To speak French, you need to think, act and… have breakfast like the French! But what’s so special about French breakfast?
Un petit déjeuner à la française*, or a French breakfast, is a simple yet delicious morning meal that typically consists of the following elements:
Le pain 🥖The centerpiece is usually a fresh baguette* or tartines (slices of bread), which can be toasted or untoasted.
Les viennoiseries🥧These are sweet pastries (the name of which come from Vienne, though) such as croissants, pains au chocolat*, or brioches. Don’t forget to add some butter, jam, honey, or chocolate spread!
Les boissons, of course!🍊A hot drink is essential, typically coffee (often café au lait*), tea, or hot chocolate, often accompanied by un jus d’orange frais*.
Hungry yet? Even though it’s 2AM here, j’avoue* I might just go ahead and pretend I live in the Mainland China timezone. It’s breakfast time, yay!
And last but not least – les fruits frais 🍋 Fresh fruits may be included, though this is becoming more common in modern, health-conscious variations. Unlike les petits-déj’* found in some other countries, it’s worth noting that the traditional petit-déjeuner français* doesn’t typically include savory items like eggs, bacon, or cheese. The French breakfast is characteristically sucré, un peu gras,* and carbohydrate-rich.
💭Les idées reçues*…
Interestingly, while le petit déjeuner à la française* is iconic, it’s not necessarily what all French people eat every day. Many French people are adopting different breakfast habits, including cereal with non-dairy milk, or even just a hot beverage.
Au fait*, the French breakfast, as we know it today, became widespread after World War II, though its origins can be traced back to la Renaissance* when bread dipped in milk first appeared, followed by the introduction of coffee during Louis XVI’s reign!
🥐 French vocab used in this article :
- un petit déjeuner à la française – a French breakfast, a breakfast the French way
- une baguette – the iconic French baguette bread
- un pain au chocolat, une chocolatine – sometimes called a chocolate croissant, it’s a puff pastry with chocolate inside
- un café au lait – coffee with milk
- un jus d’orange frais – a freshly-squeezed orange juice
- j’avoue – I admit, I swear
- les fruits frais – fresh fruit
- les petits-déj’ – breakfasts
- petit-déjeuner français – French breakfast
- sucré, un peu gras – sweet and medium fat
- les idées reçues – the myths
- au fait – by the way
- la Renaissance – the Renaissance, a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political and economic “rebirth” following the Middle Ages ( 14th-17th century)
- un café allongé – basically, a single Americano
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