of it very much.

I do have to say though, as much as I hate generalizations, that the French do take more pride in their food than any other nation I've encountered. And they talk about food a lot.