For the Foodies

So how is food in France, you might ask yourself?

Well, the answer is that it's so darn delicious that I'm already a little worried about returning the dull, normal food of America in about 10 months time.

Highlights so far?

First, the bread. Everyone raves about freshly-baked French baguettes, and there's a solid reason for it. Even I am starting to crave the crispy baguettes that are sold on every street corner, which is surprising considering that I don't even like bread. (Trust me, that was a major concern of mine while setting off for France, but I'm truly beginning to enjoy bread. Sometimes. In moderation.)

Brioche is subcategory of French bread that must be mentioned, of course. It's a rich, golden bread made with a very generous amount of egg and butter. My friends all rattle on and on about the brioche here, especially the slices with chocolate pieces baked in!

My personal favorites have been the crêpes and the galettes. Goodness, the crêpes here are fantastic: I've had simple (yet sinful) nutella ones (for only 1.50 euro!) from the cheerful little crêpe man who sings while he makes them in his food truck off Rue National; I've also had fancy crêpes with salted-butter caramel and bananas (so good, so good). Tours is the first place that I've encountered galettes--they are  somewhat thicker buckwheat crêpes  that are more savory than sweet, but can be filled with all things delicious--such as ham, cheese, egg, potato, lettuce, bbq sauce, etc.

The cute little singing crepe man's stand with 1,50 euro nutella crepes!

One night last week, my host mother made us crêpes for desert. I ate mine happily, spread generously with nutella. After, I was about to clean up when my host mother jumped and declared that she would start making round 2 of crêpes for everyone (my thoughts: round 2? I was only expecting one each!). Copying my Swiss housemate Ardiana, I took my second one with honey. To my absolute shock, my crazy (yet awesome) host mother again hopped up with the intention of ROUND THREE OF DESSERT CREPES. (Thank goodness I walk a good distance to and from school every day). This third one I took with strawberry jam, following the example my Italian housemate, Francesca.

Yay for delicious crêpes!!

There is a crêperie here  in Tours called Mamie Bigoude that I absolutely LOVE: the whole restaurant is decorated as if it is a house--for example, we sat at a table that was set up as a king-sized bed complete with pillows on the benches. Here, I split a beef-BBQ sauce-potato-cheese galette with Julianne (I know it sounds like a strange combo, but it was so good), followed by a lovely crêpe topped with homemade chocolate sauce, whipped cream, macaroon pieces, and white chocolate ice cream. I swear, I almost died.
 

My sugar crepe with chocolate, macaroons, and white chocolate ice cream!

Besides all those aforementioned heavenly carbs, France has also offered a great amount of ice cream (in flavors such as nutella, nougut, and salted-butter caramel) along with quite a fantastic wine selection--all bottles under 15 euro that I have seen; most in the 2-6 euro range--and strangely, a lot of tomatoes.

Again, tomatoes are not a vegetable that I often eat at home since I dislike them, but I swear we've had tomatoes every night for dinner here. And I'm eating them, of course, to be polite! Also, I'm dedicated to trying nearly everything that is thrown at me this year, (next up: escargot?) Slowly but surely, I'm even getting used to tomatoes, which proves to me that I can conquer anything! Well, food-wise. Seriously, I've always hated bread and tomatoes, and now I'm eating both regularly--that has to mean good things.