The Food of Paris
Ah, French mealtime culture. The list of similarities to American norms would be shorter than the list of differences. To us study-abroad students, restaurants, cafes, and grocery stores compose the majority of our interactions with Parisians, and it is therefore in these locations where the majority of culture clash has arisen.
Restaurants in France are a lot more structured than restaurants in the United States. While in the U.S. it is common to find places advertising an “all day breakfast,” this is rare in France. Meal times are set, the types of food that is served at those mealtimes is set, and asking for something out of those strict parameters will get you a confused glance, at best. Similarly, there is a separate etiquette for coming into a restaurant for drinks/dessert versus coming into a restaurant for a full meal. You are expected to announce your intentions upfront, sit in a different part of the restaurant, and order off a different menu. This resulted in a rather tense argument with a French waiter when a few people wanted crêpes for lunch, and the rest wanted a real meal. Since then, we’ve learned to be unified in our decision before entering a restaurant, and either split up or order take-out if we want different things.
French meals are also a lot more leisurely than American meals, and there is a much stronger sense of culture and community based around eating. “The meal” does not end when all of the food is gone, but when the table has finished talking. Lunches, especially, can last for hours. It is common in America to see people eating while walking to their next class, meeting, or errand. In France, it is far more common to see full restaurants of relaxing people around lunchtime. While I appreciate this culture, I find that I do not usually have time to partake in it (and then I’m eating while walking again, practically broadcasting my foreigner status for all the world to see).
One thing I have had time to try, and try extensively, are the French pastries. I could literally go on for hours about how fantastic they are, and I think that I’ll cry when I am forced to go back to American crescent rolls. Croissants are delicious, but my favorite bakery treat so far has been the macaron. I just managed to get ahold of some of these today for the first time (I’ve been holding out for Ladurée and Pierre Hermé, the two giants of macarons). All of my expectations were met and I don’t regret a cent of the ten euros I spent. Here’s to more fantastic food in the future!
I still haven’t tried escargot. I swear I’m working on it.
