Photo: on the main square in Lyon, a young French girl poses for a painting class.
I discovered an article on “French Girls vs. American Girls” at vogue.com, which included a video done by Camille Rowe, a French-American model. If you know the French at all, you will love this video—I was on the floor laughing.
Rowe manages to brilliantly skewer both the American teens (for their narcissism, and their focus on health instead of gastronomic pleasure) and the French (for their reticence and their culinary hypocrisy).
In case you don’t know a lot of French folks, here are some of the issues in the article and video to know about before you watch:
The grocery store scene: it’s France’s dirty little secret that lots of working women don’t much cook, despite their reputation as gourmet wonder women in the kitchen. Who can blame them? French cooking is complicated, and like women everywhere, they’ve discovered you can’t have it all. Witness the popularity of a French chain called Picard, a high-end store selling frozen, restaurant-quality dishes, from soup to nuts.
My favorite story in this vein: an American friend living in France got a coveted invite to a French friend’s house for dinner. She was dead impressed: 4 courses, all beautifully done-up and delicious. The next day she went to Picard to shop, and what did she see? On special that week, the exact same 4-course dinner, just thaw and heat. Aha!
Asking for Directions: If you’ve spent any time in France, you’ll LOL over that scene. If you ask directions in France, they’ll casually wave a hand in the general direction. Never mind that you’re ten turns and miles away, that’s all you’re getting. She gets the Americans just right, too.
The Greetings scene: Here she nails the famous French reserve, and American (shallow?) enthusiasm.
Hair washing (mentioned in the Vogue print article). It’s always been a puzzle to me: France has more beauty salons per capita than any other country, but lots of girls go around with greasy-looking hair. I figured it out one day when my coiffeur took one look at my hair and asked how often I was washing it. Every other day? Quelle horreur! Once a week and no more, he said, is the French way—to keep it from drying out. That explained the dirty hair.
Photo right: Are the stereotypes of French women real? Here, a mannequin at a marché des puces.
You can watch the video here, and here's another fun article on the same theme: "We Can't Stop Idolizing French Women So I Tried Actually Living Like One. With the state of the world these days, we all need a bit of a laugh!
In the COMMENTS: You may want to take a minute to read the comments about the Paris shootings. They are wise, beautiful, inspirational. Thank you, everyone.
And getting back to our post on French scarves, our reader Kerry writes that American MEN wear scarves, too–at least when there in France! Her husband Joe sports one when he crosses the pond. She sent a photo: here's Joe, rockin' a French scarf. Tellement chic, Joe! 
Favorite Reads: At an Alliance Francaise meeting we met Bente, a Norwegian ex-pat living in the states and married to an American. For her perspective on American life, check out her blog called Here in This Country.
11 thoughts on “American Girl, French Fille: Vive la Difference”
The video is wonderful, couldn’t help but laugh through that one. Interesting facts about French women, but I’ve always thought that was the case. I feel better about myself now! Love a man who wears a scarf & why not! I’m happy you linked back to the scarf post. Gained some valuable scarf tying info from Betina with the youtube video she posted. That’s a keeper for me.
Thanks, Lynn. Loved this! It’s right on and Camille Rowe rocks. Good to discover her here.
I adored that video — I had a great laugh. Thanks for sharing!
Oh, I love Picard!!! Wish we had them (and that quality) here…
My husband now wears a scarf all the time: total convert!
Thank you so much for the recommendation, Lynn. Greatly appreciated! … Love your story above about the four course meal at Picard 🙂
Loved the video. I remember times when we would ask for directions. Everyone was so kind to agree to give them. But the minute we unfolded a map, the response was wild waving of hands ending with a hand on the chest (over the heart?) claiming not to need it. The result was often–if not catastrophic, at least much slower than it otherwise would have been. But oh well. It’s part of the charm. And now we always use our GPS, though that is not as reliable as one might think. I recall being sent down a lane into the center of Lagnes (near L’Isle-sur-le-Sorgues)that hadn’t seen the wheels of an automobile for a long, long time and forcing two dog walkers to suck in their stomachs to let us by. And our last trip to the airport hotel at Orly had me walking straight to the bar and ordering gin straight up.
We love it anyway.
Best regards, Chris
I think the French are lucky to be able to buy frozen dinners good enough to present to guests
Even little things like ready made pie dough, pate brises, or pate sucrees of excellent quality, is such
a time saver. Some would never make a tart themselves without the ready made. Then there is all the excellent
charcuterie as a first course or lunch.
In other words, there is no comparison between the Picard frozen entrees, and American frozen foods.
Lynn,THANK YOU,this is just EXACTLY what we needed: a wonderful laugh,especially at ourselves!
And!Oh la la la (and LA!),to be that young!!!!!!!!
I well remember the one about only washing your hair once a week…the predecessor to it was only bathing once a week(or every few days) so as not to wash off much needed bacteria on your skin,otherwise you are illness waiting to happen.(NOT!)(merci anyway!)
But this is what makes our nations unique and great.We each have our own customs and foondly(or maybe not so much at times) go with”to each his own”.
La vidéo était très drôle.
Merci beaucoup.
Cordialement, Walt
The video was hilarious because there was so much truth in it.
As for the dirty secret that French women don’t cook, they also don’t go to the wonderful weekly markets. I was at a social gathering with some French and mentioned as a conversation-starter how I loved the thrice-weekly market in the historic city center. The woman I was talking with sniffed and said, “That market is only for the bourgeoisie” (defined in the Marxist sense). And then when I commented on the marvelous flavor of my first ever gougères that she had brought to the party, she educated me about the wonder that is Picards. Inside of 5 minutes I had gained a great insight into French culture. As for me, I continue to prefer the controlled chaos and fabulous food at the market over the supermarché. But I love the delicious frozen entrees at Picard, especially when I’m in France alone and don’t feel like cooking for one. However, I’ve finally mastered the homemade gougères and won’t be buying those frozen.
As for the hair washing, I wash every other day and if you ever see me doing it once a week, take my temperature. The right shampoo and conditioner, plus a warm, not hot, dryer keeps it from drying out.
Lynn, we are in Paris in an apartment for the week. We got turned around at night and asked directions – 4 times. Some time later, we made it back to the apartment. The problem could be my bad pronouncion of the name of the rue! Love exploring the Marais. Off to Burgundy on Thursday.We will be north of you. Looking forward to being in such a sweet landscape again. Happy Christmas.