The Secrets of a French Breakfast
Do we really soak our bread in coffee ?
Bonjour, it’s Théo 👋
Each country has its own traditions when we talk about breakfast.
And French people have a large selection of snacks and drinks we love to eat at the morning.
In this letter, I will give you all my tips to enjoy a French breakfast in the most traditional way.
Sweet or Savory ?
Unlike a lot of other breakfasts in the world, the French one is mostly sweet.
It’s definitely not the healthiest, but it’s just so good to start the day with a sugary touch.
While in the UK, you can find beans, eggs and bacon, in France we will go with croissant, bread or sweet hot chocolate.
What do we eat ?
The most classic French breakfast starts with a “tartine” : a sliced baguette with butter spread on top.
The butter is usually a salty one, sometimes from Brittany (a Western French region) but we love to make it sweeter by adding fruit jam or chocolate powder on the butter.
It makes a delicious combination between the bread, the fresh butter and the sweet fruit or chocolate.
Some people do it different, they just add butter on their baguette and soak it in their coffee. In the North of France, they can replace butter by strong cheese, making it a savory snack to start the day. French people and cheese has a long love story 😅
What do we drink ?
Most French people goes with a cup of coffee, like many European countries does, Italy for example.
But depending of the preferences of each one, it’s really common to find tea or hot chocolate on a French breakfast table.
We can add a glass of orange juice beside our coffee, but other drinks like milk are not that common.
The special Sunday breakfast
When you come to France from a foreign country, you could think that we eat pastries and croissants everyday. While the baguette is really a daily habit, the croissant and other “viennoiseries” are for more special occasions.
We love to eat them on Sunday morning, while having a longer breakfast to enjoy the day off.
You will find a lot of French preparations : Croissant, Pain au chocolat (or “chocolate croissant” but this name is forbidden in France 😂), Pain au raisins…
You can find these items everyday in the boulangeries, but it’s usually on Sundays that you will find croissants on the breakfast table.
And for the pastries, they are not for breakfast but for desserts or afternoon snacks.
A social tradition
Like the other meals we have, the breakfast is an important social tradition in France. We don’t eat it while being stand up, in a rush, like a quick snack on the go.
A French breakfast has to last a little bit more time, and we eat with all the family, everyone is sitting around the table.
It’s an important social tradition to strengthen the family’s bonds.
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That’s it, now you know how to enjoy a French breakfast !
If you come to Paris, you can find all the items in a boulangerie, from the croissant to the baguette !
And if you want to make the most of your Parisian trip this summer, you should have a look on my Maps and Guides of Paris on www.frenchguytheo.com !
You will discover multiple guides with different themes to make your trip easier to plan 👌
See you in Paris,
À bientôt 👋
Théo