It has been a while since I wrote a strictly food blog so I thought I would get something down. As the title of this post would lead you to believe, France is a pork kinda place. Pork is second only to the ever delicious Fois Gras in my esteem. Besides all of the various cuts and preparations of the lovely meat that Jess and I have sampled, there are an ever-increasing number of sausages, pates, and hams to be had in France. Of them all, France has definitely nailed the pate. It is as easy as walking into the nearest store where a pate can be bought for an extremely reasonable price, like $20 a kilo (one portion might cost $1-2 and be the only protein necessary for a well planned lunch).
Unfortunately, while good, the ham leaves a bit to be desired. I am confident that Italy and Spain will rule in that domain. Additionally, cured meats also fall a little flat when one considers the great gastronomical tradition in France. I have found much better cured meats in Portland than in France thus far, but have sampled some very promising meats…we shall see.
Strangely, before the blessed BBQ rib incident (a big thanks to Josh Bishop for his awesome ribs and major role in my pork awakening) in my late 20’s, I hated pork
; so, lets move on to cheese.
The cheese is pretty awesome and again soooo much cheaper than in the States. While more mild in general, I have had some lovely cheese here for less than a euro for a generous portion. We have yet to do a sampling of chesses as we have mostly been buying for a picnic.
Picnics in general are a hell of a lot easier to prepare, buy, and consume in France: You can get good cheese, ham, pate (fois gras or pork) or cured meat, local veggies and fruit, and a lovely baguette for super cheap; add a decent bottle of wine for 3-4 Euro and you have an awesome picnic you can take anywhere. Picnics have thus far been the most impressive eating I have done in France. The most amazing thing is that we are not shopping in specialty stores, or even in particularly nice stores; these are just little markets in town. It is like every little shop in France is a mini New Seasons. You don’t even need to ask if it is local, because everything is local and fresh unless it is obviously not (bananas and such).
Jess and I were pretty excited to be invited to a little village this coming Sat to have a picnic with the locals in front of the town cave (wine seller). It will likely prove to be delicious and extremely pleasant. Apparently the town does this every Sat in season and a significant part of the population is Brits, Americans and other English speakers, which is nice for me. We are likely in for some great wine, good food, and a lot of laughs. Wish you were here!
Well, that’s all for now…I’ll keep eating and drinking till I find something new to discuss.