Entre la poire et le fromage
At dinner, Paul had sworn that he wouldn’t talk about politics or money. But between the pear and the cheese,
after two glasses of wine, he leaned over to his mother-in-law and announced that he had spent all his savings buying a run-down house in
the south of France. “Don’t worry,” he added with a big smile, “all we have to do is redo the roof, the walls, the electrical system
and the plumbing” Everyone laughed, except his wife, who suddenly found the cheese much harder to digest.
The French expression « entre la poire et le fromage » literally means “between the
pear and the cheese.” Figuratively,
it means during the relaxed period at the end of a meal, when conversation becomes more informal and people
may say things they would not necessarily say in a more formal setting.
It simply translates as in the course of casual conversation or while chatting informally.
Origin
The expression goes back to the traditional structure of a French meal. In earlier French dining customs, dessert was eaten before cheese and often consisted of either an apple or a pear. The interval between the two was a relaxed part of the meal, when diners could put aside the more formal aspects of eating and simply talk.
There is an interesting twist, however. In older usage, « entre poire et fromage » referred more specifically to the period between the main course and dessert, when the substantial part of the meal was over and conversation could become freer and more intimate.
By the 17th century, the expression was being used figuratively to describe casual conversation at the table, especially the kind in which people might let slip something personal, indiscreet, or unexpectedly revealing.
Today, if someone says:
« Je lui en parlerai entre la poire et le fromage. »
they don't necessarily mean that they will literally be eating pears and cheese. They mean something closer to:
“I’ll bring it up when we’re having a relaxed chat over dinner.”
The expression has a distinctly French, convivial flavor. It evokes that moment when the formalities of a meal—and perhaps of social interaction itself—begin to loosen, and people become just relaxed enough to say what they really think… or, like Paul, to casually announce that they have just spent their life savings on a house that is essentially a roofless pile of bricks.