DISCOVERING THE REAL FRANCE: A CULINARY TOUR

Everyone's seen the Eiffel Tower. The Louvre is nice to visit, but you can't get intimate with it. The fact is, much of France that most tourists see is pretty dull, and often quite dirty. No, if you want to really know France, take a culinary tour. This is where the real French treasures are to be found: in the country's inestimable and justifiably world-famous cooking legacy. For the budding gourmand or all-around foodie, more and more tour operators are offering culinary tours - a circuit not to Roman ruins or historic battlefields, but to the best wineries, restaurants, gardens, and kitchens known to man. A typical regional French culinary tour will include the north coast, the eastern forest, the western wine regions, and the Mediterranean coast.



The North: A Bit of Germany
The north of France gets quite chilly. Dreary winter days are best broken with hearty seafood and vegetables from the cellar. Other good bets in the north include sauerkraut, sausages, and french fries. Locals disagree on the where the french fry was invented. Some say northern France - others say neighboring Belgium. In either case, some great double deep fried potatoes go quite well with what the French call "the fruits of the sea."

The East: Amazing French Cheeses
The next stop on an ideal culinary tour is the forest and French Alps of the east. Meet a truffle-sniffing pig on the way to a fondue feast. Both cheese and chocolate are popular fondues here. Fondue, meaning 'melted' in French, combines the right proportion of cheese, oil, and liquor over the right temperature flame for a warm, comfortable meal.

For the real cheese heads, a culinary tour should cover the intricacies of that most French food. Small farms produce artisan cheeses, and an aficionado can give a lesson on the proper order in which to enjoy cheeses on a variety platter.



The West: Wine Country
A culinary tour of France must make many stops in the west. A good tour guide will definitely stop at least one winery for a tasting. The best wine experts say they can tell which slope of a hill produced the grapes in each batch of wine. In a French cellar, you can test your skills or learn the basics.

Up in the sunshine, if you arrive at the right time, the winery might let you participate in the grape harvest. They might, if you prove you can work long hours in the sun without damaging the precious harvest.

The South: Beauty With A Mediterranean Spice
End a great culinary tour of France with seafood again. The Mediterranean coast likes lighter dishes - and is clearly influenced by the cuisine of the whole seaboard. Paella, couscous, lots of fresh tomatoes, peppers, and herbs characterize this cuisine.