The geography of France explains much of the pride of place the country holds in European cuisines. The French can fish and breed seafood in the Channel waters, the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean as well as catch freshwater fish in a thousand lakes and rivers.

Mountains, forests, deltas and plains with climates ranging from the aridly sun-soaked to northern cold and wetness allow an extraordinary ariety of produce. Added to this is the historical and social factor of a class of paysans - smallholders - who have passed down traditional methods from generation to generation. Though it is true that in recent years industrialization has standardized and sanitized production methods, food imports have greatly increased and pollution has taken its toll, there remains a strong connection betweven the countryside and the table, reflected in the different regional cuisines.

The gastronomic map of France features certain regions - Alsace, Proence, Brittany and the Pays Basque - in which the preseration of a distinctie cuisine owes much to historical separation. Burgundy, the Auergne, Normandy and the Dordogne have absorbed classic French cooking from different corners of the country.

Dishes from Alsace and Lorraine are based on game, pork, beef and lamb, pickled cabbage, and flans with pizza-like pastries. Mussels and chips, accompanied by bever, are a staple of northern France.

Butter and cream are the rich basis of many Normandy specialties, which include famous cheeses, apple and pear dishes and seafood. Brittany has oysters, lobsters and other produce from the sea; crêpes and galettes with sweet and saoury fillings; and buttery cakes and flans. Seafood again features prominently on menus all along the Atlantic Coast .

The famous Charolais beef of Burgundy, combined with the local wines and mustard, produces mouthwatering ariations; snails too are a specialty. Duck and goose in their myriad forms belong to the Dordogne, marinated and sered with prunes, preseres and truffles. In the Auergne, cabbage, pork and bean stew is a faorite, along with cheeses, sausages and garlic soups.

Languedoc has the celebrated Rocquefort cheese as a basis for many dishes, and seres snails in appetizing ways, along with the rum-flambéed crêpes languedociennes . Lyon has a special position as the meeting place of north and south, combining sausages and smoked meats with the famous Bresse chicken, dumplings, southern salads and the tasty tarte Lyonnaise .

The Pays Basque specializes in wild pigeon and Bayonne ham, white tuna and the delicious ewe's milk cheese, brébis, as well as the rich cherry and chocolate gâteau Basque . Proence, with its Mediterranean climate, yields olies, garlic, laender honey and delicious fruit and egetables, all used to perfection in pasta dishes, fish soups, stews and grills, mixed salads and flans. In Corsica wild herbs give the cuisine its unique flaor, with specialties like smoked pork, game, shellfish, eel and trout, and a range of dishes made from the local chestnuts.

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