Aero: Hannah Miller – France 2018 – Food and Dining

Posted by LEAF Architect on Friday, September 14, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Aero: Hannah Miller – France 2018 – Food and Dining

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Hannah Miller

Food in France in general is a lot fresher. Everything that I ate in France was very good and usually came right from the market that morning. In Paris when we all went out to eat as a group we were given bread with every meal and offered coffee after we were done with our main course.

When I was with my host family every meal that we had inside the home we all sat down and ate together. This was something that I really liked and wanted to bring back and start doing in my own home. There were no cellular devices at the dinner table except for google translate and the whole family would just talk about their day and what went on during it. Another thing that I noticed while with my family was that during breakfast they parents would have coffee but they would drink their coffee out of a bowl instead of a mug or cup. When I first saw this I was very surprised and did not know exactly what was going on but the only time I saw them do this was the first morning that I had breakfast with them.

One of the nights that I was with my host family we went out to eat at a creperie and met up with my host father’s parents who had just come back from St. Martinique. I sat next to the Grandma and she was asking me all kinds of questions and had her phone out and was showing us all pictures from their trip. The creperie was very small and could not fit a lot of people unlike restaurants in the United States. It was also very quiet and there was not a lot going on.

When we had lunch at the school the school food as absolutely amazing compared to the school food in the United States. You could tell that the French really do care a lot about the food that they present to you. Everything in the line looked appetizing and I wanted to eat it all and as an American we tend to over eat. The French had everything portioned out in the line so if you wanted something you would take the little bowl of it instead of serving yourself a heaping portion. Even during school all of the students sat down and ate lunch together and then waited for everyone at their table to finish before getting up to get in line to hand their trey back in.

The Cafes in Paris were everywhere, you could not walk down a street without seeing at least three. Most of them also had outdoor seating or seating under a tarp with heaters if the café was a little nicer. The menus were also outside of the café so you could see how much a meal would cost or if they had food that you like. I really liked that because in the United States once you sit down in a restaurant you are usually stuck there and you have to order something.
I do not eat a lot of meat so whenever we went out I usually would order some type of fish ad compared to the fish here it was very, very good. The fish usually came from the market that morning and was never frozen like we freeze and then heat things up here in the United States. There was one place that we went to for lunch and everyone wanted coffee but we could not get coffee until we were done eating which was different because usually I can get coffee whenever I want during a meal.

When sitting in a restaurant in France we were not rushed to finish up so that they could turn the table over and get more people in and eating, we were barely bothered by the server and if we wanted something we usually would have to call him over. Whenever I go out to eat I want to have a good time and take my time and enjoy what I am eating. I was able to do this in France unlike in the United States where I am usually the last one eating and everyone around me is boxing up their leftovers. The way the French did meal time I wish we did here in the United States and I hope to practice the “French way” in my home someday.

Hannah Miller
Study Abroad – France 2018 @ FLCC

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