If France was a meal, it would be ...

Boeuf Bourguignon is the dish that best represents Gallic cuisine, according to a survey.

The classic meat-and-potatoes meal picked up 23% of the vote in the study by the Toluna Institute, putting it well ahead of blanquette de veau (11%) and steak frites (10%), reports Le Parisien.

Southwestern favourite the cassoulet, a meal invented to fortify soldiers fighting off English invaders, came fourth in the survey, followed by magret de canard and poulet frites.

Snails, frogs' legs, côte de boeuf and borrowed Belgian dish moules frites complete the top 10 dishes in France.

The study - for Fondation Nestlé France - questioned a representative sample of 1,029 people.