So, Paris. It's hard to sum it all up. Mostly, we ate, walked, and then ate some more. In between all the eating and walking we did a little shopping, looked at some art, and saw some really old and really nice buildings. And all those stereotypes about French people walking around with baguettes in their purses: true. Thankfully, the stereotype about everyone smoking may still be true, but it's kept in check by a recent ban on smoking in bars and restaurants in Paris. The stereotype about all the meat and dairy eating is also true, so I was glad that I've successfully re-introduced dairy products into my diet and that I've been making selective forays into the consumption of flesh.
Side note for those of you who don't know yet: I broke my 20 years of vegetarianism with some homemade bacon on a farm last summer. Sure, I've been eating the occasional fish for the last few years, but mammals and birds was a whole new world. I couldn't really say no to farmers who offered me any kind of food produced on their land, so I ate the meat when it was offered. I kinda liked it, so from there I've gradually starting eating little bits of meat when I feel comfortable with what I know about where it came from.Anyway...... some highlights of Paris, from my nerdy foodie perspective:
- Bread is serious business. There are laws in France about allowable ingredients for certain types of bread. To be called a baguette there can only be a few specific ingredients. And the same goes for many different kinds of loaf. Even fava bean meal is considered an adulterant. This is refreshing after reading the ingredients on an average loaf of whole wheat health bread in a Canadian supermarket, or after being in India where the adulterants of concern are actual toxins rather than a deviation from the traditional recipe.
- The shops and supermarkets are full of yoghurts, crème fraishe, and beautiful cheeses. The average supermarket chain carries more and better cheese than most specialty cheese shops in Canada. I bought goat cheeses I had never seen, and sheep's yoghurt in tiny glass pots. Even Picard, the new chain of frozen food shops, sells beautifully constructed frozen meals. Perhaps these are the beginning of a slippery slope to TV dinners, but for now they are real meals that happen to be frozen. If you are not going to cook, which is difficult in the tiny little Paris apartment kitchens, these aren't so bad.
- Meals in restaurants are slow, long, important events. You stay as long as you like, and
everyone seems to eat dessert. (I've developed a whole new appreciation for dessert after all the crème brulée, and the amazing cake Jess brought for my birthday dinner.) Being a waiter or any kind of service industry workers is considered a career and people are given respect. People seem happy to be doing this work and are respected for doing it. - Breakfast, it seems, is bread (if you must) and coffee. The place we went for breakfast on my birthday listed the menu as bread, butter, orange juice, coffee. So that's what we had.
- The best ice cream in the world is on l'Ile de la Cité. Maison Berthillon. Yummy. €3,50 for two tiny delicious scoops. The vanilla would be worth selling your first born for. I also tried the fig, and the cherry, both fabulous.
- Coffee (café) is treated with the respect it deserves. There is no drip coffee, no syrupy lattes, although I did see a few sad little Starbucks popping up here and there. Normally, there is only espresso, or espresso with milk. I didn't have any that blew my mind, because I didn't find the specialty places, but every random brasserie and bistro had good coffee.
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