Unsophisticated temperatures

One thing I find British people aren't so bad at (though still not as good as the French), but the Americans are really stupid at is knowing what temperatures are optimum for food and drink.

In the film Notting Hill, Jeff King (played by Alec Baldwin) cracks a joke about how British people supposedly have lower tastes than Americans in not having the same preference for ice-cold beverages.  This is one of the few things British people have the foggiest idea about.  A French woman knows that unless a dish is cooked or it is a hot beverage, food and drink should be served at room temperature.  A French woman knows that temperate is best in the overwhelming majority of cases.  I'm not sure how to represent room temperature or "temperate-ness", so I have attached a photo of the Temperate House at Kew Gardens in London.

Two examples for which a French woman knows that temperate is best are water and cheese.

As mentioned in a previous post, a French woman likes to sip mineral water, given that she is sophisticated enough to tell the difference between different types.  Cold water just numbs the tongue and makes it harder to gain the sensation of pure pleasure that comes from pure and sophisticated mineral water.

A French woman knows her dainty appetite very well and so what she does is she anticipates how much cheese she will want, cuts it off and leaves it to reach room temperature for at least an hour.  This is assuming she is doing something beneath her dignity and not buying food on a daily basis (i.e. in bulk), though occasionally, blocks of cheese are too large for one day: - a Frenchwoman is close to the land and so knows how much effort it takes to produce quality food, meaning that she is unwilling to waste food if it can be avoided.  On the other hand, if she is behaving in a matter befitting of a sophisticated French woman, she will only buy from the market the quantities of cheese she needs for that day.

So there you have it.  In her sophistication, a French woman likes things to be just-so: - not too hot, not too cold.  When it comes to food and drink, these extremes are befitting off less sophisticated peoples.