French people take their food seriously. A few examples:
- They normally have a 3 course meal for lunch and dinner (appetizer, entrée, dessert) - side note: we use the word entrée incorrectly in English. It is actually the French word for an appetizer.
- They ALWAYS eat dessert. A meal is not right if you do not end it with something sugary.
- They don't mix salty and sugary foods on the same plate (if you noticed in the brunch pictures below, all of the pancakes are on separate plates...).
Along with taking their food seriously, they also take their digestion seriously. I find this quite entertaining. I have been asked many times if I want some herbal tea (tisane) or digestive alcohol to "digest" (digerer). They talk about it during meals as well - like 'oh, this pastry isn't cooked well enough - we better cook it more or else it will be hard to digest...' or 'oh this dessert is still warm, we should probably wait a bit so that it's easier to digest.' This is something I've already talked to Marco about, which he doesn't think is 100% true. But come to France and count how many times people talk about their digestive process. I guarantee it will out-do the number of times an American talks about it by 50.
AND not only that, they always add 'petit' (little) in front of what they are talking about. They might offer you a 'little herbal tea' but in reality it is the mug the size of a bowl. Or they might suggest a 'petite promenade' (a little walk) but in reality it's a 1.5 hour walk.
I laugh every time I hear it. I guess having a good digestive process is just as important to them as their food.... ohh les francais....
haha you make me laugh :)
ReplyDeletei do follow you on the 'petit' thing though.
that's right we say it all the time, it's like everything has to be 'petit'. it's especially used when someone tells someone else about something they did, own, or like and want to bring a positive connotation.
it will be things like 'on a loué une petite maison, près d'une petite plage très sympa' (we rented a little house by a very nice little beach) even if both the house and the beach are huge!
another example, even more typical. when a girl (or a guy, umm no especially a girl :) talks about clothes, she will ALWAYS use it. for instance 'j'ai acheté un petit sac' (i bought a little purse) even if the purse is not small at all!
'petit' seems to lose its original meaning used that way, and is rather added to make things sound nicer, closer.
if you ask someone 'un petit café?' or 'un petit verre?' (a little coffee/a little drink) you can be sure they are more likely to accept your offer than if you just say it without that convenient adjective.
Love it.... will be the ONLY time that, just maybe, you will talk about me and happen to mention my 'petit' body. Ha. Lying is SO wrong!
ReplyDelete