Bon Apetit

Ok, let's get down to it.

The food is absolutely incredible here!!!!

I haven't even tried the good stuff yet, I'm talking super cheap market brand stuff being absolutely wonderful. I don't know what the French have done, but I have never tasted such incredibly delicious goat cheese, or any cheese for that matter. When I go to the store, I say to myself "I have no idea what I'm buying right now but it costs less than a Euro."  But it really doesn't matter, because everything is so freaking good.

The cheese, the wine, the baguettes, and I can't even get started about the chocolate. The other day, I had a single chocolate covered raisin that completely changed my life and my way of thinking about everything I've ever eaten. It just doesn't compare.

I feel like I've had many a conversation with non-natives and we have several theories about why this is:

Theory 1:  It's France!  We are simply new to this place and the novelty is what is so great. I'm sure the French people don't think "Holy Crap, this is delicious" or more correctly "Merde, c'est tres delicieuse"every time they eat a baguette.  I have to say that I do believe that this is one reason why I'm so taken by the food here. I'm in France! I've only thought about this for so long and now it's a reality. Of course I've idealized everything in my head and maybe that has influenced my tastebuds.

Theory 2:  Everything is made with better ingredients here due to the French people's extreme sense of nationalism.  This theory is linked somewhat to the first.  I don't yet know if the products are actually better here. I have no idea what the processes or rules for manufacture are here. But I have, indeed, noticed the people's sense of nationalism.  It is everywhere; it is prominent.  Even though globalization has allowed for American cinema and the like to make its way across the pond, France is grasping whole-heartedly to its culture.  It will not bow down. The French people are actively maintaining their way of life through greves and political movements like that.  On the whole, they take pride in their country and want it to be the very best. All I can say is if it's pride that is in their bread and their cheese, we need a little bit more in America.

Theory 3: The French are aliens who insert chemicals that produce a euphoric feeling in the brain and body  into the cheese, bread, and wine to better control the population of humans throughout the world.  They want us weak of food comas when they take over.

But for now, I'm just going to have to accept my inevitable weight gain.  But hey, at least I'll be smiling when the aliens take over.