Cookbooks and Conspiracy Theories

I’ve finally figured it out. Yep. Put down that cup of coffee, turn down your music, and listen up. I figured out how French people stay skinny.

In fact, I have devised my own conspiracy theory akin to that of Bill Kaysing’s (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Kaysing). Here’s the deal. I went to the grocery store and bought a mélange de fruit exotiques sechés (aka a mix of dried fruit) and proceeded to eat much of it while studying for my art history exam Thursday night. About ¼ of the way into the bag I decided to check out the nutrition facts on said bag. Serving sizes on French nutrition facts are given in grams. Now, I don’t know about you, but I have very little concept of how much a gram is. Is it like one dried banana piece? Two? A whole handful of dried fruit?

There’s the kicker. At least in America we don’t hide the fact that our serving sizes are vague. No one actually knows what a serving size is (what exactly defines a medium sized piece of fruit anyway??) – but everyone knows that it’s vague. In France, only the French (or Europeans I suppose) know how much a gram is. Thus, we come to the conspiracy part of my theory: it’s their way of keeping us out of their secret system of eating moderately and therefore staying thin. Us foreigners just continue to eat until it seems as though we have consumed 1 gram (or maybe 20).

Then again, maybe they just have better self control than I do…

Well while I firm up my theories let me tell you about my past week(s)!

Last weekend I went to a festival du livre culinaire (cookbook festival) in Paris, which was full of tasty samples and cooking demonstrations. We started out by watching a cook in the “French showroom” who made a delicious vegetable mixture and gateau cuite à la vapeur (steam cooked cake) with caramel sauce. We wandered around to the little stands afterwards, devising ways to continue returning to the cheese station without them noticing, and then watched a couple cooks in the “International Showroom” – one was from Portugal and was half DJ, half chef. He made a delicious peanut butter cheesecake recipe that made me realize just how much I miss peanut butter! Upstairs, all the chefs were selling their cookbooks so it was fun to get to check those out and talk to the chefs.

French Chefs at the Cookbook Fair

Most of last week was occupied by memorizing 150 paintings for my art history exam, but as we have finally had some nice weather I took advantage of it by walking to my classes (about an hour walk – but I happen to walk right past the Eiffel Tower, Champs de Mars, and Les Invalides so really not a bad way to get to class).

Eiffel Tower and Fountains at Trocadero

Les Invalides

Saturday, Tufts brought us to the city of Rouen in Normandy. We were all skeptical of their choice of location for the day trip, but it is actually a lovely city.

Flame Roof

Rouen is about an hour train ride away, and so, after an hour nap, we arrived in the city. We started with a tour of several historic sites related to Joan of Arc – who was held captive and burned there. We explored the tower where she spent her captivity and walked to the site where she was burned at the stake. Next to that site is a large church which is relatively modern. The roof is constructed to look like a flame to reinforce the remembrance of Joan of Arc’s fate. It was interesting to walk in the church and think – so this is how France does modern! The stained glass windows were saved from the original church, and you can see the unique construction of the roof from inside.

Tower Where Joan of Arc was Held Captive

Inside the Church

Just across the street from this church happens to be the oldest restaurant in France (we’re talking opened in 1345). It is also the restaurant where Julia Child allegedly discovered her love of French food and cooking.

The Oldest Restaurant in France

That particular site was a little outside my price range for lunch, so when we were given a two hour break we headed instead to find a restaurant with a terrace in the sun to take advantage of the beautiful day. We found a great little restaurant where I had steak au camembert and a tarte aux annanas et noix de coco (pineapple and coconut tart). I’m still dreaming about that tarte – it was like a piña colada in a pie shell. Mmm.

During the afternoon we took a tour of the cathedral, which is huge and very classically gothic. Then we headed to the art museum there to check out some of the impressionist paintings since Monet painted the Cathedrale in Rouen many times. After memorizing all those paintings for my art history exam last Friday it was great to walk around the museum and recognize artists and different styles. At the end of the day, we got a little time to walk around the cute town and check out some of the other sites before we boarded the train for our second nap of the day.

Front of the Rouen Cathedral

Inside the Rouen Cathedral

Another Cathedral in Rouen

Buildings in Rouen

That night for dinner some friends and I went out for sushi, which was surprisingly pretty good. The only disappointment was the dessert sushi, but we should have expected that. We ordered Nutella Banana Maki (let me tell you – I have a hard enough time pronouncing the names of Japanese dishes without trying to add a French accent too). The sushi came in the form of rice, nutella and banana wrapped in a crepe and cut into sushi rolls. The addition of the rice was quite odd, but it was a fun experience nonetheless.

While I am talking about pronunciation – I have to say, pronouncing English words here with a French accent is impossible for me! For example, to order a muffin in a bakery, it is spelled the same way but they pronounce it more like moofun (though the n is pretty much silent). Want to order a smoothie? Better make sure you call it a smootie. Otherwise you are going to get some very funny looks. Luckily, I have almost mastered the word sandwich with a French accent – give me two more weeks of lunches and I think I’ll have it down.

Sunday was taken up by writing a paper for my French class due this Tuesday. Work is picking up in all my classes, but don’t worry – we have progressed from discussing crocodiles to giraffes in my history of science class – and this time I even know why! We were talking about Darwin and my professor used the example of a giraffe to discuss adaptations. Last week in the class my professor mentioned the Ohio River and I immediately perked up – as far as I can tell there were once mammoths living along the Ohio River. I still haven’t figured out what the other animal was that he mentioned – un mégathérium – I’m beginning to wonder what this class is really all about…

This weekend I am hoping to make it to Chartres for a day trip and then possibly heading to Champagne country (Reims) next Tuesday since my class was cancelled! La vie est belle!