Very French things – the unique culture of France

I was recently asked “is there anything you find culturally different about living in France?” Hmmm, how long have you got I thought to myself. As a Brit, I can tell you that after having a home in France for more than two decades, there’s still plenty I find that’s unique to the French – Very French Things that are sometimes charming, sometimes funny or sometimes, just plain odd says Janine Marsh.

French Pharmacies

Pharmacies. In the UK, you will get a pharmacy in the bigger towns or in shopping centres. In France it feels like every village has a pharmacy. I think that it may be entirely possible that France has the world’s highest concentration of pharmacies per square mile. We don’t have any shops at all in my village but the nearest village with shops is a few miles away and has one small supermarket, one restaurant, one bar, two florists – opposite each other, and a pharmacy. There is always a little old lady sitting on a chair in the pharmacy waiting for her pills and listening to everything you say when you speak to the pharmacist – and then sharing the juicy details with everyone she knows.

French Florists

And I mentioned two florists in a village of a few hundred people – well alongside having the world’s highest concentration of pharmacies, I think it’s possible France also holds the record for florists!

French people love to give bunches of flowers for birthdays, anniversaries, as dinner party gifts, at Christmas. It’s a tradition to do this and so there’s a lot of need for florists.

There’s a whole culture around choosing the right flowers and creating a bouquet in France. There’s even a big France wide contest for the best florist in France, called the Coupe de France.

MOF in France – what’s that all about?

Which leads me to another very French thing. MOFs. Not the flying winged creatures but Meilleur Ouvrier de France, commonly called MOF, means “best craftsman of France” and it is a title that is awarded to the best of the best.

The concept was created in 1924. It’s a way of preserving and promoting traditional crafts. There are about 200 categories of awards for more than 180 professions including pastry making and cheese making, stained glass and violin making, book binding and boot making, hairdressing and denture making, even spectacles and boiler making. It’s sort of like the Olympics for manual trades, with medals awarded to winners.

The French learn from childhood that competition is good. For instance at school, kids are given little cards if they do well, they’re called bon points, good points, and parents can buy them to give to kids at home too, it’s about merit, a reward system for doing well, being good, working hard. They are encouraged to join debating societies and win contests for talking.

Animals in France

*Mademoiselle Poule – my chicken Barbie could have been a contender!*

There’s even a Mademoiselle Poule and Monsieur Coq, Miss Chicken and Mr Cockerel contest – a beauty pageant for chickens in France! You can post a photo of your chicken online and a bit about their personality, such as: “My name is Flora. I had an accident, I broke my leg. Instead of eating me, my owner took me to the vet and now I am a pet with one leg! I’m good, I eat, lay eggs and I hop! I love tomatoes and sunbathing!” And people vote for their favourite chicken!

How about though a pig squealing contest for humans?! Ever August enthusiastic competitors imitate the noises pigs make in front of crowds of fans. Happy pigs, sad pigs, sleeping pigs…

And there are the dogs. Or more precisely dogs in restaurants and shops. French people love to take their dogs to the restaurant with them. I’m not talking doggy diners, I mean normal restaurants.

Generally speaking many restaurants allow dogs if they are well behaved, but they’re not allowed to sit on the furniture, at your feet, or on your lap. Dogs aren’t allowed anywhere near where food is being prepared or stored so some restaurants that have open kitchens will not allow dogs. But it’s been quite a surprise for me to see dogs sitting in restaurants! And queuing up in bakeries and even in shops and supermarkets!

Croissant etiquette

Talking of bakeries, here is an odd cultural thing in France – dipping your croissant in your coffee, or your tartine, which sounds posh but is really a bit of yesterday’s baguette with butter and or jam on. Who dips bread in their coffee apart from French people. No one I suspect because that’s just weird.

Soggy bread. Just no. And melted butter floating on the top of the coffee. Eugh. The first time I saw someone in France do that, I nearly fell off my chair in shock. This is the land of haute cuisine, of cordon bleu, Michelin starred restaurants, superstar chefs. Dipping buttered bread in coffee. Just no.

Bonjour – king of the French language

And another thing I have noticed is how important social customs are. For instance, if I was lost in the UK I would just say: excuse me, could you please tell me the way to somewhere and I would either be told the way or told I don’t know. But in France they find it intolerable, impossible, incomprehensible not to acknowledge someone before asking them a question.

I have got used to it now and I always say Bonjour – please could you tell me the way to somewhere – because if I don’t the person might not answer out of shock that I didn’t say bonjour first!

Bonjour is possibly the most important word in France. It is NOT acceptable to walk into a shop, browse, then ask a question about the merchandise. As soon as you walk in, you should say “Bonjour!” to the staff, then you may browse. If you need to ask a question, it’s best to start with “Pardon,” to get their attention.

Shopping in France

Which brings me to shopping in France – and another Very French Thing. You might be used to going to shops in your home country where the customer is king. Or you may have a job where you need to bend over backwards to please the client because otherwise you might get fired, and then how will you pay the mortgage, the bills, access healthcare. In France – this is not a problem. The French work to live not live to work. The customer is not always king!

In France everyone is equal in the eyes of the law, though of course some may be more equal than others. Everyone has universal healthcare and it’s not easy to fire someone.

Very French things

And I am going to end on one more Very French Thing. Amazing cakes, bread and pastries – nowhere else in the world does baking like the French. But also nowhere else has a war on the name of a popular pastry. Pain au chocolat or chocolatine?

In the south it’s chocolatine, in the north it’s pain au chocolat. You say potato. I say potarto. And before we go further with the whole tomato/tomarto thing and call the whole thing off – I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at some of the unique, charming and fun cultural differences that France is proud of!

Janine Marsh is the author of several internationally best-selling books about France. Her latest book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life. Find all books on her website janinemarsh.com