Category: Food

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Culture Food France Healthcare Moving to France

Some Moving Advice

I’ve lived in France for about a year and a half now, and I’ve gotten used to it. There was a viral story recently about a couple who went back to America after eleven months. Like others in the “stuff about moving to France” club, that story has inspired me to give a few words of advice. I’m going to skip what I’ve said before, because if you can’t at least say bonjour, au revoir, s’il vous plaît, merci you shouldn’t be considering even visiting France, because you won’t like it here. That said, here is what I am going to write about.

The pace of life is different in France. In America we’re used to having the means to push through to success quickly; the quicker the better, in fact. In France, it pays to be patient. For example, I started trying to apply for my residence permit (carte de long sejour) last February. I managed to do so successfully in April. I had an interview at the Prefecture (county administration is the closest thing in the States) in July, and was told that my card would arrive in November. All is in order. It is now November 26th, and my card has not arrived. There is nothing I can do. My temporary permit runs through mid-February, so I’m legal, so what I do is go on with my life and know that my resident card will, some day, appear in the mail. If that sort of thing seems like something you couldn’t endure, you’ll need to find somewhere else to live. Or stay put, whichever. I got a comment on an expat group that my experience with this was “light speed.” I was worried about this, and quite a lot. Until one day I decided not to worry about it any more, but just to trust the French system to work things out eventually. Not only have I felt better, but things have been happening as expected. Some advice for dealing with French bureaucracy:

  • Be sure that you know everything that you have to submit when first applying for whatever it is you apply for, and gather all of that information and documents before you start.
  • Most things can be applied for online, but you will, at certain times, need to appear somewhere in person and, preferably, interact with a bureaucrat at least mostly in French.
  • It will take forever for you to receive whatever it is that you have applied for. But it’s great when the thing arrives. My latest was my Carte Sanitaire, or national health insurance card. Just relax, live your life as if it will work out, and it almost always will. Work out, I mean.

You will have to learn French. You don’t need to speak like a native, but you have to speak and understand well enough to get along in a French speaking society. This seems reasonable to me, but here are some points about learning French:

  • You cannot learn French quickly. So forget it. If you took French in school, that may help, but the first thing you should do is de-emphasize all the conjugations and grammar and syntax, and emphasize simply conversing in the language. I can’t stress that enough: you must be able to hold normal, non-technical conversations with reasonable ease. You will have an accent. You will mess up. Those things are okay. If you want to fit in to France, you just need to understand basic French, enough to make some small talk, even though French people use a lot less small talk that Americans.
  • It took me four years of intense study to be able to use French at a B1 level, which is the level I discussed above. It’s roughly defined as “able to get along in normal society without undue problems.” You cannot simply devote six weeks to becoming “fluent in French,” which is pretty much a meaningless phrase in the first place.
  • To make it as fast as possible, a couple of things help. Maybe more than a couple. One, use French whenever you can. If they hear your accent and switch to English, bonus for you! I’ve had conversations where I spoke French, and they spoke English, and we’ve gotten along fine. We both got some practice, and we both understood the other person. Ultimately, understanding is the most difficult thing about learning a new language, though, and you’ll have to expose yourself to lots of French. Try French programs on Netflix, with subtitles probably in English initially, and in French as you get better.
  • Written French and spoken French are not the same language. They could be, but Cardinal Richlieu set up the Academie Française to keep the language “pure.” That very idea brings me to “and the horse you rode in on” but it explains why spelling French words is so difficult. There are at least five ways to represent what in English is the sound of a long “A”.

There are things that are almost impossible to get in France. Decent Mexican food, for example. Oh, they have Mexican, but they don’t use spice in it. You can read that again if you find it odd. Mexican food without spice is, well, it isn’t Mexican food. Fruits and vegetables are mostly seasonal, with some exceptions. For instance, right now, Thanksgiving time, you can’t find any strawberries. Turkeys can be hard to come by, although the local Lidl stores had some last week, and they were, while smaller than in the US, pretty ordinary, dressed turkeys. We plan to eat one on Thursday. French food, famous for being wonderful, uses herbs, not spice, so even if they do use some pepper, it won’t be at a level you’re used to. In the supermarkets, the American food section tends to feature Old El Paso. We have found some decent salsa, though, and one local store has a shelf featuring a variety of hot sauce, including Cholula, which is my favorite. You’ll have to learn how to find and/or order cuts of meat or certain vegetables. Zucchini is Courgette. Keep that in mind.

You will need a French drivers’ license. A few states (Ohio and Colorado among them) have reciprocity, most do not. Within one year of moving here you are supposed to have a French license. Without reciprocity you must pass two tests, one written (it’s online) and a practical. They are very strict, but few people fail completely. Keep in mind that it will take several months out of your life to get a license, and plan accordingly.

That’s all for now. When more things occur to me I’ll post them. I hope this helps somebody either decide to move or not, or to organize better before they move. Until next post, Au revoir!

Categories
Culture Food France Healthcare

How ‘Bout Them French?

The Flag of France

As promised, here are some things that I think the French do well. I’m not going to compare one-to-one with how Americans do these things, in case you’re wanting to see something like that, but here goes what are simply my opinions, after living in France for the past 15-1/2 months straight, of some things I think France does well. I’ll post about things I think they do a lousy job of later, so stay tuned.

#1: Health Insurance

Contrary to what you may have heard, health care in France is not free. It is, however, not so expensive that anyone has ever gone bankrupt from developing cancer, for example. That only happens in America, which I guess is “exceptional” in its way. I went to see my doctor to get a prescription the other day. She charged me 26.5 Euros. At the exchange rate as of this writing, that is $29.42. Due to the speed (ha ha) of French bureaucracy, I don’t have my insurance card yet, but the doctor gave me a form to fill out to get my 60% reimbursement. As my income last year was entirely from pension, I don’t pay for the insurance, as they do not tax pensions in any way. For other income, the fee is income based.

#2. Education

The reason you can see a doctor for thirty bucks is because they don’t charge for higher education in France. Come to think of it, what is called “Vocational Education” in the US is also free. (You must buy books and groceries and pay rent, though.) Applied to a medical degree, this means that doctors do not start their career a quarter of a million dollars in debt, so they do not need to charge exorbitant fees to pay that off and still feed their families. Nor do members of any other profession or trade. It’s sort of like the state provides you with some bootstraps to pull yourself up by, if you get my meaning.

#3. Food

Not French style cooking and famous French dishes, which, to be honest, while delicious, seem a bit bland after a while to someone used to living and eating in the Southwest. I brought my own Cholula! I mean that the food is simply of better quality. You can go to any old supermarket and get the sort of quality you’d have to go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s to buy in the US, except you don’t pay Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s prices. In fact, most things cost less, at least in our part of France. Thus, whatever you’re eating, even McDonalds (McDo), tastes better. Fast food such as what’s at McDo even looks like the pictures on the menu. M&Ms are mostly not as brightly colored as in the US, nor are any foods, because of stricter rules on additives in food. With fewer additives, no “factory farms” anywhere, and a ban on a number of things that are allowed in the US, the overall quality is enhanced greatly. Yum, I say, yum!

#4. Manners

Somebody is going to read this and comment about how rude the French were to them, or to somebody they know. It happens, usually for one good reason. That person they were rude to did not use good manners on them. Here’s the way, again, to be mannerly in France. a) Say “bonjour” to anyone you’re going to interact with. If in doubt, say “bonjour” anyway. Worst case you’ll embarrass them and they’ll quickly return the greeting. That word has interesting roots, but it just means “hello” to anyone in France. Only exception is to only to say it to one person once in a day. If you meet them again you can say Salut, or even just hello! b) if you need something say s’il vous plait. Never mind how that’s spelled, say “see voo play” and you’ll be close enough. When you get it, say merci. When the interaction is over, the polite thing to say is au revoir, which means until we meet again. Don’t let that put you off. Say it every time. For brownie points, throw in a bonne journée. Say bone journay to get close enough. No one expects you to know French, but using these four words will go a long way toward making your visit pleasant. In fact, most French people strive to help strangers, and I’ve never met anyone who disliked Americans for any reason. (Can’t say the same for Brits, but that’s for another day entirely.) After my first visit to France in 1976, I started greeting shopkeepers and others with “Hello” or at least “Hi how are ya” and was surprised that my life was improved. Americans may not insist on manners, but we appreciate them even if we aren’t aware of the fact. Trust me. You can practice at home right away. Through the speaker at McDonalds, even.

5. Intelligence

Not everybody is gifted, whatever they teach you in M.Ed. school. France knows that, but here they respect intelligence. There is a career path for virtually any profession, including being a government employee. To be in the government, there is a school to help you do that, too. The system isn’t perfect, but at least you know that those who succeed in the democratically elected government have had training, internships and experience that means that they are most likely intelligent, and that they most likely know what they’re doing, even if you disagree with their policies. Same for any profession, really. And trades are not held to be any less intelligent or important than any other choice of career. It sometimes seems as if the U.S. celebrates the stupid, but France never does.

6. Elections

A campaign for president lasts for six weeks, period. Sure, there is posturing and gesturing, especially by an incumbent, but the campaign is short and mercifully sweet. For the Assembly (representatives) the campaign is only a couple of weeks. The only losers I can see are the TV networks that don’t make a fortune off of all those ads. There are also elections for Maire (Mayor) and Departmental Council, also with short campaign seasons. Mayors nominate candidates for President (there are thousands of Mayors) and also elect Senators. There is a lot one could write about French politics, but this is about how they elect the politicians. The posters have a designated place in towns and villages, and they come down shortly after election day. Much easier to take, especially if, like me, you can’t vote here.

There is more I like about France, but I’ll let those five items stand for now. Keep your eyes peeled for my “Things France Does Poorly” issue, coming to a screen near you!

Categories
Culture Food France

Stuff You Might Miss

A menu from the Banquet du Chasse yesterday. Lots of food.

BONJOUR!

Sorry for my extended absence. La grippe can be a harsh taskmaster. Anyway, this is about some things you may miss if you visit, or move to, France.

  • Good Mexican (Tex-Mex anyway) food. French food is undeniable fine, but the French never have come to appreciate the tang of a chili. They do have chilis, of course, but they all seem to be the mild variety. I grew up in a household like that: Mom thought that pepperoni was “too hot to eat” so we never ate it, or anything like it. Same with the French, although they do use Spanish chorizo on pizza.
  • Pepperoni. You might think that pepperoni is a basic Italian sausage, but it isn’t. In fact, pepperoni was invented by Italian immigrants in New York City. Yes, the most iconic pizza topping of them all is absent from French pizzarias, even though the pizza is, in general, pretty good.
  • Mac and Cheese. They do sell the stuff in boxes, but it ain’t Kraft, buddy. Not even close. Of course, you don’t have to miss Mac and Cheese if you learn to make your own, which, in fact, is pretty easy. Still, Kraft we don’t have. Sorry.
  • Hershey’s chocolate. It seems that people who didn’t grow up with Hershey’s chocolate tend not to like it, probably because it’s made with a different process from other chocolate products, a process that turns the milk ever so slightly, which is why Hershey’s tastes uniquely like Hershey’s. This extends to chocolate syrup for ice cream, where everyone “knows” that Hershey’s is the best of the lot. Oh, well.
  • Grabbing a quick lunch outside of fast food. Eating in France is an experience all its own. That banquet that we attended provided us with four hours of sequentially presented EIGHT courses! Yoiks! A “quick” lunch will run you about an hour, and many people take two, right out of their work day, to enjoy a leisurely lunch. Of course, if you go to Mickey Ds (McDo) you order from the screen and can leave as soon as you snarf down your food. Question is, for most of us most of the time, why do that? France is the second most popular country for McDonalds, by the way. Also the second biggest consumer of pizza per capita.

Some things you won’t have to miss include Snickers bars, Ben & Jerry’s, Hagen-Daszs, potato chips (not crisps, it says chips right on the bag), pretzels, burgers, hot dogs, pizza of course (Italian style, cooked hot and fast), paper towels, automobiles, freeways, toll roads, DIY stores (Bricos), supermarkets (even hypermarkets), movies (they always have showings of “VO” or version originale, with French subtitles of American films. You can ignore the subtitles.) And there’s more. The similarities, in fact, outweigh the differences.

I’ll do my best not to get the flu again, so I hope you’ll read on in my next post!

AU REVOIR

Categories
Culture Food France info Life

Home Again

This was our house the first time we looked at it. It actually looks the same as it did in the picture on the outside, except for our old Kia parked in front of it.

Kind of repeating a topic this time, but as this blog is intended to let whomever is interested in it to know about the experience of moving to France, it’s probably just the thing to do. I spent three months here (in this house) in the spring of 2022, and I moved here permanently in May of 2023. So I have actually lived in France for thirteen months now, and I do have some impressions.

First, it no longer seems at all odd. In fact, the way things happen here seems normal, and I’m not sure but that I’d need to do some adjusting if I were to move back to the US. Not that the US is bad, but it’s different. In France I am in the process of applying for a residence permit, which of course I’ll never need in the US. You ain’t seen bureaucracy until you’ve seen French bureaucracy! That said, they have a facility in the nearest sizeable town for the sole purpose of helping people find a way through the bureaucratic maze, and they were very nice, and very helpful, and I felt better when I left than I did when I went in. That, believe it or not, seems like a normal thing.

And the food really is better. Not just restaurant food, but food you make yourself. Europe doesn’t approve many additives in food, so the beef never had hormone treatments, nor antibiotics unless it was sick, and there is a lot less added sugar in, well, virtually everything, although sugary treats are quite easy to obtain, and not just weird Frenchie stuff, but Kit Kat bars, Snickers, Gummy Things, Nestles (naturally, as it’s a Swiss company,) plus pies and cakes and other dessert items. Even, occasionally, doughnuts that would sell in the US. Not all the time, but sometimes. But outside of the dessert aisles, the food is nutritious, and meats, in particular, taste better, and if you’re into veggies only (can be tougher in France) the legumes (vegetables) are extremely high in quality.

Streets and roads are not as wide as I was used to in Nevada. In fact, some country roads are just about wide enough for one car, and it’s not unusual for someone to have to pull into a side lane or entrance to a field to pass another vehicle. This is normal. Also, speeds are generally lower, although the Autoroutes (mostly toll roads) are beautifully maintained and have a speed limit of just above 80 mph. Every so often they catch somebody going 120 mph or so, but as enforcement is strict, that’s rare.

And I can speak some French. In my learning curve, I’ve finally gotten to the point where I can see how much I don’t know. This is discouraging, but also encouraging. Sometimes I even understand what someone is saying to me, and I’ve had a few conversations that, I think, actually worked. So there’s that.

I hear my supper calling, so I’m signing off. Be sure to tune in for the next thrilling installment!

Categories
Food France

French Food @ Home

Our Local Bakery

We live in the sticks, really. It’s ten kilometers to the nearest town with any normal facilities, such as supermarkets, hospitals, movie theaters, etc, and both towns at that distance are still very small. But, the bakery pictured is two blocks from our house in a commune of 400 people. Bakeries are, I’m saying, common in France, and the bread is very good. The food you buy in France to take home and prepare is all good, actually, so it’s really just a matter of deciding what you’re hungry for this week, or today. You can buy most familiar things in a supermarket in France, if you know what to call them. Most things. However, Molasses is iffy, truly hot sauce can be tricky, refried beans are mostly unheard of, although there are places to get them because some restaurants use them. Without salsa, but still. Powdered sugar, eh, you may need to make your own. Tami did find brown sugar, which is sugar and molasses mixed together. There may be other things that are harder to find (Fritos Original!) but that mostly covers it. Besides those things, which can be worked around, you can buy whatever you need to use at home. And, it will be better than what you buy in the US.

I’ll use wine for a quick example. All French wine for sale is at least good. Maybe not top shelf, but good. This is generally true of anything you find for sale in France. The butter is all good, and some of it is excellent indeed. Meats are fresh and tasty, never having been dosed with antibiotics to fatten them up, yet still fatty good. (French people don’t worry about fats. A quick rule of thumb, if you’re not sure of something you’re cooking, add butter.) There are no factory farms in France, so the chances of contamination with e-coli or other bacteria are considerably lower. Another rule of thumb is that a person weighs ten pounds less in France than in the United States, and this without excessive worry about weight. Hmmm. Legumes (all vegetables) are fresh and seasonal. Right now, for example, cauliflower is over eight Euros per kilogram, which would be outrageous during the harvest season. This is different from the US, although thanks to our Southern neighbors in Spain and Italy one can get pretty much anything pretty much any time.

So, in sum, there are a few frustrations to cooking at home in France, but whatever you cook will be made with high quality ingredients. Not so bad, really.

Categories
Culture Food France

French Food

MENU

  • French Bread
  • French Fries
  • French Dressing
  • French Toast

Joke aside, French Fries are just called “fries” and anyway they’re originally Belgian. This week I’m writing about restaurants. Nothing specific, just in general. You can get fast food here. within an hour of where I sit, ten minutes in the case of McDonalds, you can find McDo (as it’s called locally), Burger King, and KFC. Unfortunately, it’s not a great McDo, as they rarely do the fries right. But I want to discuss “real” restaurants, which are anything but fast.

One thing an American will notice about a French restaurant is that they do not play background music. I believe that originally this was supposed to calm customers, but I think that these days it may serve to help in turnover. That is, it raises the noise level and makes it less pleasant to sit in the dining room. This is true even in upscale restaurants. In France, restaurants are supposed to be quiet enough for a table to converse without raising their voices. With nobody raising voices, this actually works. However, the noisiest restaurant I’ve been to in Paris was made noisy by a table full of drunken Parisians. So, I’m talking general guidelines here, not hard fast rules. As an American visiting France, be aware that we Americans do talk loudly when dining out and, you know, don’t.

There is a rule to remember: Keep Your Hands Visible above the table. This runs counter to American etiquette, so beware. You can even rest on your elbows, but avoid hiding your hands. If your hands aren’t visible, people will wonder what you’re up to. (Insert joke here.)

Nobody will ever hover around making a fuss and asking you if everything is okay. In fact, if you want service, you have to wave down your server. I’ll be honest, I prefer the French method, although it can be frustrating if your server is out of the room, which they sometimes are, of course. You will be seated normally and given menus, and likely asked what you’d like to drink. There’s nothing unusual about the drinks selection, except there aren’t free refills, which has never been a problem for me, but worth remembering. Your server will bring the drinks and ask if you’re ready to order. (So far the same, huh?) Often the Plat du Jour is worth looking at. We’ve had some great meals with the dish of the day. But, order whatever you want. In touristy areas you’ll probably get a menu in English that you may not even have to ask for. Once you’ve ordered, your server will disappear, maybe dropping off some bread. You may get an entree (starter) then other pre-main course items, depending on what you order. But, it may take a while between courses. We had lunch in a nearby village last week and were there almost two hours. But the food was delicious.

Delicious, but not spicy hot. French people prefer subtle flavors to spicy dishes. We had amazingly bland Mexican one time in Paris. Excellent otherwise, but begging for some Pace Picante. (There are some places to get authentic Indian, Mexican (Qudoba no less), and Middle Eastern food.)

Take your time eating. You’ll be left alone to enjoy your meal. Servers in France are considered professionals and paid a living wage. They have no need to grovel for tips. They’re off doing their job serving others at different phases of their meals, and are available to you any time you call them over. Traditionally, a cheese course follows the main course and precedes dessert. It’s a free country, you don’t have to take the cheese, but there are some excellent ones around and, as a tourist, you might want to try a few. For me, I go straight to dessert, which is usually excellent. Most recently I had a créme brulé, which is custard with sugar sprinkled on top which is then scorched with a small blowtorch. You think I’m kidding? Ask your server. They will have pastry, custards, maybe tartes (pies) all in smaller portions than you may be used to, but usually very good.

Speaking of those smaller portions, you will rarely be given too much food. In the US it’s common to have portions dripping off of the plate, which doesn’t happen in France, in my experience. But the food will be delicious. I’ve had excellent steaks, what are scalloped potatoes, vegetables of various sorts, some wonderful desserts, top-notch entrées (appetizers) and, sad to say, occasionally some lousy food, but that’s rare.

The big difference between eating out in the US and in France is that in France, even in a crowded restaurant, one can usually have a conversation using ones “inside” voice. In fact, that’s generally expected. And, the meal is never rushed. You can, of course, eat in a hurry and rush off, but that will surprise everybody. (If perchance you do have to eat in a hurry, tell your server as you’re seated, and you will be accommodated, at least in my experience.) And the portions will be what you can eat, not set up to appear as massive as possible. Contrary to what I’ve read elsewhere, boxes are provided if you can’t finish it all anyway. So, allow a couple of hours (French people do), use a quiet voice, remember to call your server over if you need service (even to get the bill, or addition.) In tourist-frequented areas (Paris for sure) you can probably get a menu in British English (close enough) and the server will probably know at least enough English to do their job in that language.

And, above all, enjoy the food!
If you liked the service, leave a Euro or two on the table. Forget 20%!

Categories
Culture Food France

Pardonnez Moi!

Really. What happened is that our stuff (most of it) arrived and I’ve been busy unpacking and sorting and putting away. Which means France has been looking pretty much like our old place, except that we’re taking things out of boxes instead of putting things into boxes. But, on to something topical.

It’s the holidays in France, and it’s looking a lot like Christmas. In fact, the word Christmas comes up surprisingly often, considering that here the occasion is known as NOEL. As in Joyeaux Noel et bonne année. To top it off, I found a display of Reeses’ Peanut Butter Cup Xmas Trees, the real thing, made in the US of A, in a store that’s a little hard to describe. It carries things like a Big Lots, sort of. Anyway, we also bought some decor there, and the Xmas trees were delicious as always.

France is different, no doubt about it. “Bacon” means cured meat, probably pork porc, which includes smoked pork belly poitrine fumée which, when I have the butcher slice it thin, turns out to be what an American would call bacon. Mmmmmm! Bacon! Homer could maybe survive here. Food differences certainly exist. At a restaurant you have to call for service. Nobody comes around to interrupt your meal and ask if everything is okay. If everything isn’t okay, any French person would complain to their server, so “okay” may be assumed. Also, servers do not live on tips. You can put a Euro or two on the table if you really liked the service, but it’s neither required, nor even expected. It’s just a bonus, and a lot of servers deserve it. But they can live on their salary, and service at a restaurant is considered an honorable profession. How’s that for a difference? On the other hand, while brands may differ, and you need to know what to ask the butcher to do if you want, say, a strip steak, you can generally get the ingredients to make whatever you want to make, including Mexican style food with actual spice in it. (The French don’t believe in spicy food, but prefer delicately prepared, subtly flavored fare.)

In other food news, France consumes more pizza per capita than any country other than the US. They have McDonalds (even in Tahiti, I recently learned.) There is a KFC near Angouleme. It’s different, but it’s not that different. Myself, I make diner style eggs, hash browns, toast, and bacon on Sunday mornings. It isn’t difficult, and I really like that stuff. So, even though it’s different here, I still get to eat my favorite foods, and drink my favorite drinks, and, this may be sad, as my wife pointed out recently, they’re “becoming more like the United States all the time.”

Hmmm. Hopefully not in terms of political discourse. Until next time, Au revoir!

Categories
Culture Food France

Normalcy

No, I didn’t take this one, but it’s public domain

I tried to upload a picture I took of a baseball game, but apparently WordPress is remaining obstinate. Anyway, I was in the supermarche yesterday when I realized that the way they kept everything made sense to me. Same with the brocolage (DIY) store. Nothing they did made sense when I first got here, or at all until recently. Now, what the heck, I’d find the organization of a US grocery store to be odd. Which got me to thinking about what constitutes “normal” situations.

It appears that “normal” has more to do with what you’re used to than anything else. When I was shopping at a Kroger outlet (Smith’s) I could figure out fairly well where they would put any given item. Of course, in France, some of the items are different, but even if they’d been the same (as some, such as Heinz Ketchup, are) I didn’t find them in the expected place. Dairy and eggs, in particular are stored in a manner that seems entirely wrong to an American. They both are simply put out on the shelf like pasta or soup in a can, where you pick them up, take them home, and don’t need to refrigerate them (unless it’s one of those really hot hot spells we seem to get these days.) I even know why this is so.

Eggs emerge from the chicken covered with slime. The FDA decided some years ago that the slime should be removed for sanitary reasons. Without the slime, the eggs will absorb oxygen and rot forthwith. You may have smelled the result? With the slime, the pores in the eggshell are sealed, which is why the European agency equivalent to the FDA decided that the slime should remain on for sanitary reasons. I don’t advocate anything, I just report stuff. You can refrigerate your eggs if you want to, but then you have to keep them cold or face the smelly consequences.

Milk is pasteurized in the US. In Europe it is irradiated and sterile. This means that it is probably immortal in the bottle, and needs refrigeration only after the bottle is opened. There are some brands of milk in the US that are ultra pasteurized, but some say that they taste off. The milk in France is not pasteurized at all, but irradiated, which kills anything alive in it (the stuff that makes it curdle and spoil) but so far as I can tell leaves the milk as it was formed. This is handy, as I buy six-packs of liter bottles, put them in the cupboard, and only refrigerate whichever one I’m going to open next. I’ve never had milk turn, although it is certainly possible once you crack the seal on the bottle. Also, I drink it up fairly quickly. Sealed up, milk has a use by date of four months from the day it was bottled. I’ve never had any around that long, but I imagine it would last even longer than that.

But, is that better? Heck, I don’t know, but all of a sudden that seems normal. I’ve thought for years that a good idea to prevent salmonella and similar infections would be to irradiate meat. France doesn’t do that, either, but then France also doesn’t have huge industrial sized feedlots, so maybe they don’t need to.

It’s odd when I think that, after three months here last year, and five months now living here full-time, my normal has shifted. I’m fine with it, just as I’d be fine with normal in the US if I moved back. After a few months, at least. Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever had your “normal” shift on you.

Categories
Food France

Lo Phat?

Due to something I haven’t yet been able to correct, no pictures for a while. Hope that’s okay with everyone!

I want to say some more about food. French, and American. There are plenty of fat people in France, but it’s not the norm, as it is in the US. And, I believe, the American obsession with low fat foods is largely to blame. (I’m stealing ideas left and right here, but they are public domain ideas.) Sometime, I think in the current century even, researchers experimenting with dogs demonstrated that fat has a flavor. If that sounds gross, well, don’t eat this post and you should be fine. I’m pretty sure that is true, and furthermore, fat is a good flavor. And, I suppose that all fat isn’t created equal, I’ll have to grant that. Milkfat (butterfat) buffers the effects of sugar ingestion. At the University of Minnesota in the 80s they were experimenting with foods that cause a sugar rush. Honey was, they said at the time, the best (or worst, if you don’t like sugar rushes.) The food that they could never get anyone’s blood sugar to spike with was ice cream. This was good news for Minnesota’s dairy industry. The reason was good old milkfat. Other fats don’t do that. Crisco and sugar is about as good as sugar for making a sugar rush happen. And, yummy, huh?

Recently (within a few years) it has come out that the US sugar industry paid researchers to find things that made fat bad for us. Some of it may have been real, some of it they actually did make up. But, fat tastes good, and if you take it out of food you lose a lot of good flavor. So, to make the stuff palatable, you add, what else? Sugar! Sugar does taste good. I eat the stuff, but not in the amounts in which I was eating it in the US. Because in France, fat is okay. The main base underneath a lot of French cooking is butter. Not margarine, but butter. Fatty, slippery, gooey, tasty butter! And butter contains what? Contains? It mostly is milkfat. Which is, in fact good for you and tastes good too. French people eat a lot of butter, but they aren’t as frequently obese as Americans, who tend to use low-fat alternatives. Think about that. Whole milk and butter taste really good, they help you stay thinner, and they reduce the need to add sugar to everything.

And added sugar in everything is the problem. Read the ingredients label on the food you buy. Most of it has sugar in it. It can be very difficult to avoid sugar in the US, unless you’re rich enough to afford Whole Foods! In France, the sort of thing Whole Foods sells is just what they sell in most supermarkets. And it isn’t expensive, either.

I’m not trying to preach; I’m just trying to lay out some reality. The rule of thumb is that you weigh ten pounds less in Europe than you do in America. I think I know why that is. Sweets, anyone?

Categories
Food France

French Food

I did eat some of this. Gallettes made with gluten free wheat. They’re French.

That photo is of a real menu from a real restaurant where I once ate. I liked it okay, my wife not so much. Anyway, that stuff is French food. Prior to the 1930s, when an Italian chef named Boyardi (sound it out) introduced America to Italian food, America’s favorite cuisine was French cooking. My mom was a home-ec major in the 1920s, and she learned French techniques (not necessarily all that well, to be honest.) For her, pepperoni was too spicy to eat, which is true of anyone who is a confirmed lover of traditional French cooking.* Maybe it’s because I lived for so long in the Southwest, first near Denver, then in Paradise Nevada, that I like a little heat in my food. Traditional French cooking is only hot if it’s straight out of the oven, as it were. French spices are subtle, and include salt and pepper on the table, just like the US of A.

This is not to say that French cooking is bad. In fact, some of the best food I’ve ever tasted has been prepared in the kitchen of a traditional French restaurant, served elegantly, and in portions designed to delight rather than engorge. (Topic for another post there.) But, I do crave a little heat once in a while. I brought a big bottle of Cholula with me, so I can spice up anything I want to. I haven’t seen Cholula for sale in France, but I did see some Tapatio, which is almost as good, some La Victoria (from New York City!) and, in local supermarkets, Tabasco. Tabasco makes sense because, well, “New Orleans = Neauveau Orleans”, Orleans being a French city once home to a famous teenaged general. Tabasco therefore is arguably related to France. Somehow. However it is, they do sell Tabasco, in the foreign foods section.

Bacon. Yummy bacon. Sure, but in Europe, “bacon” refers to cured meat. Technically, ham is bacon.** But, what if I want a few slices of crispy goodness in France? I’ve known for a while, but today I confirmed it. Yesterday I bought quatre tranches of poutrine fumé. Poutrine is what they call pork belly meat in these parts. I tried some a few weeks ago, but it wasn’t cured. It was okay, but not great. Today, though, I fried up those four slices of smoked pork belly and ended up with four slices of crispy bacon. I fried some hash browns and and egg to go with, and had the first actual savory breakfast I’d had since the first Sunday in May. (Two days after that I came to France.) (I miss the Omelet House 50s Diner.) I haven’t checked, but I have read that pepperoni is available in a humongous store called Carrefour, which means “intersection,” in the foreign foods section. I was there, but didn’t even find the foreign foods section, which I’m sure is extensive.***

So, if you want your favorite foods from America in France, you are not entirely out of luck, but you will probably have to go to some effort to round them up. We went to an “American Diner” in Confolens, but it was run by Brits, who tried, I’m sure, but they aren’t familiar enough with American diner food to really pull it off. I’d like to find an American to open an American diner, if possible. (I can’t. I don’t have a work permit.) There is a chain called Buffalo Grill that serves actual American food, too. Or, you can order online, assuming that they have what you need.**** Then again, I live in France, the wine is all good, there are a variety of beers on tap (even Budweiser) and all-in-all, the food is pretty good. And now, I have bacon. Mmmmm. Baaacon!

*They don’t sell pepperoni in France. Instead they use chorizo, which isn’t Mexican but Spanish, although Mexicans seem to like it a lot.

**This explains Canadian Bacon, which Canadians call “back bacon.” It is bacon from the pig’s back, rather than the pig’s belly. And yes, it is more or less just like ham, isn’t it?

***Carrefour is about the size of three normal Walmart Supercenters, and has similar merchandise.

****There is, of course, McDo, as McDonalds is usually named. The fries disappoint, usually.