Perhaps we don't talk specifically about France and her cuisine because so much is second nature to us; that is, a lot of us don't even realize that the terms and techniques we use everyday are French.
Yes, Poireau (First, take a leek -- sorry, I couldn't resist.), a huge amount of Western cooking is based on what came from France. Not all, but a lot (Okay, Pongi? I haven't forgotten Catherine de Medici and all she brought with her.). I was first going to say "Western cuisine" -- which sort of proves Poireau's point. The French definitely codified more about cooking than any other Western culture. We all owe them a great debt.
HOWEVER: there are so many wonderful foods in the whole world, and ways of cooking them. And so many of the foods and the recipes are so new and exciting to a lot of us. While we know how much of a debt we owe the French and their cuisine, there is such a huge world out there to explore! So much fun!! I doubt anyone means to demean France; we just want to learn about the WHOLE WORLD!  |