"france" news and stories

How much is a black truffle worth? At $30 an ounce, a slim shaving can make decadent a dish as simple as scrambled eggs or plain old linguine. Right about now, a kilo of the fungi that looks like coal could soon land a muck-digger a cold 800 Euros at France's biggest market, Richerenches -- that's more than $1,000, twice what it was worth a decade ago. But word is that stocks are low and prices are inching ever higher. And to one Frenchman, a good truffle is worth a life.

Just before Christmas, farmer Laurent Rambaud was charged with shooting down a would-be truffle thief. "Black diamond" bandits are so often expected that one hunter sleeps with a rifle across his legs and another considered implanting GPS chips into his stock, reports the Global Post. The paper notes that climate affects truffle accessibility (ideal conditions call for light summer rains), as does construction, which "paves over rare hunting grounds." And "few young people take the time to learn the skills of unearthing truffles."

The trick is getting a good pig or canine to sniff out the goods from underneath oak trees as they mature from November to March, but it can take time to properly train your sniffers and longer to find the right oaks. And so goes high-class pick-pocketing. But, ye have been warned.

My pants are as tight as sausage casings. My stomach resembles a beach ball. And my breath seems to permanently reek of blue cheese. That's the downfall of spending six days letting my appetite guide me across the culinary pleasures of Paris.

And while I could've simply popped into any old brasserie and blown my savings on bottles of bubbly and truffle-topped delights, that wasn't my aim. I wanted cheap. I wanted delicious. "You want a miracle," said my friend Bati, with whom I was staying in Paris. I took that as a challenge. So with a pocketful of Euros, I sought out eats and drinks as affordable as they were delicious.

In no particular order, 10 of my favorite spots for sipping and sustenance after the jump.

by Kristine Hansen

Generally, crisp and celebratory, wines like cava, brut, Champagne and American sparkling wines probably won't turn any heads if you bring them to an occasion that calls for bubbles. But Crémant, a French sparkling wine, can make a fashionable entrance. Although still a nouveau import to many areas of the U.S. it's tres affordable. Most Crémants are priced under $20 a bottle.

Crémant is produced in seven regions throughout France: Bordeaux, Alsace, Burgundy, Loire, Die, Jura and Limoux. Strict laws from the French government stipulate that the grapes must be harvested by hand and the bottles aged for at least a year. There are also rules for the composition of grapes. And they differ by region. In Burgundy, for instance, at least 30 percent of the wine must be Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc or Pinot Gris.

While traveling through the Burgundy region this summer, in between spreading cheeses on rustic baguettes and reveling in the deliciousness of mustards from this region, we sipped some very good bottles of Crémant de Bourgogne. Fortunately you can buy both of our top picks in the States.

A Paris McDonald's. Photo: Let Ideas Compete/flickr

Mona Lisa, meet Le Big Mac.

Lovers of French culture and art snobs are buzzing with disapproval after McDonald's confirmed its plans to open a restaurant within the Louvre in Paris, according to the Daily Telegraph.

To celebrate its 30th anniversary in France, McDonald's will open its 1,142nd French restaurant a few yards away from the iconic art museum in Carrousel du Louvre, an underground shopping center within the Louvre complex.

"I'm not against eating in a museum but McDonald's is hardly the height of gastronomy," Didier Rykner, head of the Art Tribune Web site told the Telegraph. "Today McDonald's, tomorrow low-cost clothes shops."

Saint-Nectaire. Photo: Artisanal Cheese

This summer Slashfood blogger Max Shrem is apprenticing at renowned Paris cheese shop Fromagerie Trotté. In ''Le Cheese Course,'' Max will share his impressions and opinions of French cheese à la francaise!

For those who enjoy the creamy supple texture of Brie and the nutty earthy taste of Salers, Saint-Nectaire is a must-try. Coming from the Auvergne, the same region of France as Salers, it combines the best of both cheeses, but the experience of eating it is like savoring a particularly rich smooth peanut butter and drinking a glass of rich, flavorful raw cow's milk.

This cow's-milk cheese is made from the milk of the renowned Salers cows that graze at an altitude of 3,000 feet. Similar to the cheese Salers, the rich soil consists of volcanic ash (hence, lots of minerals) and imparts a distinct flavor on Saint-Nectaire.

However, unlike Salers, Saint-Nectaire has an unctuous consistency, similar to Brie, and a one-of-a-kind exquisite light-brown-grayish rind with, at times, white, yellow and red molds. It can have either a washed rind or a natural rind. The different molds, intentionally brought out by the affineur, create the cheese's distinct rustic appearance and earthy floral taste. As far back as the Middle Ages, cheesemakers have been aging Saint-Nectaire on rye mats in tunnels and caves that run through the Auvergne.