Bonjour and welcome to the Good Life France podcast, everything you want to know about France and more.I'm your host, Janine Marsh.I am an author and travel writer.
And though I was born in London, UK, I now live in a tiny village in the far north of France with dozens and dozens of animals, including six cats and one new kitten, Smudge, who turned up a couple of weeks ago and decided our house is where he wants to live.
And I also have four ducks. umpteen chickens that no one else wants, mad ducks, mean geese and a dove called Doris who has a broken wing and can't fly.And I have a hedgehog called Charlie who lives on our terrace.Just call me Dr Doolittle.
I travel around France exploring every nook and cranny to share with you and when I do my husband Mark stays home to look after all the animals and when I'm not traveling, writing or looking after animals I love to chat to you on this podcast with my podcast partner Olivier.
I love your animal names, Janine.Bonjour, I'm Olivier, Oli for short.You may not be able to tell, but I am from France, where I lived in the UK for 20 years.So I think I sound almost British as well.
When I am not at work presenting the drive tap slot on a big radio station in lovely Lyon, where I live, or playing fabulous French chanson on my own radio station called Paris Chanson, or looking after my one cat.Yes, just one.It's enough for me.
I love chatting to you on this podcast too with you, Janine, but that's enough about us and our animals.Let's get stuck into today's topic.Janine, tell us quickly what we are going to be talking about in this episode.
Today, we're going to be talking about very French things.I was being interviewed last week for a US newspaper about my life in France.And the interviewer said to me, is there anything you find culturally different about living in France?
And I thought, are you kidding me?How long have you got?So today we're going to talk about some of those things that are unique to French culture, charming, funny and perhaps just a little odd.
Just a little.Yes.That sounds fun though.It may be that your idea of odd and mine are different.So let's get started and talk very French things.The Good Life France podcast.
Everything you want to know about France and more with Janine Marsh and Olivier Joffrey.
Okay, even though I'm French, after living in the UK for two decades, there are definitely some things I noticed when I came back that seem very French to me now, like pharmacies.
In the UK, you will get a pharmacy in the bigger towns or in shopping centers.In France, it feels like every village has a pharmacy.
I think that it may be entirely possible that we have the world's highest concentration of pharmacy per square mile in France.
I think that is really true, actually.We don't have any shops at all in my village, but the nearest village is just a few miles away and it has one small supermarket, one restaurant, one bar, two florists opposite each other and a pharmacy.
And there is always a little old lady sitting on a chair in every pharmacy you go into in France. waiting for her pills, listening to everything you say when you speak to the pharmacist, and then sharing all the juicy details with everyone she knows.
And I mentioned two florists in a village of just, I think, 165 people, something like that, 180 people.
Well, alongside having the world's highest concentration of pharmacies, I think it's entirely possible France also holds the record for the number of
It's true, 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, definitely.
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, the World Cup de France, which leads me to another very French thing.
Moffs, not the flying winged creatures, but Mayor Ouvrier de France, commonly called Moffs, M-O-F.It means Best Craftsman of France, and it's a title that's awarded to the best of the best.
Ah yes, this is very French actually.We love the competition here.The concept was created in 1924.It's a way of preserving and promoting traditional crafts.
There are about 200 categories, yes 200, of awards for more than 180 professions, including pastry making and cheese making, stained glass and violin making, bookbinding 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 as well.
I love that.The creme de la creme.The winners are allowed to wear the coveted red and white blue collar on their shirts, on their aprons.And it's an honor.
It's so revered that it's illegal and an imprisonable offense to wear it if you're not entitled to.
A contest is held every 3 or 4 years and each competitor must produce one or more masterpieces or participate in live tests.They train for months, sometimes years, spending hundreds and hundreds of hours perfecting their skills.
Each candidate is given a certain amount of time and basic materials in order to create a few masterpieces.
Juries consist of around 3,000 volunteers who are involved in judging the demanding and sometimes fiendishly complex tasks that competitors must fulfill to prove their mastery of their profession.
They judge not just on the end result, but on their techniques, speed, and savoir-faire, their know-how.
Thousands and thousands of applicants are whittled down to a handful of winners who are presented with a medal and they go to a party hosted by the French president at the Élysée Palace.
Wow, very nice.The MOF title is granted for life and those who hold it are considered caretakers, keepers of their craft.They must uphold standards of excellence and pass their knowledge on.
If you visit France, you might spot the blue, white and red colors that moths wear, especially in boulangeries and patisseries.Or you might see it on the awning of shops or in shop windows.
And then you know that here you will find those who have been judged the very best of the very best. It's really French, very French.And yes, the French are very competitive.Which leads me to our next very French thing.
The number of contests the French hold.It's not just for skills.It's for everything.
It's for the best bread, best croissants, favourite markets, favourite villages, favourite monuments, best baguette, best speller even, best cake, best tart, best baker and even chickens.
Yeah, it's true.We grew up learning that competition is good in France, I think.For instance, at school, we get given little cards if we do well.They're called bon point, good points, and parents can buy them to give to kids at home too.
It's about merit, you know, a reward system for doing well, being good, working hard.We are encouraged to join debating societies, of course we are, and win contests for talking.
It's true, we are very competitive, but it's always about quality over quantity.Wait a minute, Janine, did you just say chicken contest?
I did.I really did say that.And it's really true.My neighbor introduced me to the Mademoiselle Poule and Monsieur Cock, Miss Chicken, seriously, Miss Chicken and Mr Cockerel Contest.It's a beauty pageant for chickens in France.
You post your photo of your chicken online and you say a bit about their personality, like one I read was bonjour. My name is Flora.I had an accident.I broke my leg.
But 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 yes, this is what the chicken apparently said.And people vote for their favourite chicken.
So okay, I admit, that's a little odd.How about though a pig squealing contest for humans?Much better, isn't it?Every August, enthusiastic competitors imitate the noises pigs make in front of crowds of fans.Yes, you've heard it right.
Happy pigs, sad pigs, sleeping pigs, all sorts of noises. Ok, let's talk about another very French thing that I have noticed coming back to France.Dogs, or more precisely dogs in restaurants and shops.
I had forgotten completely about this French habit when I was in England and coming back to France I really noticed how much French people love to take their dogs to the restaurant with them.I'm not talking doggy diners, I mean normal restaurants.
Do you take your dogs, Janine?
No, that's never, ever going to happen.Reggie and Ronnie Cray, they're the Labradors, they would be just going mad trying to eat everything in sight.
Lady and Nina, the Australian Shepherds, would just run amok, grinning at everyone because they grin and barking hello to everyone because they're very sociable.
And I can't even imagine the horror of my four dogs going to a place where there is food in their sights. But my friend Annette, she takes her little Bichon Frise dog everywhere and it sits on her lap in the restaurant.It's very well behaved.
But yes, that's the point.Generally speaking, many restaurants allow dogs if they are well behaved.But they are 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, obviously, or stored.So some restaurants that have open kitchens will not allow dogs at all.
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.
Talking of bakeries, here is an odd cultural thing in France of dipping your croissant in your coffee or in your tartine, which sounds posh, but is really just yesterday's baguette with butter and jam on.
Who dips bread in their coffee apart from French people?No one, I suspect, because that's just weird.
Have you tried it, Janine?
No idea.Absolutely horrible.Soggy bread.Just no.Melted butter floating on the top of my coffee.The first time I saw someone in France do this, I nearly fell off my chair in shock.This is the land of folk cuisine.
Cordon Bleu, Michelin starred restaurant, superstar chefs, dipping buttered bread in coffee.Just no.
In coffee or in hot chocolate as well? Even worse, right?
But you should try it, it's delicious.And another thing I've noticed is how important our 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, we find it intolerable, impossible, incomprehensible not to acknowledge someone before we interact with them, before we ask them a question.
That's so true.It's so French.I've got used to it now.And I just always say Bonjour.Please, could you tell me the way to somewhere?Because if I don't say that Bonjour first, the person might not answer me out of shock. Very French.
It is, yeah.Bonjour is possibly the most important word in France.It is not, I repeat, 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.
And shopping in France, that leads me to another very French thing.You might be American, British, Australian, Japanese, or from one of the other more than 150 countries listening into this podcast.
And you might be used to going to shops where the customer is king. or 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 health care?
Well, in France, this is not a problem.The French work to live, not live to work.The customer is not always king.
Indeed.In France, everyone is equal in the eyes of the law.Of course, some may be more equal than others.And everyone has universal health care and it's not easy to fire someone.
I think it actually might be impossible to find someone in France, Sacrebleu.
Oh, God.No one says Sacrebleu anymore, Jenny.
I do.And I'm going to end on one more very French thing to love amazing cakes, breads and pastries.Nowhere else in the world does baking quite like the French, but also nowhere else.
Very French thing has a war on the pronunciation of a popular pastry, pain au chocolat. or chocolatine.
Oh, careful there, Janine.Well, here in the South, in Lyon, we say chocolatine and a bit of pain au chocolat, to be honest, as well.But chocolatine first.
And in the North, we say pain au chocolat.
I say potato.And before we go further with the whole tomato-tomato thing and call the whole thing off, we hope you've enjoyed this look at some of the unique, charming and fun cultural differences that France is proud of.
What about a potato with chocolate?How do you call that?
It's just as bad as sticking your croissant in your hot chocolate.
This is The Good Life France podcast.Oh la la!Le podcast The Good Life France. We just want to say a huge thank you to all of you listening to our podcast and to everyone for sharing it too.
We really love sharing the France we know and love with you, the authentic and real France, with its wonderful history, culture, gastronomy, wine and much more.It always amazes us that people are listening in about 150 countries around the world.
Yes, thank you so much everyone.Wherever you are, we really appreciate it. You've been listening to me, Janine Marsh, and Olivier Joffery.
You can find Oli at parischanson.fr, playing heaps of great music, and you can find me and a ton of information about France, where to visit, culture, history, recipes, everything France, at thegoodlifefrance.com.
where you can subscribe to the podcast, a weekly newsletter about France, and a totally brilliant, completely free magazine, which you can read at magazine.thegoodlifefrance.com.But for now, it's au revoir from me.
The Good Life France podcast.Available on all podcast platforms on thegoodlifefrance.com and on parischanson.fr. The most beautiful French songs of the 40s, 50s and 60s, only on Paris Chanson.
Available on your mobile, smart TV, computer and smart speaker 24x7.Visit parischanson.fr to find out more.That's P-A-R-I-S-C-H-A-N-S-O-N.fr
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