Consumption and food
Once per week the French go to a supermarket to buy all they need for the coming week. Those that do not live in a small town can also go to a superstore to buy food but also clothes, domestic appliances, CDs, books...
They continue however to do the shopping at the market and at the small shops, when they want to buy fresh and high quality products. 
To buy bread, of course, they go to a baker's shop every day. The French like the personal atmosphere of these shops. The passers-by enjoy to do their shopping in town, to smell the exquisite scent of the bread and the small cakes. As they eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, it is important for the products to be ripe or very fresh. Even though the French buy more and more deep-frozen dishes because of the modern life that prevents them from preparing good small dishes every day, they continue to take their time and cook during the week-end for example. They then go to the butcher's shop to buy some meet, or to the fish shop to buy some fish or seafood. The Fondue is one of the specialities of the regions of Alps. In Lorraine, the quiche is very popular first course and in Alsace, the families like to prepare the sauerkraut served with a bottle of wine from Alsace (Riesling). In Brittany, the Bretons and all the tourists drink cider with the delicious pancakes. 
Every region has also one or several types of cheese, their number comes to more than 400! 
Moreover, from Burgundy to the region of Bordeaux, passing by the valley of Loire, there is a vast choice of white, rosé and red wines.
France's big agricultural richness is reflected by all its regional specialities. For the French, to cook is an art because the dishes needs to not only satisfy the delicate palates of the French but also, by their presentation, to be a pleasure for the eyes. Famous restaurants such as "Maxim's" have contributed to the world's reputation of French cooking.
Culture
In France, the rivalry between the television and the cinema didn't contributed to a drop in book publishing. On the contrary two times more books than in 1958 were published and the number of people who visit the libraries have almost doubled since 1981. The comic strips for children as for adults, have a great success. Asterix and Lucky Luke are two of the most popular comics' heroes.
The ministry of culture plays an active role by creating museums, houses of culture, organising expositions, music, movie and theatre festivals, allowing in that way a decentralisation of the cultural life to the province even if Paris remains the capital of culture. The definition of a « good general knowledge » has also changed and has widen to include other domains like, among others, the sciences and the cinema. The interest for the culture of three quarter of French expresses itself under many forms, for example on television or by the literary emissions. On the news, journalists often end by announcing the release of a new movie, the handover of a literary award etc. The art has become more popular because it is now visible everywhere, on the old banknotes, on the street, on the t-shirts that reproduce paintings... There was an explosion in the number of local and national radio and tv stations since 1980, when the government authorised the creation of private channels and stations. To the national stations like France-Inter or France Culture, others were added, such as Skyrock or Fun Radio. As to television, you can watch among others, the national channels, France 2 and France 3, a cultural channel, ARTE, the channel TF1 which was privatised, M6 which broadcasts many video-clips for the youth and one paying cable channel, Canal +. If you have a decoder you can watch 4 more free channels since the introduction of the TNT (Numerical terrestrial television). The French continue to be interested a lot in cinema. The "seventh art" has evolved a lot since the invention of the cinematography by the brothers Lumière in 1895 and the first mute films by famous film-makers like Georges Méliès and Abel Gance. Among the other film-makers we can mention Renoir (the painter's son), René Clair who was admitted in the French Academy, Clouzo... Aside these, famous actors have come into their own like Gabin Jouvet, Jean-Louis Barrault, Michèle Morgan, Simone Signoret, Jeanne Moreau, Jean Marais or famous comedians like Fernandel or Bourvil. In the second half of the 20th century, certain film-makers invented new shooting techniques and reintroduce different themes.
Today, the film-makers (Chabrol, Tavernier, Blier, Varda, Berri, Mocky, Sautet, Rappeneau, Besson etc.) who have to face the rivalry of the television and the American cinema, try to reconcile commercial success with quality cinema. Many actors became very famous like Catherine Deneuve, Jean Louis Trintignant, Philippe Noiret, Miou-Miou, Isabelle Huppert, Isabelle Adjani, Gérard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil...
Like the cinema, the music and the French chanson are today very varied, being influenced by the foreign music. Long after their death, this big singers/compositors, Serge Gainsbourg, Léo Ferré, Edith Piaf, Georges Brassens or Jacques Brel, continue to be appreciated and to influence the new generation of singers.Among the popular singers mention Johnny Hallyday, Claude François, Serge Lama, Julien Clerc, Mireille Mathieu...
appreciated. New singers (Bernard Lavilliers, Patricia Kaas, Alain Souchon, the canadian Céline Dion, Maurice Chevalier, the rapper MC Solar) became known on the French scene by their personal style, often mixing the styles, rock with jazz or blues for example. Press The French press which is protected by the liberty of press since the 3rd Republic, tends to be a press of opinion because the newspapers record the news without hiding their political tendencies. A Frenchman has the choice between the right-wing newspapers like Le Figaro, France-Soir or La Croix - a catholic newspaper, the centre-left newspapers like the very appreciated Le Monde, or L'Humanité, in addition to the local newspapers. Among the magazines, you can read the news magazines like L'Express, women's magazines like Elle, Marie-Claire, Femme Actuelle or satiric ones like Le Canard enchaîné. Source: http://www.cortland.edu/flteach/civ/cultur/cultur.htm
