Saturday, 21 June 2008
France Football from 1998 to 2008
THIS IS 1998
THEN 2008
ZIDANE WAS SIMPLY THE HEART AND ENGINE OF L'EQUIPE DE FRANCE
THEN 2008
ZIDANE WAS SIMPLY THE HEART AND ENGINE OF L'EQUIPE DE FRANCE
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Britain and France: 'l'amour violent'
By Paul Reynolds World Affairs correspondent, BBC News website
Picture: Chirac and Blair: entente still cordiale?
President Chirac's description of relations between France and Britain as an "amour violent" reflects the fact that the old rivalry has not ended.
Picture: Chirac and Blair: entente still cordiale? A hundred years of the Entente Cordiale, an alliance through two world wars and more than 30 years together in the European community has changed a lot but not everything.
The president was speaking on the eve of a two-day visit to Britain to celebrate the Entente which put to rest centuries of warfare without quite putting to rest centuries of suspicion.
His phrase "violent love" does not quite catch the reality of it. It goes over the top a bit.
'Mad with love'
You can see what "L'amour violent" means from the song of the same name by Johnny Halliday, France's only contribution to rock music. Rock and roll is one sphere in which the French have never bothered or been able to compete. Johnny was already going strong when I first went to Paris in 1963.
The rivalry is almost as intense today as it was when General de Gaulle twice vetoed British entry into the European Common Market
In a rough translation his words say: "Violent love is too much happiness. It is like a cry of pain. I laugh, I cry. I feel I am dying. I am mad with love."
Do the British and French feel like that about each other? I think not. The feeling is more like that of rivals for another's hand. There is some mutual respect, there is some mutual distrust. There is both admiration and scorn. There is envy and disdain.
To outsiders, this is rather comic. They can see that both peoples are much the same, if very different. They are opposite sides of the same coin. And the sad fact is that the value of that coin is very much diminished these days.
But the rivalry goes on. Indeed it is almost as intense today as it was when General de Gaulle twice vetoed British entry into the European Common Market in the 1960s.
'Tireless advocate'
It is not only in the small things - sport among them - but in the worldview each nation holds.
Call it a bridge, a two-lane motorway, a pivot or call it a damn high wire - our job is to keep our sights firmly on both sides of the Atlantic
Tony BlairThe transatlantic crisis over Iraq has thrown up all the issues predicted by the old general.
Britain has sided with the United States. France has led the opposition.
And in comments this week, the leaders have both restated positions that are mutually antagonistic, not in the sense of rudeness or hostility, but in the sense of a diverging understanding of how the world, especially the European part of it, should work.
Tony Blair said in his Mansion House speech on Monday: "Britain should be proud of its alliance with America, clear in its role in Europe and a tireless advocate of a strong bond between the two."
Metaphors
And he used the old metaphor of Britain as a bridge, while throwing in a couple more.
"Call it a bridge, a two-lane motorway, a pivot or call it a damn high wire, which is how it often feels - our job is to keep our sights firmly on both sides of the Atlantic."
President Chirac, in an interview with British correspondents before his visit here, repeated his vision of a powerful Europe as a counterbalance to other world centres like the United States.
"We are heading, inevitably, I have said it before, for a multi-polar world, in which there will be an American pole, a Chinese pole, a South American pole, an African pole, I hope, and a European pole."
In a BBC interview he has also challenged one of the bases for the Iraq war, saying that the world was not now a safer place.
Referendum
British attitudes to the rest of Europe will be tested again in the referendum on the European constitution, probably in 2006 if Mr Blair wins re-election.
But even if that is approved, the fundamental problems will remain. How far will the UK want European institutions to develop in the years ahead? How far will France press for European-only solutions?
In all this, the role of the British monarchy, at least, has been a benign one. Edward VII was cheered by the Paris crowds in 1903. Indeed the Entente was his idea. Elizabeth II is always welcomed in France, especially in the north where wartime memories of the British are favourable.
It is something both sides can applaud while putting their differences aside for the moment. And so it will be on this visit.
The president was speaking on the eve of a two-day visit to Britain to celebrate the Entente which put to rest centuries of warfare without quite putting to rest centuries of suspicion.
His phrase "violent love" does not quite catch the reality of it. It goes over the top a bit.
'Mad with love'
You can see what "L'amour violent" means from the song of the same name by Johnny Halliday, France's only contribution to rock music. Rock and roll is one sphere in which the French have never bothered or been able to compete. Johnny was already going strong when I first went to Paris in 1963.
The rivalry is almost as intense today as it was when General de Gaulle twice vetoed British entry into the European Common Market
In a rough translation his words say: "Violent love is too much happiness. It is like a cry of pain. I laugh, I cry. I feel I am dying. I am mad with love."
Do the British and French feel like that about each other? I think not. The feeling is more like that of rivals for another's hand. There is some mutual respect, there is some mutual distrust. There is both admiration and scorn. There is envy and disdain.
To outsiders, this is rather comic. They can see that both peoples are much the same, if very different. They are opposite sides of the same coin. And the sad fact is that the value of that coin is very much diminished these days.
But the rivalry goes on. Indeed it is almost as intense today as it was when General de Gaulle twice vetoed British entry into the European Common Market in the 1960s.
'Tireless advocate'
It is not only in the small things - sport among them - but in the worldview each nation holds.
Call it a bridge, a two-lane motorway, a pivot or call it a damn high wire - our job is to keep our sights firmly on both sides of the Atlantic
Tony BlairThe transatlantic crisis over Iraq has thrown up all the issues predicted by the old general.
Britain has sided with the United States. France has led the opposition.
And in comments this week, the leaders have both restated positions that are mutually antagonistic, not in the sense of rudeness or hostility, but in the sense of a diverging understanding of how the world, especially the European part of it, should work.
Tony Blair said in his Mansion House speech on Monday: "Britain should be proud of its alliance with America, clear in its role in Europe and a tireless advocate of a strong bond between the two."
Metaphors
And he used the old metaphor of Britain as a bridge, while throwing in a couple more.
"Call it a bridge, a two-lane motorway, a pivot or call it a damn high wire, which is how it often feels - our job is to keep our sights firmly on both sides of the Atlantic."
President Chirac, in an interview with British correspondents before his visit here, repeated his vision of a powerful Europe as a counterbalance to other world centres like the United States.
"We are heading, inevitably, I have said it before, for a multi-polar world, in which there will be an American pole, a Chinese pole, a South American pole, an African pole, I hope, and a European pole."
In a BBC interview he has also challenged one of the bases for the Iraq war, saying that the world was not now a safer place.
Referendum
British attitudes to the rest of Europe will be tested again in the referendum on the European constitution, probably in 2006 if Mr Blair wins re-election.
But even if that is approved, the fundamental problems will remain. How far will the UK want European institutions to develop in the years ahead? How far will France press for European-only solutions?
In all this, the role of the British monarchy, at least, has been a benign one. Edward VII was cheered by the Paris crowds in 1903. Indeed the Entente was his idea. Elizabeth II is always welcomed in France, especially in the north where wartime memories of the British are favourable.
It is something both sides can applaud while putting their differences aside for the moment. And so it will be on this visit.
Source: BBC NEWS NOV 2004
When Britain and France nearly married
By Mike Thomson
Presenter, Document
Picture: The major event of the year was the Suez episode
Formerly secret documents unearthed from the National Archives have shown Britain and France considered a "union" in the 1950s.
On 10 September 1956 French Prime Minister Guy Mollet arrived in London for talks with his British counterpart, Anthony Eden.
These were troubled times for Mollet's France. Egypt's President Gamel Abdel Nasser had nationalised the Suez Canal and, as if that was not enough, he was also busy funding separatists in French Algeria, fuelling a bloody mutiny that was costing the country's colonial masters dear.
Monsieur Mollet was ready to fight back and he was determined to get Britain's help to do it.
Formerly secret documents held in Britain's National Archives in London, which have lain virtually unnoticed since being released two decades ago, reveal the extraordinary proposal Mollet was about to make.
Really I am stuttering because this idea is so preposterous
Henri Soutou
Historian
The following is an extract from a British government cabinet paper of the day. It reads:
"When the French Prime Minister, Monsieur Mollet was recently in London he raised with the prime minister the possibility of a union between the United Kingdom and France."
Mollet was desperate to hit back at Nasser. He was also an Anglophile who admired Britain both for its help in two world wars and its blossoming welfare state.
There was another reason, too, that the French prime minister proposed this radical plan.
Tension was growing at this time along the border between Israel and Jordan. France was an ally of Israel and Britain of Jordan. If events got out of control there, French and British soldiers could soon be fighting each other.
With the Suez issue on the boil Mollet could not let such a disaster happen.
Secret document
So, when Eden turned down his request for a union between France and Britain the French prime minister came up with another proposal.
This time, while Eden was on a visit to Paris, he requested that France be allowed to join the British Commonwealth.
A secret document from 28 September 1956 records the surprisingly enthusiastic way the British premier responded to the proposal when he discussed it with his Cabinet Secretary, Sir Norman Brook.
It says: "Sir Norman Brook asked to see me this morning and told me he had come up from the country consequent on a telephone conversation from the prime minister who is in Wiltshire.
"The PM told him on the telephone that he thought in the light of his talks with the French:
"That we should give immediate consideration to France joining the Commonwealth
"That Monsieur Mollet had not thought there need be difficulty over France accepting the headship of her Majesty
"That the French would welcome a common citizenship arrangement on the Irish basis"
Seeing these words for the first time, Henri Soutou, professor of contemporary history at Paris's Sorbonne University almost fell off his chair.
Stammering repeatedly he said: "Really I am stuttering because this idea is so preposterous. The idea of joining the Commonwealth and accepting the headship of Her Majesty would not have gone down well. If this had been suggested more recently Mollet might have found himself in court."
Textbooks
Nationalist MP Jacques Myard was similarly stunned on being shown the papers, saying: "I tell you the truth, when I read that I am quite astonished. I had a good opinion of Mr Mollet before. I think I am going to revise that opinion.
"I am just amazed at reading this because since the days I was learning history as a student I have never heard of this. It is not in the textbooks."
It seems that the French prime minister decided to quietly forget about his strange proposals.
No record of them seems to exist in the French archives and it is clear that he told few other ministers of the day about them.
This might well be because after Britain decided to pull out of Suez, the battle against President Nasser was lost and all talk of union died too.
Instead, when the EEC was born the following year, France teamed up with Germany while Britain watched on. The rest, it seems, is history.
Document's A Marriage Cordial will be broadcast on Radio 4 at 2000 GMT on Monday.
Presenter, Document
Picture: The major event of the year was the Suez episodeFormerly secret documents unearthed from the National Archives have shown Britain and France considered a "union" in the 1950s.
On 10 September 1956 French Prime Minister Guy Mollet arrived in London for talks with his British counterpart, Anthony Eden.
These were troubled times for Mollet's France. Egypt's President Gamel Abdel Nasser had nationalised the Suez Canal and, as if that was not enough, he was also busy funding separatists in French Algeria, fuelling a bloody mutiny that was costing the country's colonial masters dear.
Monsieur Mollet was ready to fight back and he was determined to get Britain's help to do it.
Formerly secret documents held in Britain's National Archives in London, which have lain virtually unnoticed since being released two decades ago, reveal the extraordinary proposal Mollet was about to make.
Really I am stuttering because this idea is so preposterous
Henri Soutou
Historian
The following is an extract from a British government cabinet paper of the day. It reads:
"When the French Prime Minister, Monsieur Mollet was recently in London he raised with the prime minister the possibility of a union between the United Kingdom and France."
Mollet was desperate to hit back at Nasser. He was also an Anglophile who admired Britain both for its help in two world wars and its blossoming welfare state.
There was another reason, too, that the French prime minister proposed this radical plan.
Tension was growing at this time along the border between Israel and Jordan. France was an ally of Israel and Britain of Jordan. If events got out of control there, French and British soldiers could soon be fighting each other.
With the Suez issue on the boil Mollet could not let such a disaster happen.
Secret document
So, when Eden turned down his request for a union between France and Britain the French prime minister came up with another proposal.
This time, while Eden was on a visit to Paris, he requested that France be allowed to join the British Commonwealth.
A secret document from 28 September 1956 records the surprisingly enthusiastic way the British premier responded to the proposal when he discussed it with his Cabinet Secretary, Sir Norman Brook.
It says: "Sir Norman Brook asked to see me this morning and told me he had come up from the country consequent on a telephone conversation from the prime minister who is in Wiltshire.
"The PM told him on the telephone that he thought in the light of his talks with the French:
"That we should give immediate consideration to France joining the Commonwealth
"That Monsieur Mollet had not thought there need be difficulty over France accepting the headship of her Majesty
"That the French would welcome a common citizenship arrangement on the Irish basis"
Seeing these words for the first time, Henri Soutou, professor of contemporary history at Paris's Sorbonne University almost fell off his chair.
Stammering repeatedly he said: "Really I am stuttering because this idea is so preposterous. The idea of joining the Commonwealth and accepting the headship of Her Majesty would not have gone down well. If this had been suggested more recently Mollet might have found himself in court."
Textbooks
Nationalist MP Jacques Myard was similarly stunned on being shown the papers, saying: "I tell you the truth, when I read that I am quite astonished. I had a good opinion of Mr Mollet before. I think I am going to revise that opinion.
"I am just amazed at reading this because since the days I was learning history as a student I have never heard of this. It is not in the textbooks."
It seems that the French prime minister decided to quietly forget about his strange proposals.
No record of them seems to exist in the French archives and it is clear that he told few other ministers of the day about them.
This might well be because after Britain decided to pull out of Suez, the battle against President Nasser was lost and all talk of union died too.
Instead, when the EEC was born the following year, France teamed up with Germany while Britain watched on. The rest, it seems, is history.
Document's A Marriage Cordial will be broadcast on Radio 4 at 2000 GMT on Monday.
Source: BBC NEWS january 2007
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
Sunday, 8 June 2008
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Joan of Arc
St. Joan of Arc was born at Domrémy, France circa 6 January 1412. Citing a mandate from God to drive the English out of France, she was eventually given an escort to bring her before Charles of Ponthieu (later known as King Charles VII).
After gaining the approval of the Church scholars at Poitiers in March of 1429, she was granted titular command of an army which quickly lifted the siege of Orléans on 8 May 1429, captured Jargeau, Meung-sur-Loire, and Beaugency in mid-June, and defeated an English army at Patay on June 18. After accepting the surrender of the city of Troyes and other towns, the army escorted Charles to the city of Rheims for his coronation on July 17.
An unsuccessful attack was made on Paris on September 8, followed by the successful capture of St-Pierre-le-Moutier on November 4. As a reward for her service, Charles VII granted her noble status along with her family on 29 December 1429. She returned to the field the following year, despite predicting her own defeat. Captured at Compiègne on 23 May 1430 and transferred to the English, she was placed on trial in Rouen by a selected group of pro-English clergy, many of whom nevertheless had to be coerced into voting for a guilty verdict. Convicted and executed on 30 May 1431, she was subsequently declared innocent by an Inquisitorial court on 7 July 1456 after a lengthy re-trial process which was initiated shortly after the English were finally driven from Rouen, thereby allowing access to the documents and witnesses associated with her trial.
The presiding Inquisitor, Jean Bréhal, ruled that the original trial had been tainted by fraud, illegal procedures, and intimidation of both the defendant and many of the clergy who had taken part in the trial, and she was therefore described as a martyr by the Inquisitor. After the usual lengthy delay associated with the sluggish process of canonization, she was beatified on April 11, 1909 and canonized as a saint on 16 May 1920. Click here for longer biographies; or here for a timeline of her life. read more on http://www.joanofarc.info/
The kingdom of France and the French Revolution
The Frech Revolution was an event that took place in Europe during a ten year period from 1789 to 1799. It came right after the American Revolution which occured only a decade ealier. France was the most advanced and the most wealthiest country in Europe, with a large population and a prosperous foreign trade. France's culture was widely praised and emulated by the rest of the world. But all this success hadn't led to good only, with high taxes, high prices, and disturbing questions raised by The Enlightenment ideas of Rousseau and Voltaire, came to a great unrest in France.
The Revolution was helped caused due to the economic and inequalities in the Old Regime. The French Revolution caused the transformation of France, which went from absolute monarchy to a republic of theoritically free and equalized people. A feudalized system came about in the 1770's called the Old Regime. This caused France to be divided into three larger social groups, or estates. The first estate were clergy of the Roman Catholic Church and only made up 1 percent of the population in France. They had privilages including access to high offices and exemptions from paying taxes, and owned 10 percent of the land in France. It provided education and relief services to the poor and only contributed 2 percent of its income to the government. They scorned the Enlightenment ideas.The second estate were made up of rich nobles and only made up 2 percent of France. Most of their wealth was off land they owned. The nobles owned 20 percent of the land and paid no taxes. They also scorned The Enlightenment ideas as radical notions that threatened their status and power as privileged persons.
The French Revolution
The French Revolution began in 1789 with the meeting of the States General in May. On July 14 of that same year, the Bastille was stormed: in October, Louis XVI and the Royal Family were removed from Versailles to Paris. The King attempted, unsuccessfully, to flee Paris for Varennes in June 1791. A Legislative Assembly sat from October 1791 until September 1792, when, in the face of the advance of the allied armies of Austria, Holland, Prussia, and Sardinia, it was replaced by the National Convention, which proclaimed the Republic. The King was brought to trial in December of 1792, and executed on January 21, 1793. In January of 1793 the revolutionary government declared war on Britain, a war for world dominion which had been carried on, with short intermissions, since the beginning of the reign of William and Mary, and which would continue for another twenty-two years.... Read more on The Victorianweb The French RevolutionThe Ideology of the French RevolutionCulturally, the French Revolution provided the world with its first meaningful experience with political ideology. The word, and the concept it expressed, were revolutionary in origin. Indeed, it was Napoleon, a man who had no truck with idle thought, who called the intellectual system-makers of the late eighteenth century ideologues, abstractionists, or, as we have heard in recent years, "eggheads." The father of the DuPont who founded the famous American chemical company was called an ideologue by Napoleon. And this Pierre-Samuel DuPont de Nemours (1739-1817) spent half a lifetime drawing up constitutions, writing letters, while also finding time to offer a learned paper to the American Philosophical Society on the language of ants, and to inform his son that gout was the disease of the intellectual. Read more on Britannia
The Queen, La Reine
Guy Mollet (l), Sir Anthony Eden, and Christian Pineau, the French foreign minister, meet in Paris
By Caroline Davies
Last Updated: 2:00AM GMT 16/01/2007
Last Updated: 2:00AM GMT 16/01/2007
Your View: What would life be like if Britain and France had merged?
Zut alors! Such is the antipathy today, it is hard today to imagine two nations less likely to form a union than Great Britain and France. Or, indeed, what of the prospect of our Queen as the first regal head of this avowedly republican country since the previous royal occupants of the post literally lost theirs.
Guy Mollet (l), Sir Anthony Eden, and Christian Pineau, the French foreign minister, meet in Paris
But documents housed at the National Archives at Kew show not only was this seriously considered by the French, but they also wanted to join the Commonwealth as well.
The course of modern history would have well and truly changed back in 1956 had the French prime minister Guy Mollet got his way when he arrived in London for talks with his British counterpart Anthony Eden.
A British Cabinet paper from the time reads: “When the French Prime Minister, Monsieur Mollet was recently in London, he raised with the Prime Minister the possibility of a union between the United Kingdom and France....
Zut alors! Such is the antipathy today, it is hard today to imagine two nations less likely to form a union than Great Britain and France. Or, indeed, what of the prospect of our Queen as the first regal head of this avowedly republican country since the previous royal occupants of the post literally lost theirs.
Guy Mollet (l), Sir Anthony Eden, and Christian Pineau, the French foreign minister, meet in Paris
But documents housed at the National Archives at Kew show not only was this seriously considered by the French, but they also wanted to join the Commonwealth as well.
The course of modern history would have well and truly changed back in 1956 had the French prime minister Guy Mollet got his way when he arrived in London for talks with his British counterpart Anthony Eden.
A British Cabinet paper from the time reads: “When the French Prime Minister, Monsieur Mollet was recently in London, he raised with the Prime Minister the possibility of a union between the United Kingdom and France....
Read more in THE TELEGRAPH UK
Queen Elizabeth II of France? Mais non
By Caroline Davies
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 16/01/2007
Your View: What would life be like if Britain and France had merged?
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 16/01/2007
Your View: What would life be like if Britain and France had merged?
Mon Dieu! the Queen as La Reine de la France? C'est impossible, n'est ce pas? Not entirely, according to documents housed at the National Archives in Kew.
They show that in 1956 Britain and France considered a "union" and the possibility of our Queen as the first regal head of this avowedly republican country since previous occupants of the post literally lost theirs.
A sense of unity as the Queen makes a speech from in front of the Union flag and the Tricolour during a state visit to France
Yesterday the prospect rendered one eminent French historian almost speechless. "Really, I am stuttering because this idea is so preposterous," stammered Prof Henri Soutou, from the Sorbonne.
But a British cabinet note shows that the French prime minister, Guy Mollet, first broached the subject during a meeting in London with his British counterpart, Anthony Eden.
The note of Sept 10, 1956, states: "When the French prime minister, Monsieur Mollet, was recently in London he raised with the Prime Minister the possibility of a union between the United Kingdom and France."
They show that in 1956 Britain and France considered a "union" and the possibility of our Queen as the first regal head of this avowedly republican country since previous occupants of the post literally lost theirs.
A sense of unity as the Queen makes a speech from in front of the Union flag and the Tricolour during a state visit to France
Yesterday the prospect rendered one eminent French historian almost speechless. "Really, I am stuttering because this idea is so preposterous," stammered Prof Henri Soutou, from the Sorbonne.
But a British cabinet note shows that the French prime minister, Guy Mollet, first broached the subject during a meeting in London with his British counterpart, Anthony Eden.
The note of Sept 10, 1956, states: "When the French prime minister, Monsieur Mollet, was recently in London he raised with the Prime Minister the possibility of a union between the United Kingdom and France."
Read more on this article in The Telegraph uk
French Lower House Passes GM Bill
The French Parliament passed a bill on GM crops by 289 votes to 221, having failed to pass the measure by a single vote last week. The bill governs how transgenic plants can be grown in the country.
Enjoying French Cuisine
French cuisine is considered to be one of the world's most elegant and refined styles of cooking, and is renowned for both its classical ("haute cuisine") and provincial styles. It is one of the ingredients for a wonderful culinary holiday. Think of croissants, baguettes, bouillabaise, ratatouille, French cheese, grilled meat and fresh fish.
The French coffee drinks
Café (kuh-fay) is plain coffee with nothing added, but is strong as it is brewed like espresso.Café au lait (kuh-fay oh-lay) is a popular French coffee style that has been popularized in America, as it's served in tres francais New Orleans at Café du Monde. In France, this is simply coffee with steamed milk, and it's almost always wonderful. You will sometimes get the coffee served in one pot or in the cup, and then a pitcher of steamed milk to pour in as you please.
Café crème (kuh-fay khremm) is, as it sounds, coffee served in a large cup with hot cream.
Café Décafféiné (kuh-fay day-kah-fay-uhn-ay) is decaffeinated coffee. You will still need to tell them you want milk (lait) or cream (crème) with your coffee.
Café Noisette (kuh-fay nwah-zett) is espresso with a dash of cream in it. It is called "noisette," French for hazelnut, because of the rich, dark color of the coffee.
Café Americain (kuh-fay uh-meyhr-uh-kan) is filtered coffee, similar to traditional American coffee.
Café Léger (kuh-fay lay-zjay) is espresso with double the water.
Other French coffee terms
Other French coffee terms
Here are other terms that will come in useful when ordering coffee or visiting a French café:
Sucre - (soo-khruh) - sugar (You can request this, although cafés typically bring a cup with two cubed sugars on the dish. Since French coffee is strong, you may want to request more, or ask, "Plus de sucre, s'il vous plait," ploo duh soo-khruh, see voo play.)
Edulcorant - (ay-doohl-co-hrahn) - sweetener
Chocolat chaud - (shah-ko-lah show - hot chocolate
cafe con leche (you know)
French stick or a French loaf The Baguette
HistoryThe baguette is a descendant of the bread developed in Vienna in the mid-19th century when steam ovens were first brought into use, helping to make possible the crisp crust and the white crumb pitted with holes that still distinguish the modern baguette. Long loaves had been made for some time but in October 1920 a law prevented bakers from working before 4am, making it impossible to make the traditional, often round loaf in time for customers' breakfasts. The slender baguette solved the problem because it could be prepared and baked much more rapidly. [1]
Baguettes are closely connected to France and especially to Paris, though they are made around the world. In France, not all long loaves are baguettes — for example, a short loaf is a bâtard, a standard thicker stick is a flûte (also known in the United States as a parisienne), and a thinner loaf is a ficelle. (French breads are also made in forms such as a miche, which is a large pan loaf, and a boule, which is a round loaf similar to some peasant breads.)
Baguettes, either relatively short single-serving size or cut from a longer loaf, are very often used for sandwiches (usually of the submarine sandwich type, but also panini); sandwich-sized loaves are sometimes known as demi-baguettes, tiers, or sometimes "Rudi rolls". Baguettes are often sliced and served with pâté or cheeses. As part of the traditional continental breakfast in France, slices of baguette are spread with jam and dunked in bowls of coffee or hot chocolate. In the United States, baguettes are sometimes split in half to make French bread pizza.
Baguettes are closely connected to France and especially to Paris, though they are made around the world. In France, not all long loaves are baguettes — for example, a short loaf is a bâtard, a standard thicker stick is a flûte (also known in the United States as a parisienne), and a thinner loaf is a ficelle. (French breads are also made in forms such as a miche, which is a large pan loaf, and a boule, which is a round loaf similar to some peasant breads.)
Baguettes, either relatively short single-serving size or cut from a longer loaf, are very often used for sandwiches (usually of the submarine sandwich type, but also panini); sandwich-sized loaves are sometimes known as demi-baguettes, tiers, or sometimes "Rudi rolls". Baguettes are often sliced and served with pâté or cheeses. As part of the traditional continental breakfast in France, slices of baguette are spread with jam and dunked in bowls of coffee or hot chocolate. In the United States, baguettes are sometimes split in half to make French bread pizza.
The French Croissant
OriginFanciful stories of how the bread was created are modern culinary legends. These include tales that it was invented in Poland to celebrate the defeat of a Muslim invasion at the decisive Battle of Tours by the Franks in 732, with the shape representing the Islamic crescent; that it was invented in Vienna in 1683 to celebrate the defeat of the Turkish siege of the city, as a reference to the crescents on the Turkish flags, when bakers staying up all night heard the tunneling operation and gave the alarm; tales linking croissants with the kifli and the siege of Buda in 1686; and those detailing Marie Antoinette's hankering after a Viennese specialty.
Several points argue against the connection to the Turkish invasion or to Marie-Antoinette: saving the city from the Turks would have been a major event, yet the incident seems to be only referenced by food writers (writing well after the event), and Marie-Antoinette - a closely watched monarch, with a great influence on fashion - could hardly have introduced a unique foodstuff without writers of the period having commented on it. Those who claim a connection never quote any such contemporary source; nor does an aristocratic writer, writing in 1799, mention the pastry in a long and extensive list of breakfast foods. [3]
Alan Davidson, editor of the Oxford Companion to Food states that no printed recipe for the present-day croissant appears in any French recipe book before the early 20th century; the earliest French reference to a croissant he found was among the "fantasy or luxury breads" in Payen's Des substances alimentaires, 1853.
This suggests that the croissant was just becoming known at mid-century (though the puff pastry used to make it was already mentioned in the late 17th century, when La Varenne's "Le cuisinier françois" gave a recipe for it in the 1680 - and possibly earlier - editions.) By 1869, it was well-established enough to be mentioned as a breakfast staple and in 1872, Charles Dickens wrote (in his periodical "All the Year Round") of :
the workman's pain de ménage and the soldier's pain de munition, to the dainty croissant on the boudoir table.
However, it is possible - if not thus far documented - that there was a Viennese connection to the appearance of the croissant in France. Croissants today are one of a number of puff-pastry based items known as Viennoiserie - "Vienna-style items". The idea that Viennese-style rolls were finer seems to have started with a Boulangerie Viennoise - "Viennese breadstuff bakery" - that opened in Paris in the first half of the nineteenth century: "This same M. Zank...founded around 1830, in Paris, the famous Boulangerie viennoise" Several sources refer to the superiority of this bakery's products: "Paris is of exquisite delicacy; and, in particular, the succulent products of the Boulangerie Viennoise"; "which seemed to us as fine as if it came from the Viennese bakery on the rue de Richelieu".The following mention was written well after the croissant was common in France, and already mentions one common myth: "The croissant, which appeared in Paris for the first time at the boulangerie viennoise of the rue Montmartre, comes, effectively, from Vienna. It dates, I was told in that city, from the invasion of the Austrian capital by the Turks in 1683."
Several points argue against the connection to the Turkish invasion or to Marie-Antoinette: saving the city from the Turks would have been a major event, yet the incident seems to be only referenced by food writers (writing well after the event), and Marie-Antoinette - a closely watched monarch, with a great influence on fashion - could hardly have introduced a unique foodstuff without writers of the period having commented on it. Those who claim a connection never quote any such contemporary source; nor does an aristocratic writer, writing in 1799, mention the pastry in a long and extensive list of breakfast foods. [3]
Alan Davidson, editor of the Oxford Companion to Food states that no printed recipe for the present-day croissant appears in any French recipe book before the early 20th century; the earliest French reference to a croissant he found was among the "fantasy or luxury breads" in Payen's Des substances alimentaires, 1853.
This suggests that the croissant was just becoming known at mid-century (though the puff pastry used to make it was already mentioned in the late 17th century, when La Varenne's "Le cuisinier françois" gave a recipe for it in the 1680 - and possibly earlier - editions.) By 1869, it was well-established enough to be mentioned as a breakfast staple and in 1872, Charles Dickens wrote (in his periodical "All the Year Round") of :
the workman's pain de ménage and the soldier's pain de munition, to the dainty croissant on the boudoir table.
However, it is possible - if not thus far documented - that there was a Viennese connection to the appearance of the croissant in France. Croissants today are one of a number of puff-pastry based items known as Viennoiserie - "Vienna-style items". The idea that Viennese-style rolls were finer seems to have started with a Boulangerie Viennoise - "Viennese breadstuff bakery" - that opened in Paris in the first half of the nineteenth century: "This same M. Zank...founded around 1830, in Paris, the famous Boulangerie viennoise" Several sources refer to the superiority of this bakery's products: "Paris is of exquisite delicacy; and, in particular, the succulent products of the Boulangerie Viennoise"; "which seemed to us as fine as if it came from the Viennese bakery on the rue de Richelieu".The following mention was written well after the croissant was common in France, and already mentions one common myth: "The croissant, which appeared in Paris for the first time at the boulangerie viennoise of the rue Montmartre, comes, effectively, from Vienna. It dates, I was told in that city, from the invasion of the Austrian capital by the Turks in 1683."
Sunday, 18 May 2008
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