A benefit of being in France

One of my biggest pet peeves in restaurants is seeing the words 'haricots verts' on a menu that is otherwise in English.  For those of you who do not parlez francais, this translates in to... green beans.  If they are going to pick random words to write in French, why not do the whole menu?  Why didn't they call their potatoes 'pommes de terre', which is at least more lyrical since it literally means 'earth apples'. 

It's no secret that American restaurants, and American culture in general, use bits and pieces of French to seem more fancy, more cultured.  To make green beans seem luxurious.  And while reflecting over meals that week, I realized that has been a benefit to us.

We don't have a lot of money to spend over here.  We try to get by for cheap, especially compared to European classmates who don't pay much for tuition and receive subsidies or sponsorships.  Yet I still feel like we eat royally.  This week, with Margaret gone, I have been getting by largely on bread and cheese and sausage, with some fruits and vegetables.  But that means baguettes, and French cheese, and produce bought from a real French market!  Maybe a pain au chocolate for dessert!

Since we are actually in France, these are staples of the diet, and can be found rather cheaply.  Baguettes are 95 cents, pain au chocolate is 1.10.  We only buy wine under 5 euros, which encompasses half the selection at the store.  But since our American minds have been trained to think of anything French as fancy, the cheap stuff excites every night.

So that's nice.  Almost nice enough to make me stay calm when I see haricots verts on the menu when I get back to the States.

Generation Gap

While we were on vacation, the U.S. political system was entangled in budget negotiations.  Missing news coverage about it was fine by me.

But being questioned about the U.S. by foreigners, and a daily reading of the International Herald Tribune's excellent news coverage, has forced me to think more clearly about political matters.  Thus I have written one post on a political topic.  Here goes...

Back

I'm back from Rome and Barcelona.  We will give you a full post on the trip, but it will have to wait a week, till Margaret gets back from the South of France (with the camera).  But it was a great trip all around.  Barcelona especially was an amazing, fun, vibrant city.  If you want a place in Europe to visit just to have a week of enjoyment, I highly recommend it.

I will now go finish the baguette I bought on the walk home from the train station.  Cause there's still nothing better than a real French baguette.

Focus in/on month 3

The weather outside is somewhere between perfect and mind-blowingly beautiful as I write this.  I am off from class today, and then all that stands between me and Spring Break is an accounting quiz and the presentation of an accounting project, both due tomorrow.

March was a good month here in Paris.  The weather turned nice, we had family visit, classes were moderately interesting, and Margaret and I had some great times.  But as I think back today (and this may have something to do with trying to work on accounting on a beautiful day), the concept that stands out over the past month is focus.

I've devoted a lot of energy to graduate school- working hard on all of the projects, trying to be the best in every activity, attending every class, being truly focused in every class.  It's not that I've done anything truly sacrificial, or have lost any blood (or much sweat... energy economics doesn't really involve sweating).  But I feel like I've expended a lot of energy on being focused.

And basically I've been doing this for 7 months straight, since Christmas break was completely consumed with Torrey's surgery, selling the car, moving out of the house, and moving to France.  By no means is this torture, but I started to feel pretty burned out in March.  I wanted to have time to go for a run/play frisbee when it's nice out, or linger longer over dinner instead of worrying about the reading I need to do, or have the energy to plan times with friends.

So I'm excited for vacation.  When I worked a relatively stress-free job, I occasionally wondered why we put such a high value on vacation in modern culture.  At times like these, though, the simple act of release inherent to a vacation explains everything.  We're going to Rome and Barcelona, and it will hopefully be amazing.  And completely unfocused.

At a rugby game with Katie and Adam

Food culture

We recently read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which is a wonderful book especially if you're looking for garden inspiration.  It made me miss our little garden so much!  Barbara Kingsolver has some strong- but justified- opinions about American food culture which were particularly interesting to read while immersed in French food culture.  In Colorado- and much of the US it seems- many people are trying to eat healthier, champion local and organically grown food, and grow our own little patches of food wherever possible.  It's a movement in which people have invested a great deal of time and effort- ourselves included- and one that I think will pay off in the form of more thriving communities and healthier people.     

Reading this book, though, made me think about two particular differences I've noticed between food culture here and the new food movement in America, and ways in which we might take a lesson from the French:

The first being that, this focus of "local" and "sustainable" in America, translates into gardening, homesteading, buying organics- all broad production based activities which are mainly done as a hobby or way of life, not a vocation.  In France the food culture seems to thrive on specialty production as a vocation.  You've got your fromager who only does cheese, your charcuter who only does pig, your boulanger who only does bread, your grocer who only does produce.

Because of this specialization, it seems like many more people are able to make a decent living in food production over here.  Especially because there are both the producers and the preparers for each type of food.  Many of the cited reasons for our new ways of eating food in America are to provide better food and a better living to those who make food.  Is our way of doing that sustainable in the long term if it doesn't create adequate jobs?  Subsidies play a huge role in all of this, and I'll admit that I don't know a whole lot about food subsidies over here. From a little research, I do know that the Common Agricultural Policy commits almost half of the EU's budget to agricultural subsidies and programs ( €49.8 billion in 2006).  The USA spends about $20 billion in agricultural subsidies each year...significantly less.  That probably has a lot to do with making a decent living.  But the EU is also making efforts to give money based on environmental protection and good animal welfare practice, and protecting farmers' way of life.

The second thing I noticed, is that much of our food culture in America is negative.  We are constantly focused on abstaining from something, whether it be hormones in meat, carbohydrates, fast-food or genetically modified vegetables.  The overwhelming feeling about food here in France is very positive.  People are incredibly proud of their food and almost obsessed with finding the the best in quality and taste.  For instance, I was offered a yogurt the other day with the attached claim that "this yogurt won the gold medal for 2011".  It could be that we just don't live in a thriving dairy production area and if I were from Wisconsin that statement would sound normal.  But it struck me as a little amazing that yogurt here is actually ranked and judged.  I couldn't even find on the container what percent milk fat it contained.  Kingsolver mentioned this point in her book and I agree with her- that for our food culture to really evolve into something healthy and lasting, we need to have a more positive view towards it.  Who wants to base their eating habits around what they should avoid, if they could instead base it around what is delicious and special?

Our substitute for a garden...basil seedlings

Both of these observations are inextricably linked: specialization could not exist without consumers who appreciate the quality of good food.  So, could a greater focus on specialization help us be more positive about food in America, and have a healthier, more sustainable food culture?  I hope that the organic-local-sustainable food movement in America is here to stay, but maybe we could also learn from a country that has built a healthy food culture and sustained it for hundreds of years.