Food
Nine Days Out: The Salon du Chocolat Returns to Paris
The 31st Salon du Chocolat et de la Pâtisserie opens October 28 at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles — 240 exhibitors, a chocolate fashion show, and a French institution that treats cocoa as craft, not candy.
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The Café Gourmand
In France, dessert doesn't have to be a decision. The café gourmand gives you the espresso and a little parade of sweets — the whole menu's greatest hits, in miniature. Hélène Marchand on the art of not choosing.
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The Goûter
At four o'clock, France stops for a snack. Not a sad desk-drawer granola bar — a real one. June Calloway on the goûter, and what America lost when it killed the afternoon.
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Service Included
In France the tip is already in the bill — by law. In America the tip is the wages. An expat on the strange relief of never doing math at the table, and the strange guilt of it.
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The Lunch Hour
In France, lunch is a sit-down meal with a beginning, a middle, and no apology; in America, it is fuel consumed between obligations. Both cultures eat at noon — they simply disagree about whether noon is a pause or a checkpoint.
Read →Bon Appétit: The Two Words Americans Never Say
In France, everyone says it before eating. In America, nobody says anything. Dana investigates the quietest culture clash at the table.
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The Boulangerie and the Drive-Thru
In France, the morning bread run is a pilgrimage performed on foot, sometimes twice a day; in America, the morning food run happens at speed with the engine idling. Both are about the first meal of the day — they just disagree about whether it should require leaving the car.
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The Pique-Nique
The French pique-nique is an all-afternoon riverside ceremony built from a baguette, some saucisson, and a good knife; the American picnic is a potluck with a sign-up sheet and a canopy. Both end up on the grass — they just disagree about nearly everything else.
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The Sunday Market
France treats the Sunday market as a secular liturgy of pleasure; America treats the farmers market as a virtuous community project. Both leave with heavy bags — they just disagree about what the point was.
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Terroir
The great untranslatable French word: soil, climate, and know-how — and why it has no English equivalent.
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The Café and the Commute
France treats coffee as a place to sit. America treats it as fuel for the road. Both are right — and both are missing something.
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The Apéro and the Happy Hour
France drinks before dinner as a sacred ritual. America drinks after work as a limited-time offer. Both are telling the truth about themselves.
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