When we began our study of France, we were surprised to hear about a tradition called the gastronomic meal. We researched to find out as much as we could, and then we made slight modifications to make it work for us.
The gastronomic meal is a five-course meal prepared from scratch by a group of family and friends. The goal is to pass along knowledge of cooking, manners, food and wine to the younger generations, all while enjoying those very same things.
We spent several weeks planning. The kids researched the courses and found recipes for each one. My Little Man was determined to make gougeres for the second course, …
and so he grated the cheese, cooked the dough, and put them on the baking sheets by himself.
My Big Helper prepped the zucchini and for the veggie side and made the Quiche Lorraine, as well as making a rustic apple tart.
We chose Beef Burgundy as the main course. My Little Man, with his inordinate fascination with meat, was happy to prep this for us – and we were happy to leave him to it! He’s really turning into a wonderful helper.
My Big Helper made menus for everyone and set the table. We watched videos about European table manners and place settings, and the kids were excited to try it all out.
When the time came, my husband’s parents came to join us for dinner. We sat around the table for about two and a half hours, eating and talking, as course after course hit the table. We discovered new cheeses that we dislike and several new dishes that we love. We found that handling utensils the European way is fun.
While it was a lot of work, it was also a lot of fun – and something that the kids are already wanting to do again.
If you’d like to try out French cooking for yourself, several of the recipes that we used can be found on this Pinterest board and from this book:
Want more ideas for studying France? Check out my posts about baking bread, a grocery store scavenger hunt, and building the Eiffel Tower.
