Les Français sont ce qu’ils mangent et comment ils le mangent : l’histoire et l’évolution de la cuisine française.

The French are known as culinary giants. Their culinary prowess goes hand in hand with their identity and this paper tries to examine the different aspects of this intimate relation between the French gastronomy and identity. It looks at the history of France through the long and rich history and evolution of French cuisine in order to try and define what makes French cuisine “French. In so doing, we learn much about French history and culture and how the evolution of the French gastronomy and alimentary practices influenced and were influenced by the different events in French history. It then goes on to examine of few modern day culinary practices in an attempt to understand why even though the French food itself has constantly been - and still is - changing, its “Frenchness” remains a constant