A Brief Comparison of French and American Foods

    Coming to France, I had a few ideas of what the food was going to be like before I got here. The media feeds us images of a prototypical French man or woman sitting at a small cafe, wearing a beret, accordion music playing in the distance. We see that they are eating some cheese and a baguette, accompanied with a glass of wine. The person next to them sips on a coffee.

To clear things up, not all of these stereotypes are true. First, berets are very rare here, though still more common than in the States. Second, the only time I’ve heard accordion music was once, in a subway station in Paris where a guy was performing for tips. Third, wine is especially common here, though certain people don’t always drink it. Some people drink it every night with dinner, and some only do so on special occasions. Coffee is just as common in the States, and cafes are littered about the city. Finally, cheese and bread are super common. Bread is always available at the University cafeterias and generally there’s some sort of cheese side dish to choose from.

The food in general seems to be a bit more cared for in it’s preparation. You’re far more likely to run into a nice cafe or specialty shop (glacerie, sandwicherie, etc.) than a fast food chain. So instead of running into a place that has the same corporation-approved food as the other McDonald’s or Taco Bell two blocks over, you tend to find shops that might have a bit of overlap in what they make, but how they make it and where they get their ingredients is completely different, resulting in a different end product.
Alcohol here is quite common, though in a different manner as the U.S. Here, wine is so common that supermarkets will have two- and three-page spreads in their periodical marketing materials dedicated solely to the wine they have on sale. And one of the best parts of it all is that the wine is super cheap. You can find decent bottles at €7 or €8, and more expensive bottles at €20 to €60 or even a few hundred Euros. However, if you’re looking for wine on the cheap, you can find bottles for a mere €3. Other types of alcohol are also available, however most people only tend to drink beer, vodka, tequila, etc. in bars while out on the town for the night.

All in all, the food here is better than the United States. Sometimes they eat something that I would consider a bit weird, but my motto throughout the trip has been “Je ne sais pas si je l’aimerai, mais je l’essaierai” and almost every time it has worked out in my favor. 

Nicholas Muha

University of La Verne