# What is the best French cultural export?

> Things the rest of the world borrowed from France and never gave back. Some are edible, one is a unit of measurement.

*By YPB Team · Published September 17, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-french-cultural-export*

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## Current results (1 vote)

1. **French cuisine** — score 1000/1000
   The mother sauces, the brigade kitchen and the vocabulary every chef still uses.
2. **French New Wave cinema** — score 999/1000
   Godard, Truffaut and a way of shooting that film schools still teach.
3. **The Eiffel Tower** — score 930/1000
   A temporary exhibition structure that became the shorthand for a country.
4. **Impressionism** — score 734/1000
   Named in Paris in 1874 from a Monet canvas, now the most popular art in the world's museums.
5. **Haute couture** — score 734/1000
   Chanel, Dior and a legally protected Paris fashion calendar.
6. **The Louvre** — score 734/1000
   The most visited museum on earth, and the model for the public art museum.
7. **The metric system** — score 636/1000
   Devised in revolutionary Paris and now used by almost every country.
8. **Champagne** — score 636/1000
   A protected region whose name became the word for celebration.
9. **The Tour de France** — score 636/1000
   The world's largest annual sporting event, free at the roadside.
10. **Baguette and boulangerie** — score 382/1000
   Added to UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2022.
11. **Chanel No. 5** — score 382/1000
   The 1921 fragrance that made French perfume a global industry.
12. **Gothic architecture** — score 382/1000
   Born at Saint-Denis in the 1140s and exported across Europe.
13. **Cannes Film Festival** — score 382/1000
   The Palme d'Or and the calendar the film business runs on.
14. **The Statue of Liberty** — score 0/1000
   A French gift, designed by Bartholdi with a frame by Eiffel.
15. **French philosophy** — score 0/1000
   Descartes, Sartre and Beauvoir, still on reading lists everywhere.

Tags: brands, food, travel, france