Barbara, we have a circle of French friends with whom we have supper. It is not meant to be an extravagant meal, but when it was my turn it looked so different. Homemade carrot soup, with carrots from the garden, followed by slow roast belly pork on a bed of lentils and veg and braised fennel, also from the garden. The crackling was a revelation and our friends had not thought of roasting belly pork, but enjoyed it so much that they could not manage the cheese. For pudding we had a chocolate tart with raspberry coulis, yet again the raspberries coming from the garden.
The most expensive part of the meal was the pork, which I found on promo, fed six of us, gave Jim and myself two more meals each and cost just under eight euros.
My point is that the French do not think out of the box, you have to show them and prove that it will not cost too much or be taxed too much.
I dare say they will be eating roast belly pork and not just using it for terrines.
Strangely, years ago when the Chunnel first opened, we used to get a day return and do a 'booze cruise' to stock up on wine (which still remains about the only good value thing here) and then hit the hypermarket to stock up on cheap laundry soap, cheeses, etc.
We get a lot of shopping from the UK, Germany and so on. I can see no good reason for paying over the top for goods and services that are usually inferior just because "it's France" big shrug, c'est comme ça. big shrug.
On a point of information Brian. De Gaulle was a member of the Provisional Government of France from 1944-46 which was charged with establishing the Fourth Republic. However he resigned from the government in January 1946 long before the first draft of the new constitution was put to and rejected by the people in a referendum in May 1946. A second draft was put to the people in October 1946 and accepted. De Gaulle remained in a strop at Colombey les Deux Eglises until the denouement of the Algerian War when he graciously condescended to become Prime Minister in 1958 and thus was enabled to establish the current Fifth Republic.
OMG, I think I've become too Frenchified. I didn't even notice the 'bof', but all too often I find myself googling the British abbreviations and acronyms.
I have & unless it means "bu**er off" you've got me. The trouble is I just couldn't imagine an apparently gentile lady like Veronique using such a phrase so that didn't occur to me :-)
we're les aveyronnais here in the Tarn even though we're only just across the border, they say ba plât for ça va whereas we say bô plât in the Aveyron...!