French Cuisine in the Classroom: Using Culture to Enhance Language Proficiency

Abstract

ABSTRACT French cuisine offers a valuable resource for creating culture‐based contexts for language use in the classroom. Situating a food in its historical and social context prior to tasting, following up the experience with a detailed discussion of student reactions, and comparing the situation to other aspects of French or American eating habitspermit learners to appreciate more fully the important sensory differences between cultures. This article presents numerous suggestions and ideas for exercises incorporating food‐related activities in the French class.