It’s Candlemas! If tradition invites us to devour crepes, the French probably don’t wait for this opportunity to treat themselves. For what ? Because it’s their favorite sweet recipe! The only tricolor regional specialty that everyone agrees on.
Cherry clafoutis in Limousin, gingerbread in Alsace, the pink biscuit from Reims, the Vendée pâté… There are at least as many savory regional specialties as there are sweet recipes representing each tricolor region. The French are also attached to it, according to the opinion of 67% of them who responded to a CSA survey for Cultures Sucres, an association which brings together professionals in the sugar sector. But they don’t just salivate at the idea of talking about these sweet indulgences, two out of three gourmands prepare regional dessert recipes. Often, it is a skill that is passed down from generation to generation.
On this Candlemas day, there is, however, one exception which could fuel the debate around the best regional sweet specialty in Europe: crepes. No doubt because its preparation is easy, this Breton tradition makes (almost) all French people agree. It is in fact the favorite dessert in eight of the twelve metropolitan regions, such as in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes where we adore pink praline brioches, or in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, where crepes make the affront of supplanting cannelés relegated to third position.
Adapting equally well to breakfast time, snack time and dessert time, the crepe recipe appears at least in the top 3 in all regions, except in Centre-Val de Loire and in the Grand-Est, where we know the strong roots of a sweet culinary heritage still carried today by great pastry chefs like the Alsatian Pierre Hermé or the Lorraine Gilles Marchal and Michaël Bartocetti.
On a national scale, after crepes, it is successively fruit tart, brownie, clafoutis then tiramisu which constitute the favorite desserts of the French. A top five which also demonstrates the taste of sweet tooths for foreign recipes, Italian with tiramisu, but also American, with the brownie, reinforced by the cookie, cited by the young respondents to this survey.
This survey was carried out from November 15 to December 4, 2023 on a sample of 2019 individuals representative of the entire metropolitan French population, aged 18 and over.
