Why Rick Steves Warns Tourists In France About Ordering French Onion Soup

No dish is so emblematic of French bistro cuisine as French onion soup: A crock of rich, beefy consomme swimming with slithery strands of caramelized onion, topped with thick French bread croutons, then capped with a gloriously golden-brown, bubbly dome of Comté cheese. It's the epitome of rustic French cuisine, a symphony of umami notes and silky, unctuous textures. But order "soupe a l'oignion" in a Paris bistro in July, even with a *chef's kiss* perfect accent, and you'll be exposing yourself as a clueless "Américain."

One of the reasons French cuisine is so pitch-perfect is that local cuisiniers and the gourmands they serve tune their palates to the season. French onion soup is a decidedly wintry dish, as cozy to your insides as a cashmere sweater is on your outsides. It's also a dish that's possibly more beloved by Americans than the French, popularized by Julia Child, first in her 1961 book, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," then on the first season her PBS show "The French Chef" in 1963. (A life changing moment for folks raised on Campbell's Cream of Mushroom and Betty Crocker.)

In America, the seasonal "farm-to-table" notion didn't get its start until the 1970s, when groundbreaking chef Alice Waters' Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse introduced the concept of just-picked, local ingredients, plucking herbs from the restaurant's own kitchen garden and striking up relationships with local farms. The idea is still in the process of filtering down to home kitchens. But in France, this has been the way people of all walks of life and economic brackets have traditionally eaten since time immemorial. And as foodie travel is trending, there's no time like the present to get in step with seasonality.

To be season-savvy on your Parisian summer vacation, you'll do better to ask for a "salade Nicoise." This plate is composed of leafy greens, blanched green beans, tomatoes so ripe you'd swear they're still warm from the sun, sliced egg, potato, and a few shimmering anchovy filets drizzled with a bright, lemony vinaigrette. If you find yourself in Paris just as the leaves are turning in the Bois de Boulogne oak forest, you've lucked into peak leek season, so it's time to make a beeline to the Latin Quarter's lovely Les Papilles. One Tripadvisor fan summed up the classic bistro's swoony seasonal specialty as, "a creamy, velvety leek & potato soup served up with a mountain of that wonderful, crusty French bread. Best soup ever."

Alternatively, next time you're in the City of Lights take a break from name-checking famous dishes and instead, head to a restaurant like Au Passage, one of Anthony Bourdain's favorite restaurants in Paris, where the menu is so entirely seasonal that it changes every single day according to what's fresh that very morning. "The food is love," declared one Tripadvisor diner. "We had a variety of plates which were all tasty, high quality, sensual and innovative. The chef is a prodigy." With adventurous dining experiences like these available, if you look for seasonality, you may never go back to chasing "soupe a l'oignion." Why dine off the rack, when you can have the foodie version of Parisian couture on a plate?

French onion soup's origins aren't entirely clear, but some of the possibilities are tantalizing. Some accounts date the soup back to the Romans. One legend holds that King Louis XV got the munchies late one night, on a hunting trip, and found himself looking into the a larder stocked only with butter, champagne and onions. Voila! The soup became popular in the court at Versailles, where it was a go-to hangover cure.

You probably know that French wine varietals are certified by the AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) system, which guarantees authentic provenance — any wine called "Champagne" must be of the correct varietal, grown in the Champagne region. But you probably didn't know that French onions are similarly protected, like the 300-year old Roscoff AOC onion from coastal Brittany, the variety Michelin-starred French chef Raymond Blanc prefers for his celebrated French onion soup — served at his restaurant in Oxfordshire, England. Seems Brits like cozy soups just as much as Americans do.

To find the real thing, follow decades of expats to one of Ernest Hemmingway's favorite Montparnasse brasseries, La Rotonde, where some classic Parisian experiences never go out of style. As one highly-satisfied Tripadvisor visitor writes: "The facade, the interior, the atmosphere, the close-knit seating, the vin rouge, the rain on the windows, the waiters, the delicious French onion soup. This is Paris, in a cafe. Enjoy!" So next winter, just follow that distinctive umami aroma right on into La Rotonde and say, "Un soupe a l'oignion, s'il vous plait." Just don't call the waiter "garçon," because that means "boy," and is just as offensive as calling the cocktail waitress in your hometown cowboy bar "honey."