What to bring from France as a gift – 15 best souvenirs
You can talk about the sights, nature, history of extraordinary France for a long time, interestingly. Everyone dreams of coming here, plunging into the atmosphere of romance and beauty. When leaving, it is difficult to fight the desire to take home at least a small piece of the world of magical land. Souvenirs, gifts solve the problem, and what to bring from France as a gift will help the information in this article.
Perfume
For a long time, Venice was called the perfume capital. Rare oriental spices came here for processing before being sent to France. In the 11th century, the crusaders, after a campaign against Jerusalem, brought home roses and jasmine. The inhabitants of the country quickly learned to grow these and other fragrant plants (lavender, orange blossom near the city of Grasse) on the plantations of the Southern regions of France. Very soon, the art of perfumery took on a huge scale and became known throughout the world.
Namely, the French guessed to dilute oils, essences with alcohol, keeping their aroma for a long time. Now among the most popular perfumes are representatives of the brand Fragonard. They can be bought in Grasse (it is better to buy any perfume in special shops of manufacturers). In a boutique with the same name (Paris), there is a perfume museum, after visiting it, tourists receive a sampler in the form of a small bottle as a gift.
When choosing a gift, experts recommend studying the label: Eau de toilette (cheap). Eau de parfum (medium in cost with the amount of alcohol equal to the amount of essence). Essence de parfum are the most expensive. Among them are the masterpieces of famous French perfumers: Coco Chanel, Nina Ritchie, Christian Dior, Jean-Paul-Ellen, the Guerlain dynasty. These are perfumes that have been produced for over 90 years without changing the recipe of Chanel No. 5, the world's first men's cologne “Cologne Water”, created by the Frenchman Jean-Marie-Farine in 1709.
Cosmetics
The appearance of older people can tell a lot about the standard of living, desire and ability to properly care for themselves at any age. French women, even in old age, are slender, fit women with manicures, bright lipstick, well-groomed haircuts. The habit of using unique cosmetics for skin and hair helps them.
Their choice is impressive: world brands Clinique, Yves Rocher, Clarins, Estee Lauder, Dior. When choosing cosmetics as a gift, it is recommended to know about the types of products produced:
- Natural, produced by L'Occitane, Sanoflore, Melvit from natural elements. For example, you can buy an interesting deodorant as a gift, created on the basis of the volcanic mineral Perlite, without aluminum salts. Most natural (organic) cosmetics offerings have a strong floral scent.
- Professional. Its elements are used by cosmetologists during procedures. They produce cosmetics Gernetic, Decleor, Guinot (luxury), Algologie Scin Ceuticals Morjana Colline Paris Result Time. Products from the Decleor line are considered the benchmark for aromatherapy treatments.
- Mass market, with products of democratic value and produced by well-known brands Bourjois, Defi Paris. L'Oreal Paris, Garnier, Yves Rocher based on natural elements.
- French luxury. These are classic luxury offerings from Lancome, Helena Rubinstein, Dior, Chanel, Armani, Biotherm, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy in the form of hair and face care products. Shadows, mascara, etc.
The simplest but most pleasant gift would be a piece of lavender soap, powder, lipstick, which are sold in abundance in pharmacies and stores.
Cloth
Any woman strives to create her own style in clothes, which allows her to show the main individual features: beauty, elegance, femininity. Models of French clothing are considered to be a model of clothing for a modern woman. Moreover, among the numerous proposals there is always a beautiful ensemble for the whole family, festive, evening, everyday outfits. The most popular clothing brands are Camaieu, KOOKAI, Cacharel.
In Russia, you rarely see offers from André, Eram, Sandro, a Lacoste shirt, an obligatory attribute of Casual style. Young people are interested in the French brands Aksara, Alan Manukyan, Lacoste. You can choose a wonderful gift in boutiques with Devernois clothing. It is distinguished by comfort, convenience, quality. Here you can also choose beautiful stoles, scarves, belts, and other accessories. Elegant, delicate clothing in a set of several items is offered by PATOUCHKA. Collection prices are reduced towards the end of the season. It is not difficult to find a place to sell any clothes: there are shops, boutiques, shopping centers, places of profitable sales at every step.
Wine, champagne
French wines are classified as “good” and “very good”. Everyone will be pleased to receive as a gift fine European wine Borda, Alsace, Champagne, Burgundy, Beaujolais or famous brands “Dom Perignon”, “Veuve Clicquot”. National tincture “Pastisse”, cognac such as “Cognac Edouard III”, “Cognac Meukow” can be safely attributed to the universal souvenirs from France. When choosing a gift, it is recommended to carefully study the label. First of all, the province of wine production is indicated on any container (there is no inscription on the fake).
The product category is designated as follows:
Champagne refers to drinks produced in the Champagne region. In other areas, it is local sparkling wines. If you want to buy cognac, you need to know that this is the name of a drink made in the Charente province from certain grape varieties, marked on the label with the letters “XO”.
Liquor
A sweet and fragrant drink based on juices, spices, herbal infusions, produced in different countries. The first liqueurs were invented by the monks as medicines. Much later, they began to use it in cocktails, drink it separately. The peak of popularity as a drink was formed in the 20th century. By strength, liqueurs are dessert, strong, cream and are served at the table at the end of dinner with tea, coffee, juice.
In France, you can buy the most famous liqueurs produced in different countries. These are about 10 varieties of Italian: Amaretto, Galliano, Maraschino, Sambuca. German liquor Jägermeister, Mexican Kalua, Irish Sheridans, Baileys. It is very nice to receive as a gift a real French liqueur such as Benedictine, Chartreuse, the famous Cointreau, Mandarin Napoleon.
Cheese
About 400 types of cheeses are produced in the country. The consistency of the product is firm, soft. Young, aged, with mold, original crust. The shape of the cheese is made in the form of circles, squares, cones, ingots, hearts, triangles. Cheeses are made from the milk of goats, sheep, cows at private and state enterprises. Each variety has an interesting birth story, cooking technology. For example, Chabichou, the famous goat milk cheese, is most often made in the form of a cone. In this form, the tender pulp of the cheese is best preserved.
By the way, France is considered the world leader in the production of goat cheese. In any supermarket you can see endless shelves with cheeses. The most expensive ones are recognized by the inscription AOC (appellation d'origine contrôlée). As a gift, you can choose a piece (determined by financial capabilities and delivery conditions) of the following names: Bleu d'Auvergne (with mold), Brie, blue Roquefort, Camembert, Emmental with holes or the oldest Cantal variety.
Foie gras
The recipe for the culinary symbol of France appeared in the 4.5 century in the food of the Egyptians (then there were Jews, Romans). And only in France (XVIII century) did the first recipes of the famous goose liver pate Foie Gras (Foie Gras) appear in cookbooks. The dish quickly became an attribute of luxury, included in the traditional list of Christmas dishes. In the southern part of the country and Alsace, a real cult of foie gras was born.
Here, a special breed of Strasbourg geese is grown and, when performing “guage” or force-feeding of the bird, they use not figs, as in ancient times, but boiled corn. Each region produces different varieties of foie gras. In Toulouse, you can try an airy ivory dish. In Strasbourg it will be pink, firm.
Numerous shops offer souvenir packages (made of glass, tin) with a rare delicacy. During the trip, it is proposed to try any kind of goose liver: raw, pickled, canned. It is useful to know that semi-prepared foie gras (foie gras mi-cuit) cannot be stored. Semi-canned or pasteurized pate (foie gras semi-conserve) can be stored in the refrigerator for about 6 months. Metal cans contain a canned product that tolerates transportation and storage well. But it is prepared according to a different recipe than the famous dish – foie gras.
Chocolate
Despite the historical fact of borrowing the preparation of an amazing product from other countries (thanks to Anna of Austria in the 17th century), France amazed and conquered the world with amazing inventions in chocolate production technology. Here the famous chocolate truffles, unique variants of hot chocolate, cream ganache, pralines (candy fillings) were born. You should definitely try the luxury offers called Coco Chanel, Yves Montand, Audrey Hepburn, Salvator Dali.
Each technological stage of chocolate production in the country is strictly controlled in accordance with prescription requirements. Therefore, buying French chocolate as a souvenir, you can be sure that this is a real, tasty product. Among them are chocolate bars Jardin BiO, Monoprix Gourmet, Lindt, Menier, extraordinarily beautiful fragrant figurines of animals, truffles, chocolate bars filled with fresh berries and fruits from the Jean-Charles Rochoux store.
Macaron
A delicious confectionery product is produced by many factories in the world. But a real masterpiece (having a long history) can only be brought from France. Especially if you buy it at the Ladurée confectionery house, where for the first time two plates of cookies were combined with a delicious cream. It can be lemon curd, berry mousse, nut filling, creme brulee, chocolate ganache (considered a classic filling option). To taste, they can be almond, pistachio, chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, flower.
A feature of pasta is their color diversity: red, yellow, blue, green, even black round double turrets fill original souvenir boxes. At the same time, you can be sure that only natural products are used for their manufacture and coloring. Macaron has taken a special place in the culinary masterpieces of the country. Bright images of the product are found on posters, clothes, paintings. They are sold everywhere.
sausages
You can try the Gemen sausage (Andouille de Guemene), known since the 18th century, not only while traveling around the country, but also bring it as a gift to friends and relatives. It is made in the Morbihan region. These are not elongated, but spirally wound individual elements of pork intestines, filled with special minced meat, aged in brine, smoked with beech, oak firewood, aged for a specific time. Among the numerous varieties of smoked, dried sausage, there is a special delicacy covered with white mold due to the purposeful colonization of mold fungi (this is a complex technology).
They secrete beneficial antibiotics and preserve the quality of the product. With the independent appearance of mold, the product is considered spoiled, harmful and must be destroyed. An excellent gift would be Pikok Salami aux noix salami with nuts, which conquered the markets of Europe. In the product cylinder (250 g weight, created by French experts) lies a divine combination of fresh meat and the aroma of a special variety of nuts. Among the numerous offers, you can always choose French sausages with figs, walnuts, wine pear.
candied violets
The popular dessert, which has become a symbol of the city of Toulouse, appeared here at the end of the 90th century from Italy. Numerous plantations were organized in the south of France, they mastered the industrial technology of turning the flowers of “scented violet” and “Parma” into a delicacy that conquered the whole world. Other varieties of violets are not edible species. Now the famous confectionery factories of the world buy candied violets (often called Toulouse) in Toulouse to decorate their products.
The delicacy is sold in small glass jars and looks original and mysterious as a souvenir. Fragrant, delicate flowers have healing properties, make ordinary dishes useful. Arriving in Toulouse, you can try the original ice cream, violet syrup.
Art objects
The world-famous French art is a unique masterpiece, sparkling with luxury, grace, and sophisticated style. The atmosphere of past centuries lives in them, which is valued, carefully preserved and continues in the unfading cultural traditions of the country. I want to bring a piece of this perfection with me after an exciting journey. For example, to buy dishes from unusually beautiful porcelain made in Limoges using a unique technology as a gift.
The pure white porcelain has clear, beautiful patterns that form an exquisite French style. Along with visiting museums, galleries, get amazing paintings by local artists. Among them, it is easy to find beautiful copies of famous paintings. Vast offers can be found on the Boulevard Saint-Germain, Pont Alexandre Troyes.
old records
Interest in old vinyl records suddenly appeared, became a fashion trend and a new birth of forgotten technologies. Even work is being restored at old enterprises, sales of new players are constantly growing. And the corner in the apartment, decorated with the old equipment, shelves with old records, complements the interior with an intellectual element, speaks of the musical development of the owner. The stylish look of old vinyl records is used by designers to create a retro style that decorates the space of any home.
The list of items used in their manufacture can be very large: stools, bags, wall paintings, lamps, etc. You can find vinyl records at unique flea markets and specialty record stores (there are about 10 of them in Paris). Modern record stores maintain historical motifs in the country's musical history. In the Walrus store near Montmartre, along with a selection of an old record, you can relax in a cafe and listen to old recordings.
antiques
For lovers of rare, antique things, flea markets, specialty shops, small shops are a real paradise. Here you can buy everything: a working model of an old camera, rare watches, silver sets of dishes, unique furniture from the “Provencal” style to models created during the time of Louis XV, XVI. Books published during the lifetime of their authors (Hemingway, Lenin), paintings, old toys for children, clothes.
These are not cheap things, but having received them as a gift, you can truly plunge into the atmosphere of a past life and feel like a hero of an old movie, a participant in great battles, etc. French antiques have their own stylistic features. It is enough to look at the element once through the eyes of a specialist to confidently name the place where the masterpiece was purchased. The most famous (big) flea market in Europe is located near Paris. This is the famous Saint-Ouen market. He appeared here at the beginning of the 19th century. Numerous roads will surely lead to it lovers of antiques.
Headdress
Without going into the historical details of the appearance of the beret in France, the national headdress of the country (one of the elements of its emblem) is of interest, the desire of many guests of the country to purchase it for themselves. Headwear stores offer numerous options for an item of clothing that is in demand among women, men, children, and the elderly. An excellent and necessary gift would be a beautiful, French beret. For its manufacture, different materials are used: wool, felt, leather, felt, acrylic, cotton. The shape of the beret can be voluminous, small, strict, concise.
A popular (beautiful and stylish) headpiece helps to recreate the famous European retro style. To do this, you can use a model that has become a cult: berets by Brigitte Bordeaux, Faye Dunaway, Samantha, Cher, Che Gavra, Marlene Dietrich and many other options. They can be easily and quickly bought in stores, large shopping centers.
Where is the best place to buy souvenirs
Most often, the crowds of tourists who come to Paris have limited time to choose souvenirs and tend to Galerie Lafayette. With free financial opportunities, this is the right, simple way. Another option is to buy souvenirs during sightseeing tours or when you go on your own to specific boutiques, shops, markets, and large shopping centers.
You can choose a souvenir for children during a visit to Disneyland. These are educational toys of the Vilac series for any age (including the French brand in the form of exclusive rag dolls), clothes, shoes, modern jewelry. Any souvenir shop sells magnets, postcards, key rings, the famous symbol of Paris, France, the Eiffel Tower.