Eating in Paris: Delicieux!

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  Paris, France
Tuesday, September 9, 2008

     Some friends from home arrived in Paris from Dublin, Ireland a few days ago. We met them at their hostel late one evening right after they checked in. "So what now?" Casey said. "What do you want to do tonight?"
     "I haven't eaten," said one friend, "And I've been in Ireland since the beginning of July.  All Irish food is fried, so if the food here is good, I'd like dinner."
     This is what I explained in response: "Each day, we try out new cafes, vendors, and foods. When I go to bed at night, I think to myself, 'Today, I ate all of my favorite foods!'  The next day, we try out different cafes, vendors, and foods than the days before, and I still go to bed thinking, 'Today, I ate all my favorite foods!'"  The food in Paris is incredible. 
 
   One need not even take one bite of the city's a warm baguettes or creamy cheeses to recognize that there is something different about the way the French do food. Walk down any neighborhood street in Paris and you will not see giant grocery stores so much as little bakeries, butchers, cheese stores, seafood shops and sidewalk fruit stands--not to mention creperies and chocolat shops. When purchasing from these specialized vendors, the food is as fresh as it gets.  You can pick up any peach from a tiny vendor and it is ready to eat because the merchant as selected it that day, him/herself. And there is just something so satisfying about being handed a yummy pastry from a jolly french woman who frosted it that morning with her own two hands.  It is my impression that the smaller, specialized food vendors make for better quality food.
     
     One surprising thing I've learned about French food so far: French fries are ACTUALLY French. Who knew!? Apparently, the Paris folk have managed to maintain the integrity of the French fry in a way that we Americans have not. Cafes here serve it with every hearty meal: steak, chicken, fish. I just stare at the poultry marinated in gourmet wine sauce as it sits there next to the golden potato sticks and think, "Really? This just can't be right."  My poor American pallet has disregarded the French fry for so many years. While I'm in Paris, I'm trying to do my part to correct that. 

     I eat a crepe a day: chocolat noir, confiture fraise, and my favorite so far, smoked salmon with creme. 

    While eating out in Paris over the past week, I have discovered one unpleasent scheme in the food world--the beverage mark-ups in the cafes are out of this world. In the grocery stores, you can get a can of Coca Cola Light (which, by the way, is much better than its American "diet" counterpart by most accounts) for 1 Euro, but in a cafe it no longer surprises me when I see it sold at almost 5 euros!  And you thought your Sunday morning $3.50 grande non-fat extra hot chai tea was expensive? Try the average 4 Euro cafe au lait at a Paris cafe (that's about $6 US...and it comes in a small mug). So, a tip for all of you who may one day drink something in Paris: Get it at the local grocery, not from a street vendor or cafe. And bring a water bottle for the tap. 

     No one has told me how the French ladies keep such a small waistline.  I have only one theory: its because their tummies are so happy all the time.

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