Room for Debate: Is France Becoming Too American?

The Bon Vivant and Femme Fatale

Debra Ollivier, author, "What French Women Know"

The French still exalt the senses and prefer having a life over making a living. Lucky for them, their infrastructure of social benefits lets everyone do just that.

Cupcakes in Paris, Clicquot in New York

Alexandra Leaf, author, "Van Gogh's Table at the Auberge Ravoux"

Each culture, French and American, has taken from the other what it needed or most desired. But does this borrowing dilute tradition?

Hip-Hop à la Française

Samir Meghelli, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The story of hip-hop in France makes clear that culture — and sometimes, in particular, presumed "national cultures" — are malleable.

Vive la Différence

Lorena Galliot, journalist

There are too many particularities, from shop hours to cheese quality to the smells coming out of bakeries, to blur the difference.