3 American foods I took for granted , and 3 French foods I will miss

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Bonjour à tous!

The other day I was just having a nutella banana crêpe and suddenly I realized, holy cow, it's going to be quasi-impossible to find this in America after I leave this beautiful country in less than two months! And that thought, my friends, inspired me to write this post.

3 American foods I took for granted:

1. Peanut butter

I can't tell you how stunned I was to be unable to find this little delicious jar of brownish thing called peanut butter. I personally feel that my astonishment is justified because even back in China, I could find peanut butter in supermarkets, so I didn't even think that it was a possibility that it doesn't exist in France. (Okay, it does, if you go to stores that sell foreign imported foods, but it's rare.) In fact, when I lamented this absence to a few of my French friends and colleagues, they were like, ew (yes, they said that), peanut butter? Which is interesting; because it is true that French people deteste foods that are artificial and overly processed. Tant pis that there's no more pb & j's, but I've got enough Nutella to get me occupied...

2. breakfast foods

Cinnamon rolls, muffins, donuts, omelettes, pankcakes, French toast (this one is quite ironic), waffles... you name it. After coming to France, my breakfast  became more or less 'nonexistent' in comparison with American standards. Here, for breakfast, French people usually just eat a small croissant with a small cup of espresso (think very small). I'm not saying it's unhealthy, I just miss the chocolate chip pancakes from Le Peep's diner in Evanston.

3. burritos

Okay, this is technically not American, but with Chipotle and the like being so popular and ubiquitous in America, parting with burritos in France turned out to be kind of hard. Mexican food in general is not very big here, therefore it is also pretty hard to make it at home- words like sour cream and jalapeno will earn you strange looks from the supermarket staff.

Okay; now that I kind of vented my food cravings, let's get on with the literally endless list of French foods that I will miss. For the sake of being succinct, I'll just share 3 from the list.

3 French foods I will miss:

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1. salade de chèvre (Goat cheese salad)

I could literally eat this thing all day. Warm fresh goat cheese on baguette slices on a bed of greens and thinly sliced tomatoes - what's not to love about this dish. It is super filling, super healthy, and ridiculously tasty. I'd love to recreate this after I return to the states, so wish me luck on finding the right kind of goat cheese. The goat cheese in France - oh la la, it brought my life onto a whole new level.

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2. confit de canard 

This duck dish that I don't have words for will for sure make me have drooling dreams after I leave France. My best experience with it was once at this obscure little bistro down the street I live: it was late into the evening, the duck meat was perfectlly soft and soaked through with flavor, add to that a bed of tenderly mashed and buttered potatoes. I think that first bite counts as one of my happiest moments in life.

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3. Religieuse au chocolat

I believe that everyone who has ever tasted this heavenly creation understands why it's called 'chocolate religious' (okay, the name makes more sense in French). A bite of this beautifully shaped dessert will send you straight to the high heavens with your mouth full of thick, creamy chocolate and puff pastry.

About time to wrap up this post, otherwise I fear I'll drool all over my keyboard. A la prochain!

xx

Vanessa :]