They Eat Horses, Don't They?

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He is an over-sexed, chain-smoking serial adulterer whose breath reeks of garlic. When not force-feeding geese or abandoning allies in wartime, he’s preoccupied with his next affair. His chic, pencil-thin wife tolerates his liaisons, partly because she manages her own affairs while raising five well-adjusted children and holding a top job. Leaving work mid-afternoon, he enters a Left Bank cinema to watch a film where nothing happens. He then drinks absinthe in a bar filled with Gauloises-puffing intellectuals discussing post-structuralism. His appetite is sharpened by the realization of life's meaninglessness and anticipation of his regular cinq à sept with Sylvie. The steak he orders is nearly raw, sourced from a horse. He embodies the mythical Frenchman, a figure surrounded by numerous myths and legends. In exploring over forty of these persistent myths—spanning topics from sex and smoking to food, film, wine, women, and plumbing—Piu Marie Eatwell uncovers surprising truths about the French lifestyle. Her thoroughly entertaining investigations challenge many cherished preconceptions about our Gallic neighbors.