I am going to france and they use kcals. is there a difference between a kcal and a calorie?

"food" calorie= kcal: Food energy is expressed in food calories ("kcal" in france and the e.U.; "cal" in the U.S.) or in kilojoules (kj). Food calories are 1000 times the energy of scientific calories, known also as calories (makes things confusing!). On nutrition labels, calories means food calories or kcal. 1 food calorie = 1 kcal = 4.2 kj. Some european food labels show kcal and kj amounts.

They are the same: They are the same!One (1) kilocalorie is the same as one (1) Calorie (upper case C). A kilocalorie is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water one degree Celsius.