Handy hints for eating bread the right way when you are in France!

In a family, bread is passed around the table. You are often expected to just tear a piece off the end to eat.

If you cut French bread, it is good manners to slice it on the diagonal. Avoid slicing it through vertically.

People do slice baguettes horizontally to make a sub-type sandwich.

It's considered good luck if you end up with the knobble at the end of the bread. (Personally, I think this is a way of persuading people to eat it!)

Handy hints about croissants.

Avoid eating butter with croissants in France - this is not done. Eat them by themselves or with jam.

Avoid heating them up in a microwave oven as it makes them go soggy!

You can dunk your croissants or your breakfast bread into your coffee or hot chocolate. It is not considered bad manners to do this.

Even more delicious than a croissant is a pain au chocolat, pictured below. It is a rolled croissant around a stick of chocolate. Warmed in the oven it just melts in your mouth!

Here is a typical French breakfast
un petit déjeuner typique.

A typical French breakfast - une tartine, du beurre et de la confiture.

du pain - bread, sliced and all ready to make into "une tartine", or what we would call bread and jam.
du beurre - butter
de la confiture - jam
une pâtisserie - a pastry as a special treat.
du café au lait (coffee) or un chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) to complete the meal!

Some vocabulary to get you started.

Le pain = bread
un pain au chocolat = a chocolate croissant
une tartine= slice of bread and jam
La boulangerie = bread shop
Le boulanger = baker
La pâtisserie = pastry shop
Le pâtissier = pastry cook
un chocolat chaud= a hot chocolate
un café=a black coffee
un café crème = a white coffee
un café au lait = more milk than coffee
Une pâtisserie = a pastry
Miam miam!= Yummo!