The French Patiisserie in West Ajijic

Thank you for clearing that up Brigitte. You must understand that I have had very little exposure to people from France, especially those like you who I trust explicitly on matters of culture, food and wine. I have really enjoyed the French literature classics -Proust, Flaubert and Balzac - but always in translation.

Now, another French bread myth you may be able de-smock. 1) It is considered rude to saw away at bread and buns with a knife - it is always broken by hand. 2) It is considered rude to slather fresh bread and buns with gobs of butter.

CHILLIN wrote: It is considered rude to slather fresh bread and buns with gobs of butter.

I hope Helper Guy doesn't read this.

CHILLIN wrote:

Now, another French bread myth you may be able de-smock. 1) It is considered rude to saw away at bread and buns with a knife - it is always broken by hand. 2)

Interesting question Chillin,my dad who was no gourmet but grew up in San Francisco eating sourdough bread always said that it was better to break pieces off with your hand,but I think it had more to do with the taste for lack of a better word than anything else.

Restaurants serve bread cut with a knife but at home it is usually although not always with younger people broken by hand.
My mother and grand-mothers always told us to break the bread but I think it is an old religious custom or old custom going way back.
I would not think it is not rude just a little strange to saw the bread with a knife but things are changing.
On my father side my grand-father would bless the bread before breaking it. In the old days bread was extremely important. You never threw it out, you cooked with old bread or fed animals with it but never never would you throw it out. Things are changing but bread was life.

Most French people do not eat bread and butter at the dinner or lunch table ( bread yes butter no). Many restaurant will not serve butter on the table unless you ask for it and then they may charge you extra.

If I had a French person eating gobs of bread and butter when I am serving lunch or dinner I would consider it rude but if a foreigner did the same thing I would not think about it.
Foreigners usually go crazy with bread and butter when they first get to France and then they realize they cannot enjoy the rest of the meal as they are not hungry any more so they slow down. Lunches or dinner prepared for guests are usually copious and long .

In the morning at breakfast you can have your fill or butter bread and jam if you like.

All of those customs vary by family and regions and so as long as you are discreet everything is acceptable especially if you are a foreigner.

My husband asked for butter once in a restaurant in Paris famous for its rude waiters and they really made fun of him. Same thing for a Chinese collegue who asked for a croissant with his lunch...the waiters asked him if he wanted cafe au lait to go with his breakfast. Supreme put down!

[My husband asked for butter once in a restaurant in Paris famous for its rude waiters and they really made fun of him. Same thing for a Chinese collegue who asked for a croissant with his lunch...the waiters asked him if he wanted cafe au lait to go with his breakfast. Supreme put down![/quote]

Rude waiters in France? No way!!!

What you must do is have a sense of humor about snotty French waiters and keep in mind who is waiting tables for a pittance and who is savoring a meal.

The last time we ate out in Paris at a neighborhood bistro, I decided to have a baba au rhum for dessert and I asked the haughty waiter for extra rum and he, to be cute, no doubt, brought out the baba au rhum and proceeded to pour copious amounts of additional rum over the baba meant, I presume to humiliate me and make me seem the ignorant American indiscrete hillbilly but cultural differences work both ways and, of course, I was delighted to receive this extra ration of the fine dark rum they were pouring in a land famous for light and very expensive liquor pours. Patrons at adjoining tables enjoyed this waiters ostentatious display of arrogance as did I - the recipient of this large extra ration of rum. One French patron called out to the waiter, "May I please have some baba with my rum?"

All highly amusing but cultural igorance goes both ways. You might insult a French host by requesting a croissant with lots of accompanying butter for dinner but you can never insult a South Alabama boy by increasing his rum ration and the more the better. That was the best baba au rhum I ever tasted.