they seem to know so much .....and their minds seem to dwell in Shangri-La .... everything they touch is 3X better than anyone elses ...and so full of mysitque and smoke! here, for fun, is a very nice French recipe which I found in The New York Times years ago Potato Salad Dumas *********************** ***a whole bunch of the freshest mussels you can find, scrubbed clean, rinsed, then steamed up in a little white wine ~ add a little water ... if your local water tastes of chlorine at all, use spring water ... ***sliced cooked potatoes ~ still warm ***a generous dressing of olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt & pepper, and a good lot of fresh chervil ... use garlic if you dare, but the mussels are quite enough by themselves * put the dressing on the warm salad and let the flavors blend a little while at room temperature... * serve with crusty bread and some wine, if you please..... xxx Scots Pines

Good recipe - thanks.

Probably because they eat snails and mushrooms ( truffles )

Perhaps they have nothing better to do than cook. They have a real love affair with food- we don't- we love fast and easy so we can spend more time on here.

I prefer Greek, Italian, Thai, Indian and Chinese food myself.

They live in an area blessed with a wide range of food, and have had hundreds of years to dwell on how to properly cook food, and sometimes this stuff takes on a life of its own - they pride themselves on being able to cook well, which makes them strive to cook better. The classic cookbook is by Escoffier (there's an accent mark, but on my laptop it's hard to make). Basically the father of modern French cooking. Italians are also known for their food, but French food is a wider and more experimental cuisine. German food was regarded as being too sausage-y, and apparently no one liked English food. Spanish was good, but apparently not continental enough. So French food was both good, and in the right place at the right time.

I prefer Italian food.But thanks for the recipe ill try it one day.

SP you are obviously American - why be in awe of the French? You have Thomas Keller - how good is he - the French are good because they have been scamming the rest of the world for years, I have cooked in France, they are no better than Marco Pierre White, Heston Blumenthal, John Williams or Paul Gayler ( all English!) By the way Escoffier (no accent - sorry TJ but you are wrong! ) did his best cooking at the Ritz in London