French cuisine

On July 14, 1789, the Bastille was stormed by a mob and its prisoners freed, which is regarded as the start of the French Revolution.

The French are well-known for their culinary achievements.

A compelling argument can be made that France had a longstanding culinary tradition before it became significantly irreligious. And cultural changes happen slowly.

Desecularization, immigrants and French cuisine

French scholars say, evangelicalism is likely the fastest-growing religion in France – defying all stereotypes about one of Europe's most secular nations. In 2011 alone, the number of evangelical churches increased from 769 to 2,068.

See also: Desecularization and Growth of global desecularization

Due to its past, namely the anti-clerical French Revolution and its after effects, in 2005 France had the 8th highest rate of atheism in the world with 43–54% of the population being atheists/agnostics/non-believers in God. In 2010, in a Eurobarometer poll, 27% of French respondents answered "I believe there is a God", 27% answered "I believe there is some sort of spirit or life force", and 40% answered "I don't believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force".

France has had a significant amount of Islamic and evangelical immigrants in recent years. Many of France's immigrants are from former French colonies in Africa and Asia. According the Seattle Times article French cuisine, shaped by the immigrant experience, immigration is having an influence on French cuisine.

In April 2010, the British academic and agnostic Eric Kaufmann declared that "the rate of secularisation has flattened to zero in most of Protestant Europe and France."

On July 12, 2012, the Christian Science Monitor reported:

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French scholars say, evangelicalism is likely the fastest-growing religion in France – defying all stereotypes about Europe’s most secular nation... Daniel Liechti, vice-president of the French National Evangelical Council, found that since 1970, a new evangelical church has opened in France every 10 days. The number of churches increased from 769 to 2,068 last year.

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Effect of immigrants on French cuisine

The website Cultural Front notes:

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In chapter 6 of Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell highlights cultural legacies. He opens with disturbing descriptions of how longstanding cultural patterns and beliefs influenced violent conflicts among generations of families in Kentucky during the 19th century. The compelling research findings concerning long-term and deeply held values led Gladwell to the conclusion that cultural legacies are powerful forces. They have deep roots and long lives. They persist, generation after generation, virtually intact, even as the economic and social demographic conditions that spawned them have vanished, and they play such a role in directing attitudes and behavior that we cannot make sense of our world without them. He goes on to note the possibilities of “taking cultural legacies seriously” in order to learn “why people succeed and how to make people better.”

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Recent improvement in France's dining experiences

Paris street photo of a man smoking.

As noted above, the irreligious are more frequently smokers (see: Irreligion and smoking).

Many people feel that smoking in restaurents detracts from the dining experience.

Tourists visiting France often cite smoking as the first culture shock they experience. A survey by travel website Tripadvisor reported that users found that France was by far the "smokiest" country in the world. During the French Revolution, smoke filled Paris cafés turned into centers of lively political discussion and activity, often led by members of the Revolutionary clubs.

In 2006, France banned smoking in public places.