Parisian Chow

So, when I first thought of my time in Paris I didn’t really consider what I’d be eating. The only thing I really thought about was how I was I was going to get by being a vegetarian because I was told often that it would be difficult (however, everyone on the trip can verify that it is actually quite hard to get meat in your meals). I did get by just fine, but I ended up eating quite a few of the same things over and over; which is exactly what I end up doing at home. Plus, whenever something said “vegetarianne” on the menu I ordered that to be safe (and it was usually a salad or a cheese sandwich). So, here are a few of the things I ate quite typically (some of which are not very exciting at all).
1) Coca Cola: While not a “food” it was a very big staple in my diet. I probably drank at least 2 a day every day. They don’t really carry very many different sodas, so whenever we grabbed a bite to eat, a Coca would be included. I don’t even like Coke, but it was a very large part of my trip.
2) Pringles: I know, the list thus far is very foreign to all of you. I was just really hungry for chips, and they don’t carry the same kinds we have here, unless you get Pringles. I did try to venture off and try some different flavors, but the Pringles always came back. However, I didn’t eat as many as I bought because David probably consumed about ¾ of my Pringle purchases.
3) Onion Soup (the “French” is implied): Onion soup is by far my favorite food I ate in Paris. They make it so unbelievably well. Every restaurant makes it a little bit differently, but most all are really good. I did have some at one restaurant that was tangy instead of salty that didn’t please my palate, but other than that I gobbled up everything else. My favorite Onion Soup was at the Acropolis, it was perfectly salty and cheesy and we always had extra bread to dip into it.
4) Crème Brulee: I spent many meal times searching for a restaurant that had crème brulee as a dessert option. I had only had it once before I came to Paris, but now I’m an addict. The best brulee I had was at this small café on the corner of the Latin Quarter that we just so happened to stop at on our way home one night. There was a bunch of sugar on top of it (not all of it was burned which made it even better) and the crème was actually warm. The worst by far was at a restaurant that specialized in mussels. I and a student from Florida ventured there after a meal of onion soup (as the onion soup restaurant didn’t have crème brulee). It took a really long time to receive our dessert and it was grainy and cold. It almost turned me off from the dessert forever, but I gave it another chance the next day and indeed fell back in love!
5) Twix Bars: Again, not very adventurous, but I ate a Twix bar about every day we had school. We’d go out someplace for lunch and then come back and I’d feel like a little snack before class began, so a run to the vending machine would always result in a Twix. I did try some of the Europe-only candy bars (i.e. Lion) which are pretty good, but that cookie-caramel mix can’t be beat.
6) Cheese Panini: Hot sandwiches don’t allow for many choices when you are a vegetarian, so I ate an abundance of cheese paninis. The first couple of times it was okay, but after a while it just gets too bland. The Tunisian restaurant by our school put peppers in their vegetarian cheese sandwiches, which proved to be a very welcome change of pace.
7) Frites (aka French Fries): With this one you might charge me as not being adventurous, but pretty much everything over here comes with frites. I really love fries, but I love mine salty, which doesn’t happen often in Paris. Their fries are far less salty than ours, I even considered carrying around a salt shaker with me to solve this problem. But then, once again, the Tunisian restaurant saved me with some incredibly salty, delicious frites.
While I did try some other things, those were pretty much my staples. I blame my unadventurous food choices on being a vegetarian, but I am actually just a very unadventurous person when it comes to food. But I enjoyed what I did eat and would happily return to eat the same things once again.