6 French culture
Many French people love to entertain and they often invite friends round for a meal. Another opportunity for socialising is the traditional apéritif, also referred to as l’apéro. L’apéritif is a national custom in France. It involves setting aside half an hour or so before a meal to share a drink (usually alcoholic), nibbles (olives, peanuts, savoury snacks, canapés, etc.) and conversation with family, friends, neighbours or colleagues.
L’apéro is enjoyed by people of all ages, and forms an important part of home life, public and private celebrations, and café and restaurant culture. The word actually refers to both the drink and the convivial moment before a meal. If you are invited out for l’apéritif, don’t expect a full meal.

Activity 9
Food is a very important part of French culture. As such, there are many French idiomatic expressions referring to food, for example: J’ai la pêche (meaning ‘I’m on top form’, but literally tanslated to ‘I have a peach!’). Below are a few more idiomatic expressions. For each of these well-known French sayings, find the right English equivalent.
C’est pas tes oignons.
Les carottes sont cuites.
Tu racontes des salades.
C’est du gâteau.
OpenLearn - Getting started with French 2 Except for third party materials and otherwise, this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence, full copyright detail can be found in the acknowledgements section. Please see full copyright statement for details.