#65 - A to Z of the Icons of France

A crash course in French culture—with a side of charm, a dash of humour, and a ton of fascinating facts.

Join a delightful, alphabet-inspired tour of everything that makes France iconic. From apéritifs to the Eiffel Tower, baguettes to haute couture, this episode is packed with fun facts, cultural insights and fascinating titbits about French icons, cuisine, and culture, plus plenty of laughs.

Perfect for Francophiles and anyone who dreams of a café by the Seine, nibbling macarons, strolling among the hilltop villages of Provence, slurping French onion soup and a whole host of other French delights! 

Follow us:

• On Twitter
• On Instagram
• On Facebook
• On The Good Life France's website
  
  

Thanks for listening!

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 3:19 A to Z of the Icons of France
• 28:57 Where to find Janine

Transcript

Podcast 65 - A to Z of the Icons of France

Janine: Bonjour, everyone! Welcome to The Good Life France podcast where we share everything you want to know about France, and more! I’m Janine Marsh, your host and resident croissant connoisseur. I’m from London and have had a home in France for 21 years, in a wonderful rural area of Pas-de-Calais known as the Seven Valleys where I live with my 4 dogs, 6 cats and a flock of chickens who are all very spoiled. I travel all over France researching for articles for my free magazine which you can find at magazine.thegoodlifefrance.com and for my website The Good Life France and for the books I write about France. And when I’m not doing that, I love to chat to you on this podcast alongside my podcast co-host Olivier Jauffrit. 

Oli: Hello, bonjour, salut! I’m Olivier, Oli for short, an unapologetic fromage fan and a Frenchman living in lovely Lyon in the south of France where I am a radio presenter on national shows. As Janine is almost French after so long in France, I am almost British after spending 20 years in the UK. We like to think of ourselves as the embodiment of entente cordiale – the friendship between France and the UK. 

Janine: Basically, entente cordiale was the name given to a series of agreements signed by France and the UK in 1904, not a formal alliance, but a recognition of the need for a stronger anglo-French relationship. Near where I live, in the town of Hardelot on the lovely Opal Coast, there is a castle which is the only place in France dedicated to entente cordiale. Oli I’ve known you for years and years and I think we are the perfect example of entente cordiale – you’re absolutely right.

Oli: We are – I like British food, you like French food

Janine: I say potatoes, you say Pomme de Terres! I say tomatoes and you say tomate!

Oli: lol It’s true we do! Vive la difference! Now enough potatoes tomatoes, let’s get to today’s podcast – in every episode we take you on a très Francais journey through France and everything French.

Janine: A crash course in French culture—with a side of charm, a dash of humour, and a ton of fascinating facts.

Oli: Absolutely. So, Janine tell us – what are we going to be chatting about today?

Janine: We’re going take you on an alphabet-inspired tour of French icons, the emblems and symbols that we all love that just shout I am French, very French! From apéritifs to the Eiffel Tower, baguettes to haute couture, this episode is packed with fun facts, cultural insights and fascinating tidbits about French icons, cuisine, and culture, plus plenty of laughs. Perfect for Francophiles and anyone who dreams of a café by the Seine, nibbling macarons, strolling among the hilltop villages of Provence, slurping French onion soup and a whole host of other French delights! 

Oli: Who doesn’t have that dream! Hands up. I’m looking around the room. No one has their hands up here I can see! Alright, allons-y! Let’s kick off and go through an alphabet of cultural French icons, grab a croissant, or maybe a glass of wine - and let’s get started!

There are so many icons of France, so many things that are tres French, that we’re going to approach it alphabetically – an A to Z of French Icons, so kick us off with an A please Janine!

Janine: A is for... aperitif!The French have a whole ritual dedicated to this pre-dinner drink. It can be wine, spirits, beer, cider, cocktails, mocktails – the point is you get together with friends before dinner and enjoy time out. It’s called l’heure d’apero – the aperitif hour. 

Oli: We don’t do this every day of course, but yes, regularly. I love l’heure d’apero, meeting up with friends for aperitifs – absolutely. Like when you came to Lyon last year and met me and my partner for aperitifs before you left us to go and indulge at the incredible Paul Bocuse restaurant in Lyon.

Janine: You’re never going to forgive me for that are you? It was work I tell ya LOL. I love the ritual of aperitifs too. I mean it’s more than a drink—it’s an art form. It’s about slowing down and catching up with friends before the meal begins, savouring life, and nibbling on olives or saucisson. And it can also turn into aperitif dinatoire – basically a bit more than nibbles but still buffet style food, so you can keep going a bit longer. Fun fact: The word comes from the Latin aperire, meaning “to open,” because it’s meant to open your appetite.

Oli: For me, it also opens the bottle of rosé! My favourite aperitif!

Janine: Pastis is really popular with my neighbours, but I like a kir pettilante – sparkling wine and fruit liqueur.

Oli: Not to be confused with a kir royale – Champagne with a fruit liqueur – typically black currant, cassis, or peach or raspberry. 

Janine: Ok let’s hit B which has to be for bread! And boy do the French love their bread.

Oli: I read recently that the French consume over 10 billion baguettes a year. That’s 320 baguettes per second!

Janine: Actually, that’s enough to build a bridge of baguettes around the world—probably twice! And if your baguette doesn’t crackle when you squeeze it, is it even French?

Oli: Non. C’est un crime.

Janine: Well, it may not actually be a crime, but it is sad! 

Oli: We French have a deep and meaningful relationship with bread. Pretty much we eat it every day – for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Janine: Baguettes are actually so important in France that they were listed by UNESCO in 2022 under the cultural heritage heading.  

Oli: And we’ve done a whole episode on French bread if you want to know more – that’s episode 28! Right let’s move on to C… 

Janine: It has to be Cheese doesn’t it really! France has over 1,600 varieties of cheese. And pretty much every French person is a total cheese head.

Oli: My personal goal is to try them all.

Janine: If you ate a different cheese every day – it would take you 5 years, and that’s if you don’t include the varieties of varieties, you know like Tomme de Savoie and Tomme de Provence, Tomme de Brebis, Tomme de this and Tomme de that, I mean there are like 100 different variations of Tomme, maybe more. Then it would take you way more than ten years or more to try ever one of them. It would be fun trying though eh? 

Oli: I think I have tried most of them to be honest, oink oink! 

Janine: I can’t say much, I’ve tried a lot myself! I love French cheeses even the blue ones which I’m allergic to so I can’t eat them, blue cheese makes my tongue swell, it’s not a good look. 

Oli: erm no, I don’t want to see that! Apparently, us French eat 26 kilos or 57 pounds of cheese a year – that’s half a kilo or just over a pound of cheese each week for every French man and woman.

Janine So basically, French is another word for cheese head. 

Oli: Ok we’re up to D. 

Janine: My French icon choice for D is Dior. Not just a brand—an institution. Christian Dior revolutionised post-war fashion with the “New Look” in 1947.

Oli: And it’s still the ultimate in French luxury. I mean, who doesn’t feel fancy just saying “Dior”?  Christian Dior started his fashion career in 1925 with a table set up outside his home in Paris where he sold his sketches of women’s dresses on sheets of paper and selling them for 2 Francs, about 20 centimes. 

Janine: And here’s an interesting story, 30 years later, Yves Saint Laurent walked into the House of Dior’s workshop with his own sketches. He was just 19 years old. Christian Dior loved the sketches and gave Saint Laurent a job. Two years later Dior, aged 52 and with a wildly successful business turning over more than $20milion a year, told Saint Laurent’s mother that he had chosen her son as his successor. Just 10 weeks later, Dior died, and 21-year-old Saint Laurent became head designer and had to take over the role of creating the next collection for the world’s most prestigious fashion house. 

Oli: What a story, fate for sure. Now. We’re up to E in the icons of France. And there can only be one and I expect you are all thinking the same thing.

Janine: Eiffel Tower. It has to be. And it has the most amazing story which you can hear in episode 27.

Oli: It is definitely one of the top ten icons of France. So now we’re on to F. Hmm. I can think of a big one here… 

Janine: Are you thinking French Revolution? it’s such an enormous element of French history and culture, but it’s also a really enormous topic so I think we’ll have to do an episode dedicated just to the French Revolution. What do you think Oli?

Oli: Yep, absolument, we start talking French Revolution here we’ll be talking until the cows come home, or at least with no time for anything else. Let’s do French fries instead! 

Janine: Well I can definitely talk a lot about French fries, I live in the French fries HQ of France. We even hold the World French Fries championships in our regional capital city, lovely Arras, spelled A-R-R-A-S. But are they really a French icon?

Oli: Well some people say – mostly Belgians, that French fries were invented in Belgium! But frites as we call them, are very much a part of French cuisine – think steak-frites, a classic bistro dish.

Janine:Yep, I’m with you on that one. Where I live in the north, frites are a way of life, there are friteries everywhere, basically mobile chip wagons that serve chips with everything, everything generally being burgers or sausages, sometimes served in half a baguette and called an Americain!

Oli: Hmmm, so I am going to put the French fries down and move swiftly to icon G, gastronomy. French cuisine is recognised by UNESCO as a piece of intangible cultural heritage. The French take food seriously. Whether it’s a humble baguette or croissant or Michelin-starred dining, it’s all about quality, flavour, and presentation.

Janine: And every region has its own specialties—from cassoulet in the southwest to bouillabaisse in Provence and in the north, apart from chips, we also have carbonnade, one of my favourites, a beef stew made with beer and sugar and topped with a slice of gingerbread that melts into the stew as it cooks. Making me hungry just thinking about that! 

Oli: Me too! H now, and that stands for haute couture. Paris is the epicentre of high fashion, and the term “haute couture” is legally protected. Paris is the only city allowed to legally call it that. Designers like Chanel, Givenchy, and Yves Saint Laurent turned French fashion into an art form.

Janine: My wardrobe may be more Primark than Prada, but I can appreciate the artistry. I always compare my house to haute couture – I joke that my house cost less than an Hermes Birkin Bag – but that’s where the comparison stops! 

Oli: Those handbags are crazy expensive! 

Janine: Crazy story about how they were created too! Apparently the CEO of Hermes met the English actress Jane Birkini on a place from Paris to London and when she put her straw bag in the overhead locker, everything fell out and she said that she’d had problems finding a leather bag she liked and the pair of them then sketched out her ideal bag on the place sick bag – and Hermes then made it and a new one costs around $80,000!  

Oli: I think I’d rather buy a house! Ok let’s move to I is for Impressionism. This art movement started in France in the late 19th century with artists like Claude Monet and his mates revolutionising art by painting what they saw, not what they thought people wanted to see.

Janine: Impressionism was all about capturing light and atmosphere, painting quickly to preserve the moment. It was controversial at first, but now those paintings are worth millions!

Oli: Ok, this is a serious one, J is for Joan of Arc. France’s favourite saint and warrior. A national heroine and saint, she led the French army to victory during the Hundred Years’ War.

Janine: The hundred years war wasn’t really 100 years long but it did drag on for decades between the English and the French in the 14th and 15th centuries and at one point the French weren’t doing too well and along came the teenage daughter of a farmer who said she received messages from saints telling her to save France. So she left home, went to the Loire Valley to find the uncrowned King of France, persuaded him to support her and led his armies into battle and for a while she was very successful. 

Oli: It’s a long story and it ended badly for poor Joan. The King was crowned – she fulfilled her mission. But Joan was captured by Burgundian soldiers who at that time were allied with the English and they sold her to their ally. She was accused of witchcraft and heresy and burned at the sake in Rouen in Normandy in 1431. She was just 19 years old. 

Janine: 25 years later the Pope ordered that she be declared innocent and recognised her as a martyr but it wasn’t until 1920 that she was made a saint. Now she is one of the patron saints of France, and a national symbol of courage and resilience. There are tributes to her everywhere, statues in cities, in churches, squares and streets named after her.

Oli: Ok, something a little lighter. K is for kisses! Specifically, la bise. Two? Four? How many kisses on the cheek should you give? Depends where you are in France.

Janine: It’s always confusing for visitors. It’s a bit of a social minefield, but when in doubt, just follow the lead of the French person you’re with! 

Oli: Right another big icon - L is for Louvre. The world’s biggest museum, and while biggest doesn’t always mean best, this museum is home to over 380,000 artworks, including the Mona Lisa.

Janine: It’s a brilliant museum. But it is big, I mean you can’t see it all in one day. It’s 80,000 square metres big, 731, 945 square feet big, 13 times bigger than the White House, it is the single biggest museum on earth. 25% of all the known paintings of Leonardo da Vinci are in the Louvre. If you spent 30 seconds on each artwork there, it would take you about 200 days to see it all!

Oli: Wow, more than 6 months non-stop! And another fun fact – it’s also the most visited museum on earth. 9 million visitors a year.

Janine: Okay something smaller now but very iconic. M is for macarons. Tiny bites of perfection. These colourful, bite-sized desserts are a French staple. And yet, they’re kind of not French right Oli?

Oli: Well, yes and no. Popular myth has it that macarons, the pretty little crunchy, soft biscuit cakes, came to France in 1533 when Catherine de Medici arrived from Italy to marry Henry II of France. No one can say for sure, though they definitely originated in Italy. 

Janine: But over time, they have become quintessentially French. They are in every patisserie, and though most people know the rainbow-coloured cute little macarons that are so photogenic, as well as delicious, there are several different types of macarons in France. Saint-Emilion in Bordeaux, they have their own version, and Nancy in Lorraine in eastern France, and the Loire Valley, the Pays Basque. 

Oli: But the most well-known are probably Ladurée in Paris. In 1862, Louis Ernest Ladurée created a bakery at 16 rue Royale in the heart of Paris. When it burned down, Ladurée rebuilt it and employed a painter called Jules Cheret, to redecorate the new bakery. Inspired by the techniques used to paint the ceilings of the Opera Garnier, he adorned the ceilings and walls. Over the years the bakery became well known for its beautiful interior and superior pastries. It became one of the most popular tea rooms in Paris. In the early 20th Century, the grandson of Louis Ernest Ladurée suggested sandwiching two macarons together with cream. The idea was an instant best-seller which made the macarons of Ladurée their flagship product and famous all over the world.

Janine: What’s your favourite flavour?

Oli: Mmm… pistachio I think. What’s yours.

Janine: I love them all except the savoury ones, I’m not keen on fish flavoured macarons which I’ve seen in some high-end bakeries! 

Oli: Erm, no, me neither, mackerel macarons. Non merci. Ok we’re on to N and there is only one - Napoleon. Love him or hate him, you can’t ignore his influence.

Janine: I love him. 

Oli: From reforming French law to inspiring a dessert—napoleon cake—he certainly left his mark.

Janine: Ok I’m choosing onion soup for the O icon. Once a dish for peasants, it’s now a bistro classic.

Oli: Some say it’s also a hangover cure, and in the middle ages, it was said to be an aphrodisiac! Best bit for me is the cheese on the top!

BOTH: MMMM

Oli: P is for Provence, where life moves at a slower pace. Think lavender fields, olive groves, and rosé wine.

Janine: Do you know how lavender started in Provence? They say that once the land was bare, and a fairy called Lavandula was flying over the fields one day and the terribly bare and arid land made her cry, and her tears fell to the ground and where they dropped, lavender sprouted, and it’s grown there ever since.  

Oli: I love that story! I also love the markets of Provence, the nougat, tapenade, hilltop villages. 

Janine: Wonderful countryside, historic towns, beautiful beaches. I think we are Provence fans, maybe we should go to Provence and record a podcast! 

Oli: We should. But now– let’s talk about Q. It has to be Quiche. Quiche Lorraine is the classic, but there’s a quiche for everyone.

Janine: Quiche Lorraine originated from the German word “kuchen” meaning cake, and it’s the grandmother of all savoury pies. Quiche Lorraine originated in Lorraine in the east of France where it’s been made since at least the 17th century, and is said to have been baked by the chef at the court of Stanislas, the former King of Poland, who lived in the beautiful city of Nancy in Lorraine. It was made with easy-to-get local ingredients, eggs, cream and bacon. In a real Lorraine quiche there is no cheese. If it has cheese in it, it’s sometimes called a quiche Vosges, and if you include onions too – it’s a quiche Alsatian.

Oli: For a quiche to be perfect, it needs to be “chevelotte” – the filling needs to be quivering! And we like it with no soggy bottom. And did you know calling someone a quiche in French is an insult?! It means you are stupid, and we also say “la Reine des quiches” sort of like the queen of the airheads!  Right, R is for the Riviera, the French Riviera which in French is called Cote d’Azur. Think glitz, glamour, and sun-soaked charm from Cannes to Nice. It’s quintessentially French, blending natural beauty and luxury.

Janine: Ok, S is for Jean-Paul Sartre. We’re talking French philosophy at its finest.

Oli: His full name was Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre. He was a writer, teacher and philosopher. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964 – but turned it down, he said he went against his beliefs – he refused to associate his work with an institution. His ideas continue to influence philosophical studies to this day.

Janine: He’s said to be the father of existentialism – the philosophical belief we are each responsible for creating purpose or meaning in our own lives – not government or gods, teachers or other authorities.

Oli: Ok, racing ahead to T for the Tour de France. The ultimate cycling challenge—and a great excuse for a picnic while you watch.

Janine: It’s going through my village in Pas de Calais this year and I will definitely be having a picnic at the side of the road as they go by – so if on July 6 you’re watching it on the telly as they riders make their way from Lauwin-Planque to Boulogne-sur-Mer, the stage 2 bit,  and they toil up a steep hill near a village called Embry to a village called Manninghen, well I’ll be waving my baguette in the air as the helicopter film crew flies over! 

Oli: I’ll look out for you! And now for U! So many icons, under the umbrella of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, from Mont Saint-Michel to the historic city of Carcassonne. 53 sites in total.

Janine: One of my dreams is to visit all the sites, the list does grow fairly regularly but I’ve crossed quite a few off, Mont St Michel, Versailles, Chartres Cathedral, Arles and its Roman monuments, Amiens Cathedral, the Chateau of Fontainebleau, the Roman arch and theatre of Orange – in fact I climbed the wall of the theatre of Orange once, it was terrifying but what an experience, it was for an article I was writing and I was there on my birthday so the lovely tourist office organised a special tour and I stood behind the great statue of the emperor up in the area, shaking with fear as I don’t have a head for heights but it was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. Anyway, out of the 53 current UNESCO sites, I’ve got 7 to go if you only count the mainland France listings. 

Oli: So, you mentioned Versailles, and that’s our Icon for V. A jaw-droppingly beautiful palace with an extraordinary history where you can feel the past in the present. 

Janine: It’s one of the wonders of the world. It really is. I’ve visited it so many times and still it always takes my breath away. 

Oli: W is for wine. No explanation needed.

Janine: X is for… ok this is hard, really hard to think of something Iconic beginning with X. Oli – can you think of anything? 

Oli: Non, that actually is a really hard one. Maybe Xtraordinaire castles of the Loire Valley. Does that work?

Janine: Yes it does but let’s move quickly on to Y which is also really hard! 

Oli: Y is for Yaourt or yoghurt. Ok this might not be an icon exactly though France is one of the biggest consumers ofyogurt in Europe. But I chose this one because we use it in an iconic phrase: “tu chantes du yaourt.”

Janine: For English speakers that’s such a hard word, yaourt… And yes that expression is common and in English it means “you’re singing yoghurt”. And what is that all about you might wonder! 

Oli Well it means a situation in which someone doesn't know the correct words to a song and is making things up as they go along, or perhaps singing what they think are the correct words but getting it badly wrong. Like the Abba song Chiquita where my friend sings it and he says ‘chicken tikka.’

Janine: I’m going to start singing that now! Lol And this is a thing! Really it is. There’s even a TV show in France called N’Oubliez pas les paroles – don’t forget the Lyrics where the goal is to avoid singing yoghurt! 

Oli: I don’t like that show, it’s rubbish. That’s just my opinion! And finally, Z is for zeste! The French zest for life is unmatched.

Janine: Not really an icon though. 

Oli: Well it is if you think about joie de vivre – finding joy in small things in life, putting the zest into everyday experiences. 

Janine: Ok – I accept that. Zest it is! And there you have it—our A to Z of all things très français.

Oli: Did we miss something? Let us know! 

Janine: Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts.

Oli: And please feel free to share us! Thank you so much, a massive merci beaucoup, to everyone for listening to our podcast in nearly 150 countries all around the world! And a massive thank you for sharing the podcast with your friends and family, we’re truly grateful when you do that. You’ve been listening to Janine Marsh and me Olivier Jauffrit. 

Janine: And you can find me  and heaps of information about France – where to visit, culture, history, recipes – everything France - at thegoodlifefrance.com where you can subscribe to the podcast, my weekly newsletter about France and our totally brilliant, totally free magazine which you can read at magazine.thegoodlifefrance.com 

But for now, it’s au revoir from me.

Olivier: And goodbye from me.

Janine: Speak to you soon!