Typically foreigners think of the food of France as classic French cuisine. To say that this styles likes cream and butter is a bit of an understatement. Is there many other types of restaurants that don't have this dairy focus. Where could a lactose intolerant person eat in France?
It is definitely an allergy. I'm violently ill and can feel my chest closing up when I consume it.
The answer below was written when the question concerned lactose intolerance in general. For allergies or very strong reactions to dairy products, like all other allergies, the general advice is that you need to be careful and never assume, so ask restaurants specifically regarding what they can serve you without any dairy products and with proper allergen controls (including butter). I don't have specific advice for France in this respect.
Where could a lactose intolerant person eat in France?
Anywhere really. Most lactose intolerant people can eat cream and butter in the quantity used in most dishes. Ice creams sell as well in China or Japan as anywhere else really.
If that amount still poses a problem to you, most if not all restaurants certainly have dishes that do not use cream and butter or use them in an extremely limited amount, e.g. salads and steaks and many other baked meats and vegetables. They can certainly serve them without sauce if you ask. You can also ask the restaurants if they offer alternative sauces or gravies without or with less butter and cream.
If you have problem with even sautéing with butter or a tablespoon of heavy cream though, that's way beyond the lactose intolerant category.
Of course, international chain restaurants (McDonald's) and "ethnic" restaurants or stands (Chinese, African, Turkish, etc.) are also not hard to find in cities.
If you have a very strong reaction to lactose, or an allergy to dairy products (which are rarely caused by lactose but more commonly by certain proteins), where mere presence of lactose or dairy products poses a significant issue for you, you need to cook yourself or individually verify with specific restaurants. Like for all other severe allergies, you cannot trust others on cross-contamination based on type of restaurants alone, especially if there are language barriers.
You can always look for Kosher restaurants that observe traditional Jewish Kashrut rules. Kosher restaurants are either serving dairy products or meat dishes as mixing these two categories is forbidden by Kashrut. So if you look for Kosher restaurants serving meat you can be quite sure their kitchen has never seen any dairy product, but you won't find any pork meat or shellfish there neither. Sometimes they may be slightly more expensive than average restaurants due to their more strict rules, but it is definitely worth the experience and not restricted to Middle Eastern cuisine as you can find Kosher restaurants in practically all styles. The only restriction is a geographical one: they are almost exclusively located in bigger cities.
A useful website that lists those restaurants is TotallyJewishTravel
Typically foreigners think of the food of France as classic French cuisine. To say that this styles likes cream and butter is a bit of an understatement.
You seem to have the wrong idea about classic French cuisine. Cream definitely is not used that much. There are clearly dishes with lots of cream, especially in some regions (mostly northwestern France), and there are a few classics which can hardly be cooked without cream, but there are a lot more dishes that don't incorporate any cream at all.
Butter is quite frequent, but a lot less so in southern France. But butter contains very little lactose anyway (about ten times less than milk or yogurt), and except a few marginal exceptions, it's only used in small quantities when cooking. So unless you are not intolerant but actually allergic, it shouldn't matter at all.
Is there many other types of restaurants that don't have this dairy focus.
There are very very few restaurants which would qualify as having a "dairy focus". Just look at the menu before selecting your restaurant, dishes using cream should be quite obvious (and very few and far between).
Where could a lactose intolerant person eat in France?
Anywhere. Remember that a lot of adults are lactose intolerant (actually, worldwide, a majority is). The proportion varies by region, but it's about the same in France as in the US for instance. Estimates vary between 15% and 50% of the adult population. If french cuisine was a problem for that many french people, I think we would know about it!
Just don't drink a glass of milk and you should be fine! And even then... There's special milk for lactose intolerant people.
Most restaurants not specialized in cheese-centric dishes such as pizza have some lactose-free options. I'm lactose intolerant and have managed to avoid being inadvertently served meals with lactose in most countries. Do look at what you get because sometimes, they will serve you some anyway. This happens most often when you choose an option that appears lactose-free without telling the server about your lactose-intolerance and he brings the bread-and-cheese basket or an appetizer on the house.
The good news is that French cooking tends to have few ingredients and they know their food. So, it will be easy to get served a lactose-free meal by following this advice:
Only a handful of times, I had to leave the restaurant because nothing could be made without lactose. This only happened in restaurants that serve quick meals that are mostly pre-made ahead of time, never at a full-service restaurant.
You are right that cream is prevalent but butter is even more and generally much more difficult to spot on the menu since it is used frequently instead of oil. Luckily my level of intolerance allows me to eat some butter (a teaspoon or two). That is why it is important to specify when ordering and not just select something that does not mention a dairy ingredient. That being said, there are many dishes made without cream and cooked with olive oil, stewed in broth (some stews are thickened with cream - so, again, ask).
By law all european restaurant are required to inform customers on ingredients that people may be allergic to*. I am not sure specifically of how this works out in France, but typically the menu will indicate with symbols for each dish what potentially allergic ingredients it contains. In rare cases I have seen a notice on the wall that gives a blanket statement on what ingredients any of their meals might contain.
So in principal you should be able to visit any restaurant and inspect their menu to see what they offer that doesn't contain milk.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-30395142
* the potential allergic ingredients that must be warned for are:
celery, cereals containing gluten (such as barley and oats), crustaceans (such as prawns, crabs and lobsters), eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs (such as mussels and oysters), mustard, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, sulphur dioxide and sulphites (at a concentration of more than ten parts per million) and tree nuts (such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios and macadamia nuts).
Typically foreigners think of the food of France as classic French cuisine. To say that this styles likes cream and butter is a bit of an understatement.
Actually, this is only true of part of France. The dairy-rich cuisine you describe is typical of Paris and the North. The South has traditionally had a very different, Mediterranean cuisine.
People even speak of the "Butter Border", an imaginary line between the North, where people cook with butter (the so-called "cuisine au beurre"), and the South, where people cook with olive oil (the so-called "cuisine à l'huile").
Of course, nowadays, you will find all kinds of restaurants and bistros in all regions, and it should not be too difficult to find food to your liking, especially if you have an intolerance but not an allergy, i.e. if a little dairy is not a huge problem.
Since 2015, french restaurants have the obligation to list the 17 major allergens present in their dishes (gluten/dairy/egg/fish/etc) for non-wrapped foods. In reality, the card is not always available.
Get the application "Avec Plaisir" it is an app designed to list allergen friendly restaurants. It's just a map with hearts beside the appropriate eating places:
(translate this page)
here is the app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.avecplaisir.avecplaisir&hl=en&gl=US
The law is called "décret n°2015-447 du 17 avril 2015"
You can contact restaurants first and ask them "J'aimerai manger chez vous, Pouvez vous SVP m'envoyer une liste des allergenes present dans vos plats, par mail ou MMS ou sur place? J'ai une allergie au lait.... Voici mon email... et mon Mobile:...."
There's lots of guides written in french already, search them on google and translate them:
apps, information, formus for people like you in France
You can help us by describing/getting a proper diagnosis for your condition, so that we can answer properly: Are you allergic to all cow's milk and goat's milk? Cow milk allergies can be: IgE-mediated cow’s milk allergy Non-IgE-mediated cow’s milk allergy Mixed allergic reaction
2/3% of babies have this, and only 0.4 of those keep it as adults.
I'd suggest that you photocopy a small card or an A5 print with an image of milk and cheese and a frowning smiley, with appropriate words, which I can't provide because you don't state any symptoms.
i.e.: "Bonjour, J'ai une allergie mortelle aux produits laitiers, s'il vous plait soyez en conscient, Merci"
And learn a spoken form of the same phrase which describes you specifically, i.e: "Bonjour, j'ai une allergie immunologoique sévere aux produits laitiers, s'il vous plait vérifiez de ne pas me nourrire de lait et de fromage, merci"
I would give you other examples of phrases pertaining to your condition in France if i had other info about your allergy.
Contrary to the reputation of the French as irredeemable carnivores, Paris has many vegan restaurants, serving various dairy-free and meat-free cuisines, ranging from regular European-style food, burgers, etc, to vegan Chinese and other world cuisines. Happy Cow has extensive listings. Vegan cuisine refuses to use dairy (and meat) for reasons of animal cruelty, and a 100% vegan restaurant should not have any dairy on the premises; a vegetarian restaurant (one serving eggs, dairy, honey, and other animal products) will often be able to cater for the interests of vegans but you should check if they fully segregate their cooking facilities.
Other parts of France cater less well for vegans, but in a big city like Lyon you should find options. In rural locations, maybe less so, although as other answers say, you can ask.
French here: in almost any restaurant you will find something in the menu, even if they are specialised in cheese (for example from Savoie). You can use this sentence: "Je suis allergique aux produits laitiers, pourriez-vous m'indiquer quels plats de votre carte conviennent à mon régime ?" translated as "I am allergic to dairy products, could you tell me which dishes on your menu are suitable for my diet?"
