Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
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Quick answers
What is French cuisine?
French cuisine grew from regional peasant pots and a court that professionalised sauce and service. Cuisine française is both grandmotherly daube and the brigade system the world still copies.
Is it always spicy?
French cuisine sits at spice 22 in this atlas. Croissant and Baguette show the range better than a single heat number.
What should a first meal include?
Croissant plus one regional plate — not only the export icon.
What is Mirepoix?
Onion-carrot-celery base of stocks and stews.
How do people eat at home?
Technique 94 in this atlas is not a compliment to every bistro. It marks mother sauces, pastry lamination, wine pairing and a restaurant culture that trained half the world's fine dining.
What travels poorly?
The home pantry around Mirepoix and the labour behind Baguette rarely fit a takeaway box.
French cuisine changes by valley, coast and capital. Lyon bouchons is one node, not the whole map.
The meters treat heat, ferment, street density and sharing as the axes that actually organise meals.
Systems
Île-de-France / Paris
Restaurants, bakeries, the media palate.
Lyon / Bresse
Offal, butter, "capital of gastronomy" claim.
Provence / Med
Olive, garlic, fish, rouille.
Southwest
Duck fat, cassoulet, wine.
Alsace / north
Pork, cabbage, beer and Germanic overlap.
Brittany / Atlantic
Butter, cider, seafood.
Flavour meters
Cities & regions
Lyon bouchons
Offal and wine as civic identity.
Paris markets
Rue Cler to older covered markets.
Marseille Vieux-Port
Bouillabaisse arguments.
Bordeaux / Burgundy
Wine as food system.
Strasbourg
Choucroute and a border table.
Materials
Butter and cream
The north-central fat.
Wine and stock
The liquid pantry.
Wheat bread
The utensil.
Cheese
A fermented course.
Regional pride in this cuisine is argued through Croissant and Baguette more than through a single official recipe.
Keep exploring
More in Europe
Italian cuisine
Pasta, tomato and a fierce regional map: the most accessible European table in the atlas.
Overall 67 🥘Spanish cuisine
Olive oil, sofrito and a tapas clock: paella, jamón and the regional map from Basque to Andalusia.
Overall 64 🥨German cuisine
Bread, pork and a beer-garden clock: sausage, sauerkraut and a regional map from Bavaria to the North Sea.
Overall 53 🍲Hungarian cuisine
Paprika, sour cream and a dumpling clock: goulash, lángos and a table that is not Austrian and not only spicy.
Overall 59 🐟Portuguese cuisine
Bacalhau, olive oil and a pastry clock: grilled sardines, vinho and the Atlantic pantry.
Overall 59 🫒Greek cuisine
Olive oil, lemon and a meze clock: feta, grilled lamb and the eastern Mediterranean table.
Overall 56 🥧British cuisine
Roast, pie and a curry-house overlay: Sunday beef, fried breakfast and a food island that absorbed the world.
Overall 56 🥟Russian cuisine
Sour cream, pickle and a vast grain belt: borscht arguments, pelmeni and a tea-and-zakuski table.
Overall 50 🥟Polish cuisine
Dumpling, dill and a sour-rye broth: pierogi, kielbasa and a table built for winter.
Overall 49 🐟Swedish cuisine
Dill, herring and a cinnamon-bun clock: husmanskost, fika and the lowest spice score in the atlas.
Overall 53