Aero: Kimberly Gage – France 2015 – Food and Dining

Aero: Kimberly Gage – France 2015 – Food and Dining
Creative Commons Image via The LEAF Project

Aero: Kimberly Gage – France 2015 – Food and Dining

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Kimberly Gage

I really enjoyed the dining experiences in the French cafes and restaurants. Breakfast was not really emphasized as much as it is here in the United States. In France there is usually a light breakfast like a bowl of cereal, croissants, pain au chocolat, a slice of bread or toast with either jam or Nutella. I usually had coffee in the morning along with fruit juice, which was usually apple and pear juice, or mango and orange, and so on (there were so many different variations of fruit juice to try and they were all good). For lunch and dinner, I liked to see the sign saying what was being served and the item’s price. It gave me a greater sense of satisfaction that I knew what I wanted when I walked in, as opposed to filtering through the menu and taking up more time finding something to eat. I also liked the deals where you had three courses priced anywhere from €15 to €20. I really enjoyed Escargot! Since I returned I’ve had to explain what it is like to eat this delicacy; it is chewy, sometimes a little gritty, but packed with flavor in a shell filled with a buttery garlic pesto sauce. It is definitely worth a try!

One of the biggest differences I came across was the quality of the dining experience. There you get a table, order, and enjoy your meal on your own time. The first morning we spent in Paris, we saw a diner who had read his entire newspaper, and he had long since finished his meal. It was a comfortable feeling and the atmosphere was so much more relaxed. When I came home, my family took me out to dinner and I could feel the difference; the music playing in the restaurant was now too loud for me because they had to play it over the constant clamor of the diners. So much competition for sound and conversation! From the moment I sat down and placed my order, it felt like I was always getting interrupted by the server, and it felt a bit intrusive with them asking me if I would like dessert. After saying no, within minutes they were back with the receipt and said to go to the register as soon as we were done. Such competition: it is everywhere! It was a sad revelation knowing that customer turnout is priority over customer service, but I was not going to be dining out too often for this experience.

Another observation was how cafes didn’t really get overcrowded at hours of the day when meals were served. There were no people forming lines to get into the nearest café or restaurant. That is because there was always a place to eat within walking distance (at least during my stay in Paris). If one café was too full, you could walk down the street to eat there instead. Here in the United States, if you drive to a restaurant and discover the reservations you made still had a 2 hour wait, you would have to drive across the road in some instances to get to another restaurant (if you didn’t want to wait for 2 whole hours to eat a meal). Restaurants here get crowded and tables still have a slow turnover rate. This means that as soon as you are done with your meal you are expected to pay and then leave. The primary concern is not for the diner, but for the number of tables a waiter/waitress can serve in a shift.

ML@FLCC France 2015 Flickr Photo Gallery

One of the best things about the high school was the cafeteria food! I think the American school systems ought to take some notes on the French school lunches! These lunches had a buffet-like setup with the main entrée dish and some fruits, salads and desserts. All the lunches were made in the kitchens; no frozen packages of food that are heated in an oven and served on a cafeteria tray! Real chefs make the food in the kitchens. They had rice milk (what we call rice pudding here in the US), and it was served in a chilled, tiny bowl, but it was sweet and packed with flavor! Another dessert I never got the name of was a little meringue-like cube of cake that was strawberry flavored with white chocolate flakes on top of it.

The students had to get a tray by swiping their school id card. Once their tray had been dispensed, they would collect their utensils and a drinking glass before proceeding to the meals. This set up was very similar to my high school experience; only difference was when you were done you had to return your utensils, plate, bowl, glass and tray in an orderly fashion. When you return your lunch tray in high school or even in the cafeteria at FLCC you deposit the tray with everything on there, even leftover food, where a cafeteria worker will sort it out for washing.

Kimberly Gage
LEAF Contributor