France is synonymous with its food culture, but with a rise in foodies in the U.S., how does France's food culture stand out? Here to discuss the French attitude towards food from a cultural standpoint is Diane Rovner, a former food magazine editor, food tour guide, and founder of Bordeaux in Bites. She's here to help us navigate the word gourmet. BordeauxinBites.com Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/parisundergroundradio  Find Us Online Website:...

If you grew up worrying the world was a popularity contest, get yourself to France, where the word populaire is better translated as "working class" or literally, "of the people." Without an apt translation for "popular," French society governs itself by different principles, which author Debra Ollivier is more than ready to unpack. https://www.amazon.com/What-French-Women-Know-Matters/dp/042523648X Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/parisundergroundradio  Find Us Online Website:...

When we hear the word "brûlée" in English, we're likely thinking about the sweet, shattery topping of a classic French dessert. But when Notre Dame suddenly caught fire in 2019, a whole other meaning of this word came into focus. Marie DeGross is a tour guide specialized as much in pastry as she is in the history of the military and first responders in France. She's here to explore what makes the Paris Fire Brigade stand out on a national – and international – stage....

Je ne sais quoi is a phrase American women love to use to describe their French counterparts, but according to Debra Ollivier, best-selling author of What French Women Know About Love, Sex, and Other Matters of the Heart and Mind, the French don't use it at all. She's here to talk about why – and what this means about the French approach to popularity, likeability, and identity. https://www.amazon.com/What-French-Women-Know-Matters/dp/042523648X Join us on Patreon:...

In French, à la mode has got nothing to do with ice cream. Rather, it refers to one of the pinnacles of art de vivre: fashion. Here to discuss how Paris became such a fashion capital – and what the cultural expectations of dressing are – is Kasia Dietz, travel journalist, bag designer, and fashion tour guide in Paris. kasiadietz.com kasiadietztours.com https://www.instagram.com/kasiadietz/ Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/parisundergroundradio Find Us Online Website:...

The word favorite doesn't really mean favorite, in France. Instead, it evokes a centuries-long tradition of sex, power, and gender roles in the French courts, as sisters and academics Christine and Tracy Adams are here to share. https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-08597-5.html Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/parisundergroundradio Find Us Online Website: https://www.parisundergroundradio.com/navigatingthefrench Facebook:...

Baguette may seem like France's most emblematic loaf, but pain de campagne or country bread tells the story of France's relationship with bread far more aptly. Here to trace that history is Apollonia Poilâne, the third-generation owner of Paris' Poilâne bakery. https://www.poilane.com/ Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/parisundergroundradio Find Us Online Website: https://www.parisundergroundradio.com/navigatingthefrench Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parisundergroundradio Instagram:...

If you start to get along fairly well with a new French acquaintance, you might field the question... On peut se tutoyer ? "Can we say tu?" This phrase allows you to change registers from the formal to the informal at the drop of a hat – something that English doesn't allow quite so easily, as translator Ian Winick is here to discuss. https://www.ianwinick.com/en/how-do-you-du/ https://www.reddit.com/r/learnfrench/comments/gv1vqt/a_handy_chart_for_those_confused_by_the_usage_of/ Join us...

While English already boasts the word author, it has also borrowed the French term auteur, a word that evokes a certain artist-driven film genre. Here to explore what that means about the French penchant for near-deification of artists is Dr. Gemma King, a professor at the Australia National University specializing in French and cinema. Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/parisundergroundradio Find Us Online Website: https://www.parisundergroundradio.com/navigatingthefrench Facebook:...

The French love to speak in negatives: not bad instead of good, not false instead of true. This week, Emily is joined by Phineas Rueckert, an investigative journalist who is particularly intrigued by the way the French wield the phrase c’est pas évident – and what their understanding of it means regarding their relationship with facts and how they’re presented. Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/parisundergroundradio Find Us Online Website:...

Cheese is alive… and to ensure it grows up properly, most cheesemakers rely on the expertise of an affineur or ager. To explore the world of French cheese aging – plus cheese etiquette and desert island cheeses – I’m joined today by Jennifer Greco, cheese educator and the American expat on a mission to taste all of France’s over 2,000 cheeses. Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/parisundergroundradio Find Us Online Website: https://www.parisundergroundradio.com/navigatingthefrench Facebook:...

In France, a "good" immigrant is one who is intégré, integrated. This concept encapsulates values, language, culture, religion... and has frequently been weaponized against people of color. To delve into the ways in which this value looms large and small in French culture, Emily is joined by Megan Brown, a historian of Modern Europe with a focus on 20th-century France, European integration, and empire at Swarthmore college. Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/parisundergroundradio Find Us...

When you think of a Parisienne, do you imagine a temptress? A svelte fashionista? Well that narrow worldview is such a small part of the truth – something Lindsey Tramuta has sought to address head-on with her book The New Parisienne – and with Emily on this episode of Navigating the French. https://www.instagram.com/rita.higgins.akar/?hl=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandra-rey-99643542/ https://www.banglabegum.com/ Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/parisundergroundradio Find Us...

“Simple” might be the last word you’d think of to describe French cakes, and yet in contrast to all of those ornate patisseries, French home bakes are indeed surprisingly plain, frugal, and, yes, simple. Here to explore how and why is Aleksandra Crapanzano, a James Beard Award–winning writer and dessert columnist for The Wall Street Journal for over a decade. She’s also the author of a book that gets to the bottom of le cake: Gateau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes....

If the self-help section of Barnes and Noble is to be believed, French women parent better, dress better, have sex better, cook better, lose weight better… and all with no effort at all! It's a mindset that has given Anglo-American readers almost impossible ideals to live up to, but it also has negative repercussions on teen girls growing up in an environment where it’s not cool to try… or even to care. Here to discuss how harmful the “French Girl Aesthetic" can be on teens growing up in such...

When people call Paris the City of Light, it evokes images of a rose-tinted city illuminated by beautiful street lamps. But this "Light" is actually of a philosophical nature, as researcher Knox Peden is here to explain. In our conversation on lumière, he delves into the tenets of this philosophy and how it still resonates in French culture centuries later. The cultural history of ideas omnibus (He's in vol 6, listed down at the bottom!)...

Faire son cinéma is to live in a dream world; arrête ton cinéma means stop being a drama queen. Manon Kerjean is the co-founder of Lost in Frenchlation, a program that screens French films with English subtitles in arthouse cinemas in Paris. She’s here not only to share these idioms with Emily, but also to discuss how essential cinéma is to French culture – and to foreign perceptions of France. Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/parisundergroundradio Find Us Online Website:...

The word retraite has two apt translations: retirement and retreat. And while the French predilection for both is portrayed in somewhat outsized fashion in the international news media, it’s an apt word to discuss these days, in the wake of retirement reforms pushed through by a largely absent chief executive, President Macron. Here to get to the bottom of this issue is Chris O’Brien, the American journalist behind the newsletter French Crossroads....

French idioms often use body parts to evoke emotion. Feeling things dans les tripes means feeling them at your core; having le spleen is a way of evoking malaise. A crise de foie – a liver crisis – is another term for indigestion, and having mal aux reins or “painful kidneys” means you have backache. That the French are so familiar with their bodies may be one reason that they’re also so comfortable with eating all parts of them, as Emily discusses with Jennifer McClagan, the acclaimed author...

France is far more than just Paris; indeed, 45 percent of the country is still agricultural. And the French countryside, despite our provincial fantasies, is not trapped in the past. To debunk the clichés and stereotypes – and shed light on the reality – Emily is joined by Forest Collins, the cocktail expert behind 52 Martinis and a part-time resident of the countryside le Perche, to delve into a world that draws a distinct line between Paris and elsewhere:...

One pervasive stereotype positions the French as having many lovers, but this is far from the whole story. To explore the complex relationship between French culture and sex, Emily is joined by Edith de Belleville, a lawyer turned tour guide who is delving deep into the 17th and 18th century and the origins of this week's word: libertine. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1667831984/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=...

If you believe the news, you may think that the French are constantly on strike. But the reality is a lot more nuanced, as Emma Pearson, editor of the Local, is here to explain the significance of the word grève as it pertains to the French character and the very fabric of social life here. That this episode’s recording was pushed back twice due to strikes is… well, probably par for the course. https://twitter.com/LocalFR_Emma https://www.thelocal.fr/ https://www.cestlagreve.fr/ Join us...

Molly Wilkinson is an American expat who’s living the dream teaching folks how to perfect the art of French desserts. It’s no surprise, then, that she’s here to chat with Emily about everything from cooking school to bakeries to the patron saint of pastry on this episode delving into the word pâtisserie. https://www.mollyjwilk.com/bienvenue-im-molly/ https://www.instagram.com/mollyjwilk/?hl=en Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/parisundergroundradio Find Us Online Website:...

Many French language learners first encounter the false friend étranger by way of Albert Camus' seminal work, but its translation is rife with complexity. Is étranger best translated as "stranger?" "Outsider?" "Foreigner?" The answer is murky – but Dr. Antonia Wimbush, a researcher working on a project delving into French Caribbean migration in literature, is joining Emily to try to get to the root of it. https://twitter.com/wimbush_antonia...