Food Culture in Québec and France: Meals, Dishes and Table Manners

Getting Started

Food is at the heart of both French and Québécois culture, and it’s one of the friendliest topics you can bring up at work: Qu’est-ce que tu as mangé ce week-end ? But the same word can mean different things on either side of the Atlantic, starting with the names of the meals themselves.

For the basic food words (bread, milk, vegetables, partitive articles), start with Food and Drink Vocabulary. This lesson is about the culture around them.

1 Meal names: Québec vs France

So On dîne à midi is normal in Montréal and strange in Paris. The verbs follow the nouns: déjeuner, dîner, souper. At work in Québec, la pause-dîner is the lunch break.

2 Québec dishes

Maple syrup (le sirop d’érable) goes on almost everything. Québec produces most of the world’s supply.

3 How a French meal is structured

A traditional meal in France, especially with guests, has courses:

1. L’apéritif (l’apéro): drinks and small snacks before the meal.
2. L’entrée: the starter. Careful: in North American English, “entrée” means the main course. In French it’s always the starter.
3. Le plat principal (le plat): the main course.
4. Le fromage: cheese, often with bread, before dessert.
5. Le dessert, then le café.

Bread is always on the table, usually straight on the tablecloth, not on a plate. A long meal with friends is normal; two or three hours isn’t unusual.

In Québec, meals are closer to North American habits (a main dish and dessert), but l’apéro and cheese are just as loved.

4 At the table

• Bon appétit ! is said before eating. Wait for the host to say it or start.
• Santé ! (Cheers!) Look people in the eye when you clink glasses. À la vôtre ! is the formal version.
• In France, keep your hands on the table (wrists resting on the edge), not in your lap.
• It’s polite to finish your plate, and to compliment the cook: C’est délicieux !, Tu me donnes la recette ?
• If you are invited to someone’s home, bring something small: flowers, chocolates, a dessert, or wine if you drink.

5 In a restaurant

Apportez votre vin. Many Québec restaurants, especially in Montréal, are apportez votre vin (AVV): you bring your own bottle from the store. It’s a good-value way to eat out.

Taxes. In Canada, menu prices don’t include sales tax, which is added on the bill, and the tip is calculated on the price before tax.

6 Explaining what you eat

Many Punjabi families are vegetarian, don’t eat beef, or avoid alcohol. It’s normal and easy to say so, politely:

• Je suis végétarien / végétarienne. (I’m vegetarian.)
• Je ne mange pas de viande / de bœuf / de porc. (I don’t eat meat / beef / pork.)
• Je ne mange pas d’œufs. (I don’t eat eggs.)
• Je ne bois pas d’alcool, merci. (I don’t drink alcohol, thanks.)
• Est-ce qu’il y a de la viande dedans ? (Is there meat in it?)
• Vous avez un plat végétarien ? (Do you have a vegetarian dish?)
• Je suis allergique aux arachides. (I’m allergic to peanuts.) In Québec, peanuts are les arachides; in France, les cacahuètes.

Note the negative: je ne mange pas de viande, not pas de la viande.

Sharing your food. At a work potluck (in Québec also un repas-partage), Punjabi food is always a hit. Be ready to explain it:

J’ai apporté du chana masala : ce sont des pois chiches dans une sauce aux tomates et aux épices. Ce n’est pas trop piquant. Et voici des pakoras, des beignets de légumes. Servez-vous !

Common Mistakes

Practice

1. A Québec colleague says On va dîner ensemble demain ? When do you meet?
2. How do you ask whether a dish has meat in it?
3. Which course comes between the main course and dessert in a traditional French meal?
4. What does AVV mean on a Montréal restaurant?
5. Describe one Punjabi dish in two French sentences.

What’s Next

• Food and Drink Vocabularythe words and the partitive articles.
• Holidays and Celebrations in Canadathe sugar shack, the réveillon and more.
• Québécois vs European Frenchmore words that change across the Atlantic.