A French Girl and Food

Here is another topic I could talk about for days: our cultural differences in regards to food! We sure don’t have the same relationship with it. In one place, food is sacred, and family dinners can take hours. In the other, food is consumed fast and furiously (from my French perspective!). 

Dinners at home

I’ve sat at a dinner table once for a special gathering, and didn’t have time to refill my plate as the dishes were being taken away from me! Now, did I need a second serving? Probably not, but in my opinion, if you spend the whole day cooking, you may as well enjoy dinner for a little longer than 30 minutes. N’est-ce pas ?

To be honest, after six years away from home, my body has forgotten what it’s like to eat for three hours. During my last Christmas there, I ended up throwing up after dinner because I didn’t pace myself correctly… I could tell my French family was (silently) sorry for me.

Anyway, the reason behind the length of meals is simple: we enjoy great conversations with great bites (and sips of wine). So the longer the meal, the better memories! Of course I am talking about meals taken at home. 

When eating out

When eating out at a restaurant, things are different in France. Because we don’t eat out very often, when we do, we like to savor the dishes, almost as if they were sacred. Which means it can get very quiet in restaurants. The level of noise usually goes with the quality of the food! 

And that is definitely something I missed when moving to the U.S. Yes, we eat out more often here and experience delicious food from around the world, but almost always in a loud and not very intimate setting. Perhaps I’m too uptight or killjoy (I’m French after all!), but I definitely need quiet to fully enjoy my meal at a restaurant. 

In another post, I will have to talk about how much the French complain about everything. Ha! So for today I will finish here: we may deal with food differently, but whether in France or in the U.S., I still have good times, I promise!