I am returning to Paris after an absence of nine years. My last trip was significant for two reasons. One, it was the first time I rented an apartment instead of staying in a hotel. Clearly I never looked back. Short term rentals are a growing trend in travel, apartments are easier to find than ever, and I think they are a great way to get to know a place if you are staying for a good length of time. Second, I'd gone around asking some friends if they wouldn't mind being on a distribution list for emails describing my experiences. Their extremely kind reception of my posts emboldened me to create an actual blog. That's also when I learned that readers were tremendously interested in what I ate and drank! So don't go around thinking I enjoy all this indulgence. I am merely serving my public.
I'd advise sticking to that story, Pil.
Let's have some Fun French Food Facts. The French consume nearly fifty-eight pounds of cheese per capita per year. They eat some fifteen pounds of butter per person per year as well. As that butter does not go on their baguettes, I assume the intake is in sauces and pastry. Shall we pause to let those statistics sink in? Surely there are--even in France--the occasional dairy intolerant or the rare vegan. Chocolate consumption? A mere sixteen pounds per person each year putting them behind their European neighbors.
Ok then, Pil, what's the secret? Why don't French women get fat? Dish!
Erm. They do, and increasingly so do all Europeans of whatever gender as the effects of globalization take, and people get too busy or poor for their traditional food culture and, skills are lost. Parisian kitchens are minuscule, and fast food is cheap and--well--fast. If you are eating out look for the Fait Maison sign to guarantee you aren't scarfing up industrial food brought in from a central kitchen. The food scene in Paris has changed enormously since I was here last. Many of the top chefs of haute cuisine are Japanese, and the French have embraced, sushi, tapas--even burgers--even burgers from food trucks! You can still find traditional cuisine that normal people can actually afford if you hunt around.
Nevertheless, you will find smaller portions, slower eating, and more walking over all. The French also engage in major fat shaming, and instead of snacking they smoke. Pick your poison. They are drinking less wine these days as well.
Aren''t the French as famous for rudeness as well as food? Doesn't that make you anxious?
Even Parisians are exquisitely polite if you are. I've said it before, and I am going to keep saying it. If you are a guest in their country--no matter what country!--you play by their rules. The problem with American tourists is that they don't bother to learn said rules, or (worse) they think that spending money in a city creates entitlement.
Upon entering a shop you are invisible until you greet people. Say, "Bonjour, madame"--or monsieur, if applicable. Say, "Merci, au revoir" when you leave. Be humble. Seriously. In France your platinum card doesn't mean you are special. The French take l'egalitie very seriously, and are experts at detecting attitude. Shopkeepers and clerks in stores do not regard themselves as your servants but as consultants. I don't speak French at all, but I have lost count of the times people in stores have gone out of their way to help me.
Barging up and demanding attention, especially if others are waiting doesn't fly either. If a shop person doesn't realize I need help, and they aren't attending to someone else, I say, "S'il vous plait," in a quiet voice and that usually gets me immediate attention and an apology for making me wait.
Ok. I've been laughed at, too, for example, while trying to buy metro tickets and mangling the name of my destination, but it wasn't mean laughter, and I had to chuckle along.
The French are unironically proud of their culture, tradition, and language, and like everyone else they want to know visitors understand and appreciate its value. Show that appreciation and watch them warm up.
Besides eating and drinking, what are you doing in Paris? Eiffel Tower? Bateau Mouche?
The two things you mentioned should be on every tourist's to do list--the first time one visits Paris--because they are fun and one really must. But I've been and done, and so I'll be visiting places I have been before and seeing some new ones.
Join me! S'il vous plait.
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