Food in Paris

The French serve cheese as dessert. They are my people. I'm not a huge fan of some of their other foods- Escargot tastes like rubber broiled in garlic sauce, their love for every part of a duck is frankly gross to me, sweetbread sounds delicious but is actually calf pancreas.... As you can see, I am not an adventurous eater.

But the sweets! And the street food!

Not surprisingly, some of my favorite food in Paris did not have a French origin...

The falafels here were stellar. They opened the gyro like a pocket and stuffed it with flavorful chickpea balls and fresh vegetables, smothered in a slightly spicy tzatiki sauce. There were dozen of restaurants off this little road too, but apparently they did enough business that they had two stands about a block apart from each other.

And French desserts are spectacular.

Picking up a crepe with nutella in it was one of my favorite food experiences in Europe. It was warm off the griddle and the nutella was all melty. At one restaurant in Nice they even served dinner crepes, which had more savory fillings in them. Joel and I talked about living off crepes for our entire stay in France, and trying to learn to make them when we got home (unfortunately, neither of these things happened).

  

Eclairs in France are more of a large cookie than a doughnut, like in the US. Rather than bread, there is a crumbled crust a little bit like a graham cracker pie. And they come in many different flavor combinations- the filling inside can be anything from pistachio to chocolate, then they were iced in a complementary flavor. The shops that sold them were beautiful and stylish as well- I was impressed with the marketing team who developed the shop fronts. Almost all of them had a light and airy design that was so inviting.

My first experience with macaroons in the States made me question whether they were worth trying in Paris- and was I ever wrong! The ones in the US were crunchy to the point of being hard, and the frosting was near non-existent. In Paris though, they were considerably larger, and looked kind of shiny, with a texture that looked like they were made of Styrofoam. When you took a bite out of one though- they are delicious. Airy and sweet, with this melt in your mouth texture and a flood of frosting.... I only bought two but the temptation to turn right around and buy more was intense. They were also displayed behind glass, like jewelry, and were about 2 euros a piece (a little pricey if you ask me, but I was willing to pay it just to experience it in my mouth again).

The beer at this brewery was just eh, but the experience of sitting in a cafe for hours and just watching the world go by, or having a conversation with a random British stranger- that was the great part of visiting this brewery. I was also amused by the name- Frog Brewing. The French certainly have a sense of humor about themselves.

Coffee in Paris was almost a religion. Every airbnb that we stayed at in France offered some way to make upscale coffee- little espresso makers made of metal for the stovetop, or even full-on electronic espresso machines. It was delicious everywhere we tried it, and I even learned how to make some at home for myself!

Overall, while I did not experience any of the upscale food choices that Paris had to offer, I was not disappointed in my Parisian culinary experience. Paris was absolutely my favorite city in Europe, between the food and the atmosphere. The City of Light- but certainly not light eating!

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Like this post? Check out my other travel posts:
First Night Paris- Magic of All Kinds
Nice France-If Hell Had a Beach
Getting Lost in the Alpine Foothills- Varenna Italy

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!steemitworldmap 48.8566 lat 2.3522 long Food in Paris runs the gamut from weird to freaking delicious

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