Why does French have two names for the same pastry, “pain au chocolat” and “chocolatine”?
Dialogue à la boulangerie en français facile
A1 French listening practice · Swiss French · Picked for people who know a little
France has two competing names for the same pastry: a flaky rectangle of viennoiserie wrapped around two batons of dark chocolate. Most of France calls it pain au chocolat (“chocolate bread”). The southwest, including Bordeaux, Toulouse, Pau, and Bayonne, plus much of Quebec, calls it chocolatine. The naming has fueled viral internet debates, parliamentary stunts (a 2018 amendment to make “chocolatine” official failed), and regional pride campaigns. A 2017 IFOP poll mapped the divide: pain au chocolat dominates north and east; chocolatine holds the southwest.
This clip is a beginner French bakery dialogue: a customer orders a baguette and a pain au chocolat. The choice of name puts the speaker squarely in the Parisian / northern French camp.
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How common in written French
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Harder words in this video
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Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · Lexique 3.83 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In French bakeries everywhere (each region defends its preferred name)
- ▸In French Twitter and social-media regional debates
- ▸In French sitcoms about the north-vs-south rivalry (Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis)
- ▸In French food media (Le Figaro Cuisine, Marmiton)
- ▸In Quebec bakeries that follow the southwestern French naming