La Belle Vie: France's most important inventions and pastis-flavoured crisps
La Belle Vie is our regular look at the real culture of France – from language to cuisine, manners to films. This newsletter is published weekly and you can receive it directly to your inbox, by going to your newsletter preferences in 'My account'.
I'm coming up on my sixth anniversary of moving to France, and sometimes I look back with wonder at the fact that I made such a huge decision right after graduating from university. The first four months were the hardest - I struggled to find an apartment and quickly ate into my savings, opening a bank account was a four-week-long nightmare, and learning French was much harder than I'd expected.
Most other foreigners I've met in France can relate to the emotional ups and downs of the first few months, after all, you left behind family, friends, and very likely, a job. As such, I understand the appeal of trying to hold onto the latter, but if you want to live in France and work remotely for US or UK-based clients, there are some important things to consider beforehand.
So you want to move to France and work remotely?
The internet certainly helps with staying connected to loved ones on the other side of the Channel or the Atlantic Ocean.
This might be common knowledge for folks above a certain age, but I was fascinated to learn recently that France invented one of the early predecessors to the internet. Before we had the World Wide Web,
there was Minitel
, which was owned by the French government and was only finally discontinued in 2012.
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French inventions may have changed your life more than you realise.
12 world-changing inventions that came from France
On the other hand, there are some inventions we often associate with the French that are not really French at all. You might be surprised to learn that croissants, the metric system and wine all find their origins outside of France.
22 of the biggest myths about French history
One little piece of French history is that tea actually made it to France before Britain. It was the Dutch, another European nation not particularly noted for their tea drinking proclivities, who introduced it to France in the 17th century.
While I'm not a huge tea fan myself, I do enjoy a
tisane
occasionally before bed. I learned quickly that
tisane
(herbal, non-caffeinated tea) is not the same as
thé
(caffeinated tea). There are some other small tea peculiarities to be aware of in France.
The ultimate guide to tea drinking in France
Maybe my British coworkers are having an influence on me, but I have started paying closer attention to the exact size of the glass that my beer is served in.
French bars and cafés have more or less decided that a pint (
une pinte
) is symbolic and really should work out to 50cl, instead of the 56.8cl it technically should be.
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This has angered enough of the beer-loving public that a campaign called
balance ta pinte
(denounce your pint - the slogan taken from
balance ton porc
, France's version of the MeToo hashtag) has taken hold.
The 'pint wars' raging in French bars and cafés
And finally, if you want to be more authentic with your drinking habits in France, you could go for a glass of pastis, the aperitif that tastes of aniseed and liquorice.
If you want to feel extra French (and you like the taste of pastis), then you can also have it in crisp (chip, for US readers) form.
Tartiflette and pastis: The French crisp brand making taste all its own
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