Food Blog!

Food is something I consider to be a highly important element to my life. I don't just eat for nourishment I eat also for the enjoyment of eating. Last year one of the assignments Matt gave his French students was to write an essay on whether they "eat to live or live to eat". I definitely fall into the category of living to eat.



So coming to France I was expecting to be blown away by the food. And in some respects I have been amazed. The vast amount of patisseries and chocolate shops truly demonstrate that the French see pastry as an art that should be appreciated. Likewise the ever present boulangeries that all seem to have cheap wonderful bread is another wonder.



I also love the fact that so many different kinds of cheeses are available here. I have tried so many different kinds of cheese in the past two months that I don't even know where to start. I'm especially enjoying blue cheeses, which a year ago I never would have thought I would enjoy. Roquefort is my clear favorite, and I also love Fourme d'Ambert which is a creamy mild blue cheese (so good!). I'm also enjoying cantal, various goat cheeses, gruyere,and comte. It's amazing the variety that can be found here at relatively inexpensive prices. One of my complaints about cheese other than cheddar in the U.S. is that it is so expensive,that is feels like you are splurging to buy any kind of decent cheese.






One thing I appreciate about France is that good bread, wine and cheese are considered necessities and are often given government subsidies to remain cheap. Consider the fact that I can get a baguette for 55 centimes-1 euro depending on the size!

So I was stating earlier that I was expecting to be blown away by French cuisine, and despite what I just stated, in many respects I haven't been. Here's a few reasons why:

1.The French love Meat. Every kind of meat, especially ham. Their cuisine is highly meat centric, and while I am not a vegetarian, I definetly lean in that direction and the over emphasis on red meat especially I find a bit disturbing. For example in the weekly grocery store advertisements we receive, the first 4 pages are huge pictures of all kinds of meat. In the grocery store there is an entire aisle comprised solely of sliced ham and lardons. When dining out vegetarian options are extremely rare.

2. There seems to be an unwillingness to branch out and explore the cuisines of different cultures. In the U.S. I am used to being able to find a variety of ingredients from Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Thai, Spanish, Indian and various other cuisines, even in the most basic grocery store. Here Mexican and Asian foods are considered more of a specialty and are all rather expensive. There are even boxed taco kits you can buy, but they cost the equivalent of about 8 dollars. Tofu, which you could find in great quantities for say $1 in the U.S., costs 4-5 dollars here for a very small box. I think the U.S. because it is an immigrant nation has adapted and grown in a way to be inclusive of world cuisines. France is a very insulated nation, and despite its growing Muslim/North African/Middle Eastern population is very insistent on keeping its longstanding traditions.

When going out to eat the cuisine other than traditional French that you see in the largest quantities is Italian. There are pizza places everywhere! In fact in our little town there are probably more pizza places than actual French restaurants. We were lucky to have a Chinese restuarant in town and were amazed to find that it was actually really good.

3. The inability to find certain key ingredients. This relates to number 2. I in some ways find the French narrow minded in what they are willing to eat. I suppose all cultures do this to some degree. For example some foods that in the US are seen as basic the French find appalling. The biggest example is peanut butter. While you can find peanut butter here it is extremely expensive, and the French just find it odd. You will not find any kind of peanut butter flavored candies (i.e. Peanut butter cups or butterfingers). Matt LOVES peanut butter so this is a bit of a tragedy for him.



Another example is whole wheat/grain bread or sandwich bread. It is very hard to find any good bread here that has much nutrition. While I love baguettes and all the fresh bread, it really doesn't have a great deal of nutritional value. You can find pain cereal (bread with grains) at boulangeries but it is pretty much impossible to find sandwich bread other than a gross looking "American sandwich bread" that looks like white wonder bread. Matt and I tried to explain to Matt's advisor Yvonne that it is possible to have good tasting packaged sandwich bread, and she just didn't believe us. Back in Portland I became addicted to a bread called Dave's Killer Bread that was expensive but chock full of grains and so so good! I love baguettes but sometimes I just want a sandwich or some whole grain toast!

The inability to find cheddar cheese, mozzarella or parmesan (especially when Italy is so close) is a bit unfathomable. I mean they put emmental (swiss) cheese on their pizza! Yuck!

Well I suppose I'm starting to sound a little whiny so I should stop. I love a lot of what I've eaten here so far, but sometimes I just want more options of what I can make for dinner and the appreciation of other cuisines beyond French. I don't mean to say that I dislike French cuisine, I like many elements of what I've experienced here, but I also appreciate the openness and variety that can be found at home.