Well, here’s one incident that horrified French visitors to the USA. Four of us were having a business dinner, 2 Americans, and 2 French colleagues. It was some sort of big banquet, so there was a buffet.

We each went through the typical routine of starting with a salad and/or maybe some soup, then proceeding to make a big plate of the main course(s) and side dishes. Then we each had some sort of sweet or cake (or whatever) for dessert. And we had wine along with everything. Nothing unusual, right?

Here’s the part that horrified the French guys. After all of the above, we were just sitting at the table, talking and relaxing, as people do, when someone walked by our table with a plate of food (mains and sides) from the buffet.

The other American guy at our table saw what was on that dude’s plate, and it was something that wasn’t available at the buffet when we went through. But he REALLY wanted to try it! So he got up, got a clean plate, and helped himself to a few bites of this “new” stuff.

Well, the French guys lost it. Evidently, to go back and eat more of a main course after already having your dessert is a mortal sin. They laughed at him and teased him for his “gauche” behavior.

I was enjoying a wonderful meal in Minnesota with three visitors from Brittany when something happened that horrified my French guests. In the same anteroom where we were seated, the restaurant was conducting a wine tasting event for a group of ten to fifteen customers. All of a sudden, one of my guests shouted: “They’re drinking the wine!”

Having enjoyed several visits to wine producing farms along the Rhône, I remembered being amused when the vintners also spit their tasting sample into a bucket after swishing it around in their mouths. I did not recall any expression of horror when all of the English-speakers attending the event swallowed their small sample each time. It turns out that they were biting their tongues — unlike my guests from Brittany.

That experience made me wonder how much of what Americans take for granted in their daily lives actually drives the French to withhold their horror at our unnatural proclivities. Thankfully for most, 2026 has spelled the abrupt end of most international vacationing in the USA.