What is a French Icon? My New Penguin English Dictionary defines an icon as a pictorial representation, an image. For me, the Eiffel Tower, Fernandel, Pétanque, French Bread, Edith Piaf, le beret, Brigitte Bardot, and the Renault 2CV, conjure up France's best known images or icons. Yet pastis, snails, garlic, fois gras, la Guillotine, camembert, les trois mousquetaires, wine, andouillettes, Claude François, Santons, Astérix, and Maigret equally evoke France for me and these are just a few items from a rather long list.

For many people the most popular "image" or representation of France is of course the Frenchman sporting an enormous bushy moustache, wearing a beret and striped jumper and carrying an armfull of crusty French baguettes. And while I have seen a few French men sporting at least one of these items I have yet to see one with all four!

This section is my attempt to find the history behind some of these icons and while many will relate to France as a whole, others will have distinct links to the South of France.