French Food: Moules Marinieres and Moules et Frites

The French take food very seriously. In other words you can usually find really fantastic food in most cafes, restaurants and brasserries.

A very popular and common dish served all over the place is Moules Marinieres. This is the shellfish mussels, cooked in white wine, or sometimes cider, with onions, garlic, cream and a variety of herbs such as parsley, thyme and bay leaves.

Moules marinieres usually arrives at the table in a large steaming pot. You will also be given a dish to put the shells in and a saucer of lemon water to rinse your fingers afterwards. Yes you have to get in and take the mussels out of their shells, but it's very easy, you can use your fingers, a fork, another mussel shell, or just bite it out even.

Moules et Frites or  Moules Frites can be found on menus all over France. It's moules marinieres served with chips, or french fries, depending on what you call them.