# Why isn’t French food more popular? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [October 12, 2025, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904 "2025-10-12T22:22:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/21 "2025-10-13T06:34:18Z")
I’m visiting Paris right now, and the only things here that I can’t find in a restaurant in my smallish town in coastal California are those with uncommon protein ingredients like rabbit or snails. Pretty much every other ingredient can be found in Whole Foods. As noted above, much of what we just call high end restaurant food is some form of French or Italian cuisine. They are not called French restaurants, they are just called restaurants. Casual French cuisine is everywhere in the US in the form of bakeries, sweet shops, coffeehouses, creperies, etc. Another thing to keep in mind is that America’s most famous popular home cooking educator was literal called “The French Chef”. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/22 "2025-10-13T08:48:59Z")
IMHO, one reason is that French cuisine doesn’t have one or a few instantly stand-out, recognizable foods that scream “French” to the world. Italian food, for instance, is immediately recognizable - even if stereotyped. Pizza is Italian. Spaghetti and most pastas are thought of as Italian. etc. Even if Italians hate their cuisine being condensed down to that simplified image, the world at least has a clear concept of it. Japan has sushi - instantly recognizable. Britain has fish and chips. Mexico is thought of as tacos, tortillas, enchiladas, etc. The USA is thought of as burger + hot dog land. But if you did a random quiz of many passersby in many nations around the world and said, “Here, name 1, 2 or 3 French foods,” what could they quickly name off of the top of their heads? They’d struggle. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/23 "2025-10-13T13:25:34Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > As an example of “bistro” styles in small towns, there is [La Vie Est Un Bistro](https://www.yelp.com/biz/la-vie-est-un-bistro-silver-city) in Silver City NM. When I click that link, I see that the “popular dishes” shown are Chicken Marsala, Cajun Chicken Sandwich, French Onion Soup, and Spinach Ravioli. Is that typical French cuisine? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/24 "2025-10-13T13:44:39Z")
The top-rated (according to TripAdvisor) French restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky is called “Distilled Restaurant & Bourbon Bar” 😆 (there are actually two other, more French-sounding places, one of which supposedly offers French and Creole food). An easy explanation for relative dearth of French restaurants is that most Americans prefer “native” eats like barbecue, along with Mexican/Tex-Mex, Chinese and Italian food. Even Middle Eastern and Polish-style restaurants seem to be rival or be more popular than restaurants identified as “French”. I remember one [upscale French joint](https://www.argusleader.com/story/life/2015/12/23/former-lafayette-owner-manages-restaurants-grand-falls/77707226/) in Sioux Falls, SD called Lafayette, which was pretty good. > [@](#): > > The fine dining restaurant seated 100 people and was “uniquely all-French inside” with its chandeliers, white table cloths and beautifully set tables. The ambience, as well the contemporary French food, made the Lafayette a special-occasion place to dine. > > “The food itself was delicious,” Frigo says. “The presentation was also something to behold – people would tell me they didn’t want to eat it because it looked so beautiful.” > > Women removed their shoes at the table. “We offered them red velvet pillows to rest their feet,” he says. There’s a limited role for places like that. Lafayette ultimately closed, and its owner went on to manage restaurants for a casino. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/25 "2025-10-13T13:57:50Z")
Rather, they have a variety. Which is why I said I wasn’t going to gatekeep. If I do online searches for “French” for many places, outside the “classy” places, it’s they have several “traditional” dishes (almost always French Onion Soup included), a lot of pastries and hopefully fresh bread options, and some combination of other dishes. Heck, remember the [Mimi’s](https://www.mimiscafe.com/) chain used to bill themselves (at least in part) as a French-style bistro. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/26 "2025-10-13T14:06:52Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > They are not called French restaurants, they are just called restaurants And this, I think, is closest to the truth. Most high end dining - worldwide - is derived from or heavily influenced by classic French cooking. A standard breakfast omelette is more French than Italian or Spanish in style. Many restaurant cooking techniques such as sauces (hollondaise? Mayonaise? A meat jus? Note the linguistics here) are based on French cuisine. Classically trained chefs around the world are basically trained in French cooking. They just give it a spin and call it ‘Modern British’ or whatever. Anyone fancy a croissant? Maybe a baguette for lunch? A croque madame? I could go on! ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/27 "2025-10-13T17:05:56Z")
I haven’t lived in the US in about 15 years, but kind of remember a bunch of places in strip malls with names like “Vie de France” which weren’t fancy, but weren’t exactly fast food either, kind of midway between. I grew up in the DC area and there were a lot of French restaurants there, like Sans Souci, Lautrec’s, Pied au Cochon, a bunch of places in Georgetown and Adams-Morgan. They tended to be a bit pricey for my meat-and-potatoes sensibilities. I live in Korea now, and bakery cafes like Paris Baguette and Tous les Jours are pretty ubiquitous. They’re not exactly authentic, skewing heavily to local tastes, but I’m never more than a few blocks from a place that sells some kind of latté, baguette and croissant. (A certain monstrously large department store chain here is missing out by not opening a bunch of cafes called Lotte Latté!) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/28 "2025-10-13T18:00:51Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > I haven’t lived in the US in about 15 years, but kind of remember a bunch of places in strip malls with names like “Vie de France” which weren’t fancy, but weren’t exactly fast food either, kind of midway between. I wasn’t familiar with Vie de France, so I looked it up: turns out it’s actually a Japanese company, though obviously they focus on French-style food. I used to enjoy going to a similar chain, Au Bon Pain, but that one seems to have contracted a lot, and it looks like most of their remaining locations are in hospitals, colleges, or at Miami International Airport. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/29 "2025-10-13T18:15:45Z")
I’m seeing an upswing in French restaurants locally, mostly because three is greater than one. All are bistro style, moderately upscale but not fancy. French onion soup is appearing on more non-French menus and so is steak frites. Chicken french is everywhere, only because it’s an Italian dish. A quick check shows only around a dozen French restaurants in all of western New York from Syracuse to Buffalo. The same Google page has an Open Table site for “100 Best French Restaurants in Midtown [NYC] West.” No comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/30 "2025-10-13T18:19:50Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I wasn’t familiar with Vie de France, so I looked it up: turns out it’s actually a Japanese company, though obviously they focus on French-style food. And Paris Baguette is Korean. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/31 "2025-10-13T20:30:49Z")
So is Tous Les Jours. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/32 "2025-10-13T20:35:46Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Meanwhile, the French language lost its status as the prestige foreign language for Americans to learn. I was shocked to discover that my son’s high school (he’s in 10th grade) no longer has French as a foreign language option. Their one French teacher retired last year and they didn’t replace her. The languages they do offer are: ASL, Spanish, Mandarin, Punjabi (!), and Tagalog (!!). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/33 "2025-10-13T20:39:21Z")
I suspect the assortment of languages offered has a lot to do with where in the country we’re talking about. Not much Punjabi or Tagalog heard around here, but Brazilian Portuguese and Haitian Kreyòl are routinely spoken in public and are good candidates for teaching. ---
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/34 "2025-10-13T20:39:23Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > I think I may have to make French toast tomorrow morning. Which the French know as _pain perdu_ (“lost bread”). ---
**Author:** ![ZosterSandstorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e0b2c6/32.png) [@ZosterSandstorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZosterSandstorm)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/35 "2025-10-13T20:40:44Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > And in certain corners of America, the post-9/11 anti-French animus lives on. (“Freedom fries,” anyone?) There are people who were born, raised until age 18, joined the military, completed their hitch, and are now attending college on the G.I. Bill, who were not alive for the “Freedom Fries” thing. So unless there are “corners of America” where it is still 2003 I don’t think this is a great example. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/36 "2025-10-13T20:50:27Z")
Yes, as you can imagine, where I live (suburbs of San Francisco), there are huge Indian and Filipino communities. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/37 "2025-10-13T20:51:50Z")
Miami for me. Yeah those are high-use languages locally in the SF Bay Area. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/38 "2025-10-13T20:54:52Z")
Alas, no French toast today. The milk had gone sour. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/39 "2025-10-13T20:59:30Z")
The new viral way to make french toast is to let a half gallon of vanilla ice cream melt, then use tongs to dip your bread into it, and put the bread right on to the skillet. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904/40 "2025-10-13T21:00:32Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I was shocked to discover that my son’s high school (he’s in 10th grade) no longer has French as a foreign language option. Their one French teacher retired last year and they didn’t replace her. The languages they do offer are: > > ASL, Spanish, Mandarin, Punjabi (!), and Tagalog (!!). Given that selection, I’d guess that your area has a fair number of Pakistani, Filipino, and Chinese immigrants. As far as French…I took three years of it in high school, but that was 40+ years ago, when French was still seen as a prestigious second language to learn, as well as still being seen as the language of diplomacy. I might guess that college students who are intending to teach languages in high school are more likely to be learning languages which are more relevant today and of interest to students, which means Spanish and Asian languages; it may well be difficult to even _find_ a newer French teacher for a high school. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-french-food-more-popular/1023904.md?page=3)