Monday, August 13, 2012

My script for presentation

Hello, everyone! My name is Monica and today I am going to talk about France cuisine. Do you know third most famous cuisine in the world? Yes, answer is China, Turkey, and France. As you can see, France cuisine is already famous in all the world. I wanted to know why France cuisine is so famous and also wanted to know lot about France cuisine, since I had been there. So as I said, I will talk about France cuisine's history and 3 famous french food.
The history of French cuisine goes back to the middle ages. During this time French meals where very similar to Moorish Cuisine, and were served in a style called service en confusion, meaning that meals were served all at once. Meals consisted of spiced meats such as pork, beef, poultry, and fish. In many cases meals where determined by the season, and of what food was in abundance. Meats were salted and smoked to preserve, and vegetables were also salted and put in jars to preserve for the winter months. During this time the presentation of the meal was also very important. The more lavish and colorful the display, the better, and cooks would use edible items such as saffron, egg yolk, spinach, and sunflower for color. One of the most extravagant dinners of this time was a roast swan or peacock, which was sewn back into its skin and feathers to look intact. The feet and beak were gilded with gold to complete the spectacle. During the 15 th and 16 th centuries the French where influenced greatly by the advancing culinary arts in Italy. Much of this influenced was do Catherine De Medicis (a Florentine princess) who married Henry duc d'Orleans (who became King Henry II of France). Italian chefs where light years of ahead of French culinary experts, and had already begun creating dishes such as lasagna, manicotti, and had experimented using ingredients like truffles, garlic, and mushrooms. When Catherine married King Henry II, she brought along with her Italian chefs who in turn introduced Italian culinary practices to the French court. Even though the culinary cultures of these two countries have taken different roads, the French owe much of their culinary development to the Italians and their intervention in the 1500s. This is why the french food had a little taste of Italians. The time between the 16th and 18th centuries was also known as the Ancient Regime, and during this time Paris was referred to as “… the central hub of culture and economic activity and as such the most highly skilled culinary craftsmen were to be found there.” During the Ancient Regime food distribution was regulated by the city government in the form of guilds, and these guilds put in place restrictions that allowed certain food industries to operate in assigned areas. Guilds were separated into two groups: people who supplied the raw materials to make food, and the people who sold already prepared items. The restrictions that were put in place by guilds hampered the development of culinary arts during this time, by restricting certain chefs to assigned areas. Between the 17 th and 18 th century there was a development in Haute Cuisine or “High Cuisine”, and its origins can be found in the recipes of a chef named La Varenne. Varenne was the author of what is known today as the first “true French cookbook”. Unlike the cooking styles of the middle Ages, Verenne’s cookbook (Cvisinier François) contained new recipes which focused on more modest and less extravagant meals. This was an ongoing trend throughout the history of French cuisine, with more and more chefs continuing to tone down on the abundance of a meal, and focusing on the ingredients in the meal.
According to Wikipedia, it says that Foie gras is a food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened. Foie gras is a popular and well-known delicacy in French cuisine. Its flavor is described as rich, buttery, and delicate, unlike that of an ordinary duck or goose liver. Foie gras is sold whole, or is prepared into mousse, parfait, or pâté and may also be served as an accompaniment to another food item, such as steak. French law states that "Foie gras belongs to the protected cultural and gastronomical heritage of France." The technique of gavage dates as far back as 2500 BC, when the ancient Egyptians began keeping birds for food and deliberately fattened the birds through force-feeding.[5] Today, France is by far the largest producer and consumer of foie gras, though it is produced and consumed worldwide, particularly in other European nations, the United States, and China.
Escargot is a dish of cooked land snails, usually served as an appetizer in France and in French restaurants. The word is also sometimes applied to the living snails of those species which are commonly eaten in this way. In French culture, typically the snails are purged (see below), killed, removed from their shells, and cooked (usually with garlic butter, chicken stock or wine) and then placed back into the shells together with the butter and sauce for serving. Additional ingredients may be added such as garlic, thyme, parsley and pine nuts. Special snail tongs (for holding the shell) and snail forks (for extracting the meat) are also normally provided, and they are served on indented metal trays with places for 6 or 12 snails.
This is the informations that I had got from google, and thank you for reading.

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