Flash mob (sort of) à la française: 10,000 people dressed in white have dinner at the Place de la Concorde. The diner en blanc happens every year (in Paris and all over the world) at a location that isn’t announced till the last possible minute.
Nuubia Chocolat: French artisanal chocolates – from California
It’s your lucky day, America! California has imported a French chocolatier who used to be high on the food chain (so to speak) at Lenôtre. Now he’s launched Nuubia Chocolat, his own line of gourmet French-style chocolates in the Bay Area. Nuubia Chocolat was voted one of the Top Ten Chocolatiers in North America, and named Chocolatier of the Year in 2011.
That’s all fine and dandy, but what really works for me is the eco aspect. The company uses NO palm oil or palm oil derivatives. (In case you didn’t know, palm oil is in about 50% of the packaged products we use, and it’s driving the orangutan to extinction.)
Nuubia Chocolat’s mission is to “produce exquisite chocolates and protect the planet”:
Because of our connection to the Earth, Nuubia Chocolat’s underlying mission is dedicated to help protect life on this planet and wildlife sanctuaries around the globe. Our Company is driven by “B” Corporation principles, using only GMO-free ingredients, FSC certified papers and packaging, and subscribing to standards that incorporate ethics and transparency into our daily business practices.
If you live in the area, you can visit their store in Pleasanton, where they even offer classes! If not, you can order online. Bon appétit !
France’s new government: lots of women and lefties!
The new socialist president of France and his prime minister create a lefty government with plenty of estrogen and a dash of crunchy granola. Yes! See the full-size infographic.
via @pascalcardonna
Biking the French campaign trail
For a project named La Campagne à vélo, two journalists, Raphael Krafft and Alexis Monchovet, are biking around France in order to meet French voters directly in their workplaces and homes until the end of the French presidential campaign in May.
Their Facebook page is the main portal: the two journalists post pictures of their trip, updates on their latest video, radio or written productions and ask for help or tips on their journey (the two bikers have to find a place to sleep every night!).
Read the rest and learn how you can keep up with Ralph and Alexis at Geeking the Elysée.
A “little” advertising blunder
Oh dear. They should have done their French homework!!
You see, bite is a slang word for penis… Petite bite can be literal, of course (in which case, I have my doubts about “big compliments” and “dazzle and delight”), but it can also mean “a nobody,” or “an insignificant person” (C’est une petite bite.).
Hope you’ve enjoyed today’s French lesson! Here’s a bonus: Nancy’s is running a contest for a free trip to Paris!
Red rooster bottle stopper
The perfect francophile stocking stuffer! Buy this rooster bottle stopper at the Francophilia Amazon store! Only about $8.50!
Interactive French geography games
Some entertaining interactive games on this site. We failed miserably at the cheese game, (shot above), but had fun nonetheless!
Gallica, France’s digital library
We could wander these virtual stacks for days! So far, the Bibliothèque nationale de France has digitized more than one million works, including books, maps, manuscripts, images, periodicals, scores and sound recordings, and made them available for free to the public at the Gallica digital library. This is France’s answer to Google Books, and the result of the big fight from a couple of years ago.
Why the Vache Qui Rit is laughing…
During WWI, Léon Bel, creator of La Vache Qui Rit, saw the design above on trucks that transported fresh meat to the troops at the front. The troops named this cow the Wachkyrie, a play on the German word Walkyrie, to annoy their adversaries.
When the time came to design his packaging, Bel recalled having seen this design and decided to use it as a starting point. He asked Benjamin Rabier, the original Wachkyrie artist, to make him a friendly cow that would appeal to the public. Thus the Vache Qui Rit… And it was Léon Bel’s wife who asked them to give the cow earrings!
If you speak French, read the whole story and see some great vintage Vache packaging at Ma culture confiture and learn more about Benjamin Rabier’s role at ROCBO.
Diddy’s sexy ad for French vodka brand Cîroc
Diddy is a self-proclaimed Francophile: with an album titled “Last Train to Paris” and premium vodka Ciroc attached to his famous name, you’d think he’d be riding around in a striped shirt, by now, baguette in tow. But it’s precisely this French fascination that recently got the hip-hop mogul and his crew into trouble with customs at Nice’s Cote d’Azur airport last week.
Read the rest at The Boombox.
“Married To The Eiffel Tower” documentary
A documentary about objectophilia (being in love with objects). The part where the lady marries the Eiffel Tower starts at the 6:50 mark. Dig that ET cleavage tattoo! Watch the video on Documentary Heaven.
Seen @Brainpicker.
Cartooning for Peace
Thought up by the French cartoonist Plantu, Cartooning for Peace is an initiative born on 16 October 2006 at UN headquarters in New York. A two-day conference organised by Kofi Annan, the then Secretary General of the United Nations, brought together the twelve best-known political cartoonists in the world for “unlearning intolerance”.
Cartooning for Peace is based in Geneva. Don’t miss the current outdoor exhibit in Geneva till July 10: Geneva Lunch.
Haute chocolate in Lausanne
A high spot in the world of Swiss chocolate is the annual awards ceremony for the next generation of chocolatiers-confisseurs in canton Vaud, designed to promote the three-year apprenticeship programme. [...] The theme of this year’s contest was haute couture, and part of the ceremony was a fashion show with four dresses made from chocolate, including one worn by Miss Suisse Romande, who wore white chocolate.
Read the rest at GenevaLunch. See all the student creations on the official site of the Société Vaudoise et Romande des Patrons Pâtissiers-Confiseurs, Chocolatiers, Glaciers (click Images).
What exactly is a “bobo”?
Literally it means bourgeois bohème. For a thorough understanding of the breed, read An Illustrated Guide to Parisian Bobos in New York Magazine.
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