Notes to teachers: (further notes on the notes pages below the screen) Breakfast in France: le petit déjeuner Its history begins in the XVIIIth century when the custom of drinking coffee and coffee with milk served with toast, spread into the cities. The French term petit déjeuner was coined at the end of the nineteenth century when the current three meals pattern was set up. As a whole, breakfasts are not a huge affair in France. Le petit déjeuner means the petit (small) breakfast. So breakfast is generally very small. For most people that consists of something sweet: pain au chocolat pain au raisin with jam brioche a regular croissant fresh baguette with jam pain au lait (slightly sweet light bread) biscuits (often chocolate) A bowl of cereal For a drink they usually choose from freshly squeezed orange juice, an americano or an expresso. Children prefer hot chocolate instead of coffee. A typical domestic breakfast in France consists of bowls rather than cups or mugs of coffee, often hot chocolate with tartines - slices of baguette spread with jam - sometimes dunked. The French don’t like savoury breakfasts. In fact, most seem pretty disgusted by it. It is no use explaining the benefits of starting the day with protein instead of white bread and sugar. You can understand that for someone used to sweet breakfasts, the smell of bacon frying in the morning might be a bit much. Toast and jam.. Instead, a French person might enjoy some of last light’s baguette lightly toasted with a spoonful of jam (not jelly).
Le petit déjeuner
un croissant The word 'croissant' actually means 'crescent' because the pastry is a crescent shape. The French don’t tend to slice up the croissant and spread it with butter and jam. They may well dunk it in a bowl of coffee or chocolate. Although croissants are associated with France, they actually started in Austria. The crescent was the symbol of the Turks. When the Austrians defeated the Turks in a battle over three hundred years ago, the French chef employed by the Emperor of Austria decided to make crescent-shaped pastry (in the shape of the Turks' emblem) for the Austrians to eat in celebration - meaning they were crushing and chewing their enemies! When the chef returned to France, he made his 'invention' popular there too. This type of pastry is referred to in French as La viennoiserie, meaning - Viennese pastries. (Vienna is the capital city of Austria). This is the symbol that inspired the invention of the croissant
un pain au chocolat
une tartine
Nutella is mostly eaten by children Nutella is mostly eaten by children. You rarely see adults eating it and the marketing is all very child-oriented. Children usually have a bowl of hot chocolate or milk with it.
Viennoiserie Brioche Pain aux raisins Viennoise chocolat Cramique sucre- raisins A selection of pastries which are sometimes eaten for breakfasts. The French like something sweet for breakast. Brioche Pain aux raisins
un bol de céréales Milk and cereal. Yes, French people eat cereal, too! It’s a French thing to heat up a BOWL of hot chocolate to have with cereal instead of cold milk.
un café French people often drink strong black coffee in the morning – to kick start their day.
un café crème It is quite popular to have breakfast or simply a coffee on the way to work in the morning.
un bol de chocolat chaud Children especially drink hot chocolate out of bowls.