Food.

I would love to say that I eat out every day for dinner in the culinary hotspot of Paris, but in reality, I’m forced to budget and cook most meals of the week. Coming from Amherst and Valentine Dining Hall, this has definitely been a drastic change, but I got a lot of practice with prepping and cooking this past summer living on my own in New York. I’m pretty health-minded these days, so I’ve done a lot of research in the past few months regarding what foods I should be buying at the supermarket that are affordable and conducive to my health and fitness goals. 

It’s been a grind, but I’ve been meal-prepping and storing a bunch of food in a massive Tupperware container, known by my floormates as the “The Box.” I bought it in my first few days here, and ol’ faithful has really been helping me out. Now I’m able to cook all the meals for the week ahead in probably less than two hours, which is a massive energy and time-saver for me. I can’t lie - I miss the dining hall I have at school because of the quantity and variety that it offers, but I can’t complain too much about the setup that I have going on in Paris either. It’s all pros and cons.

Having to navigate through the supermarkets in Paris is honestly pretty tough since everything’s obviously in French, so I’ve had to rely on a couple of different items this semester. One golden nugget that I’ve found through my shopping and cooking is canned beans. I personally get this French brand of cooked beans that sits in some tomato sauce, and these have been amazing for me. They taste good enough to eat straight from the can, so I usually just microwave a couple of spoonfuls and add that to my dinner. These beans are so healthy and cheap - they cost ONE dollar for around two pounds of these beans. This is pretty nerdy, I’ve learned this semester that legumes, like beans or lentils, are superfoods since they contain a ton of fiber and protein and are pretty light in calories as well. Figured that was interesting enough to share in case anyone reading is interested in health and diet as well. 

Besides cooking at home, eating out has obviously been amazing in Paris. The times that I’ve gone out to eat have generally been around the Latin Quarter in Paris. It’s an area close to the main river, the Seine, and a bunch of places like the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Pantheon and a bunch of other historic and important sites. It’s a pretty touristy area since there’s so much there, so naturally there are some great restaurants and all types of cuisine. What I like to do is try more traditional French dishes, so I’ve had dishes like duck confit and beef bourguignon, in addition to French desserts like chocolate mousses and crème brûlée.

Combined with the foods that I’ve been able to try because of my study abroad program, the restaurants have allowed me to get what I think is a pretty wide breadth of culinary experiences. Growing up in the States, I don’t think I appreciated just how much of a cultural and social activity eating food is, and throughout my time in Europe and France so far, I’ve realized that food has had a profound impact on the people in these areas and often is something that they take a ton of pride in, too. For example, France specifically prides itself on its cheese, bread, and wine, among other things. Everyone knows about the infamous baguettes in Paris, but I guess I never realized how integral these things were to the everyday lives of the people here. 

I think that my experience in the States has been slightly different. Obviously, there are events where food is crucial, such as 4th of July barbeques or Thanksgiving feasts, but I never viewed them as integral to the human and cultural experience compared to what I’ve seen in France or in other parts of Europe. 

Lastly, I want to mention that I’ve loved my approach of just ordering traditional French foods when I eat out. It makes me feel like I’m getting a good French, cultural experience, and obviously, they usually taste pretty good (with the exception of the pig intestines I unknowingly ordered my first week here). However, it’s important to add that I’ve definitely eaten a lot of food that isn’t specific to France, like burgers or Asian cuisine. I think these places, although the cuisine isn’t unique to the region, there’s still room for an interesting eating experience since a lot of the ingredients are sourced differently in France and Europe due to factors like different health standards or different ingredients. I’ve learned that differences in the type of salt or the type of butter, for instance, can play a massive role in how the dish tastes. Thus, something like a burger might taste super different than one in the States. It’s hard to go wrong with a lot of these restaurants, and so many of them have unique flavors or spins in their dishes, which has made eating out in Paris, the times I’m able to, amazing all semester long.