Explore the ingredients French kitchens avoid, and why. A factual guide to eating in France and understanding traditional French cooking.
Understanding What Traditional French Kitchens Avoid
French cuisine is widely regarded for its structure, technique, and respect for raw ingredients. But just as there are must-have staples like butter, shallots, or wine, there are also specific ingredients that are almost never used in traditional French kitchens. This absence is not due to lack of access, but to cultural, historical, or culinary preferences.
In this article, we examine what is not part of a classic French pantry or recipe book, and why. Whether you’re planning to cook in France, attend a cooking class in France, or simply better understand a French meal, this guide gives insight into what stays out—and the reasons behind it.
The Cultural Foundation of Traditional French Cooking
A Codified Approach to Food
French cuisine has long been shaped by regional tradition and culinary schools like Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. The “Escoffier” method, codified in the 19th century by chef Auguste Escoffier, formed the backbone of modern French cooking. This method insists on precision, technique, and a base of ingredients rooted in the terroir.
French cooking avoids ingredients that do not respect the integrity of flavor or that are considered inconsistent with French taste principles, especially in classic cuisine.
Taste, texture, and the ability to complement sauces or bases are more important than novelty or trends.
Why Peanut Butter Rarely Appears in French Meals
Peanut butter is one of the most commonly cited ingredients absent in French cooking. It’s rarely found even in urban supermarkets in France. According to a 2023 Nielsen consumer study, only 7% of French households regularly purchase peanut butter, compared to over 90% in the United States.
This is due to three reasons:
- Flavor profile: Peanut butter’s intense sweetness and density do not complement French sauces or savory dishes.
- Cultural unfamiliarity: Peanut butter was never traditionally part of European or colonial French cuisine.
- Fat quality: French cuisine relies more on butter, crème fraîche, or olive oil for fat sources.
When French chefs add nuts, they prefer hazelnuts, almonds, or walnuts, often in ground form, and used in pâtisserie or salads rather than spreads.
Minimal Use of Spicy Chilis and Hot Sauces
While Espelette pepper from the Basque country is accepted, spicy chilis, especially those from Asia or Latin America, are seldom used in traditional French recipes.
French food in France favors subtlety over intensity. The focus is on layering flavors through reduction, wine, and butter—not through spice.
Tabasco or sriracha may be present in restaurants with global influences, but they are virtually absent from classic French kitchens or traditional home cooking.
In cooking schools such as Ferrandi in Paris, hot sauces are not part of the curriculum. Dishes like duck à l’orange or boeuf bourguignon are built on depth, not heat.
Avoidance of Processed Cheese and Cheese Substitutes
Despite being famous for cheese, France avoids industrial cheeses in cooking.
In classic recipes:
- Grated Comté is preferred over processed cheddar.
- Emmental or Gruyère are used in soufflés, not cheese blends.
- Processed spreads and “American cheese” slices are never used.
The use of raw-milk cheeses is encouraged instead, even in béchamel or gratins. Pasteurized, shelf-stable cheese products have no culinary value in a French meal.
A 2022 INSEE study noted that only 3.2% of cheese sales in France were processed cheese—most of which were imported and not used in cooking.
Low-Sodium Products and Diet Substitutes Are Not Culinary Standards
The French value balance over exclusion. In most traditional kitchens in France, products like low-sodium soy sauce, fat-free creams, or sugar substitutes are not favored.
When a French cook needs cream, they use real 35% fat crème fraîche (around €1.70 for 200g / £1.45 / \$1.85), not an industrial substitute. If a dish requires sweetness, cane sugar or honey is used—not aspartame or sucralose.
The goal is to cook smaller portions with full flavor, not to eliminate calories through additives.
Diet trends are more visible in supermarkets than in real kitchens.
No Use of Ketchup or Mayonnaise in Sauce Preparation
In traditional French kitchens, sauces are considered the highest art. They are built from stocks, wine, reductions, and precise emulsions.
Pre-made condiments like ketchup, mayonnaise, or BBQ sauce have no role in a French sauce base.
They are not considered acceptable substitutes for roux, jus, or velouté.
When mayonnaise is used (e.g., in œufs mimosa or salade piémontaise), it is homemade. A tube of ketchup is not considered a base ingredient—it’s a table condiment, not a cooking element.
Sweet Corn and Pineapple in Savory Dishes: A Cultural Rejection
The use of sweet corn and pineapple in savory dishes, as seen in some Anglo-Saxon cuisines, is generally avoided in France.
Pineapple pizza (known as “pizza hawaïenne”) is widely rejected by French chefs and consumers. In a 2021 IFOP survey, 72% of French respondents said fruit on pizza was “non-culinaire.” Corn, while available, is usually eaten cold in salads, not hot or mixed with cheese.
French culinary culture tends to maintain a strict separation between sweet and savory components. Even sauces like sauce au vin rouge or sauce poivre vert rely on minimal sweetness.
Artificial Food Coloring and Synthetic Flavoring Are Rarely Used
The aesthetics of French food are based on natural colors and presentation. Artificial coloring, used in some foreign desserts or packaged products, is not part of the traditional toolkit.
In pastry kitchens, natural colorants from beetroot, saffron, or spirulina are more acceptable than synthetic dyes. A tarte aux fraises must be red from real strawberries—not from colored glaze.
Similarly, vanilla must come from pods, not flavoring essence. A 10g vanilla bean costs around €2.50 (around £2.15 / \$2.75), and its use is preferred in custards, creams, and sauces.
Cooking in France Means Simplicity and Respect
To cook in France, especially in a traditional way, means avoiding shortcuts, processed foods, and strong foreign flavors that overpower the dish. Instead, the cooking is grounded in fresh produce, dairy, and wine-based reductions.
Eating in France or joining a cooking class in France involves learning why restraint matters just as much as technique. The ingredients that are absent tell just as much about French food culture as those that are present.
Cook in France is your gateway to French cuisine and gastronomy in France. Get in touch for your next cooking workshop.