We all like food, let's discuss it

France is known for wine, cheese, baguettes, pastries, etc. I like all of this food a lot. It is one thing to eat like that for a week or two while vacationing here, but I am here for 8 months, and I can't do that to myself. While my regular diet at home is far from perfect, I am really more of a skim milk and vegetables kind of person.

My first week here I did not have a single fruit or vegetable. This was due largely to the fact that I was living in a hostel. My breakfast was half a baguette and some coffee. Lunch/dinner was usually a single meal I ate around 5 that consisted of a baguette sandwich. Needless to say, after a week of that, combined with no vitamin and no working out, I was feeling really crummy. So when I moved in with my host family, I was very excited to buy groceries and try to get my diet semi normal again. I am on a budget because I don't get paid until the end of October, and even then it is only 70% of my normal salary. And I use the term salary very loosely. It is more of a stipend/allowance than a normal salary. But I thought I could at least buy some broccoli. I love broccoli. Fresh, frozen, raw, cooked, it does not matter. I love it. So I went to the store, super excited to buy my broccoli and other good for me foods. I walked up and down every aisle, and the only broccoli that I could find was frozen pureed broccoli. I don't like any food enough to eat it frozen and pureed. So I got some romaine lettuce and canned green beans instead. It is not perfect, but it is better than what I have been eating. I also discovered a couple of other interesting things about French grocery stores and French food in general.

1. It is really hard to eat healthy when you don't know what you are buying. The majority of the food at the grocery store is mystery food. The morning that I went shopping, I had happened to be flipping through my textbook from last year, and I saw the word for "whole wheat" which I remembered when I was at the store. Then, as I was standing, staring at the different kinds of bread, I realized that i did not know the difference in brands. I don't know what the French versions of Wonder Bread and Sam's Choice are. So I picked a random loaf of bread. It is not the greatest. In fact, I think I might buy several loaves before I leave to bring home and reshingle the garage.

2. French store bought cookies are waaaaaaaay better than American store bought cookies. And unlike America, where the cookies are contained to one single, easily avoidable aisle, the French grocery stores put cookies in every single aisle. I came up with a theory for this. Baking powder (and I haven't been able to find soda either, although I am told that it is around) does not seem to exist here. Therefore, French people can't experience the joy that is a homemade cookie. So they have to overcompensate by putting the most delicious store cookies everywhere.

3. Pringles do not just come in regular flavors like sour cream and onion. They are a meal in chip form. The other day I saw steak and grilled onion flavored Pringles. The downfall of my diet has always been sugar, so I don't spend a lot of time in the chip aisle of American grocery stores. Maybe this variety of Pringles in available at home. I don't know, but I haven't ever seen it. I will probably have to try them before I leave, if for no other reason that to be able to say that I have eaten steak and grilled onion flavored Pringles.

4. Peanut butter does not exist here. A year or two ago, I discovered (courtesy of my mom) Smart Balance Peanut Butter. The flavor is not as good as Jif Extra Crunchy, but it helps me to avoid having to eat a spoonful of flax oil every morning. So it is well worth the trade. I am not surprised that I can't get Smart Balance here. No biggie. But I was hoping I would be able to at least find some sort of peanut butter, because peanut butter banana toast is a delicious breakfast. But no such luck. I met a British girl, Alice, last weekend. I saw her again at orientation yesterday. I asked her if they had peanut butter in Britain, and if she knew if I could get it anywhere here. She said they do have it in Britain, but that it was so wrong, and should not be allowed anywhere. Then she said she has never seen it in France. I guess the peanut butter banana toast breakfasts will have to wait until next summer. That is okay though, because come to think of it, I haven't seen a single toaster since I have been here.

5. French coffee-WHOA NELLIE! We have this in America as well, only it is sold in hardware stores under the name paint thinner.

6. The rent I am paying to my host mom includes breakfast. She asked me what I ate for breakfast. Usually my breakfasts are a mixture of fruit, flax oil, liquid vitamins, and water, blended together into a delicious smoothie (another courtesy of my mom), or else peanut butter banana toast, or Kashi Go Lean. I didn't think that any of these were an option, so I just said anything was good. After telling me why I should not drink milk, my host mom went out and bought me some milk, coffee, and cereal. The milk tasted a little odd, but I didn't know if it was whole milk, 2%, or what. I am a skim milk person all the way. I think it is delicious, cold, and refreshing, everything a person could ever want from milk. I will tolerate 1%, but I really don't like it, and I think that 2% and whole milk should be illegal. This milk was obviously not skim. I put some in my coffee, and just enough in the bowl to make my cereal not dry. Last night, my host mom was giving me my 5th tour of the kitchen, and she opened a cupboard under the counter, to tell me that this is where the extra milk is kept. Now I am really wondering what kind of milk can be left out for days on end. So I started reading the carton. I am still confused as to what kind of milk does not need refrigeration, but I did find the fat percentage. This "milk" is not milk at all. It is half and half. I will not be pouring myself a big refreshing glass of that to drink.

Yesterday I went to a local high school for my orientation. It was all day, but they fed us in the cafeteria. That was an experience all its own. And since I have already rambled way too much about food, and probably the only person who read this whole thing is my mom, I will save it for another time.