Anti-Mondialisation

So I knew the French had a huge sense of pride….we have the best cuisine, we have the best wine, we’re so refined, our language is amazing, etc (I generalize and exaggerate slightly, of course…though sarkozy did say the other day that the French have the best cuisine in the world…another great move on his part :P I believe my food history professor’s response to that was, he might as well have said “and my wife is the biggest piece of ass in France.” That was one of his tamer moments in class today...man swears like a sailor...), but I never realized how far the government goes to protect the French sense of pride. Did you know that French radio stations are forbidden by law to play more than 20% American/English music? At one point all advertisements with slogans in English were banned, but now the law only requires that those slogans then be translated into French on the sign…which usually results in a hugggge English slogan and a tiny translation in the bottom corner…which also seems like a very American thing to do.

Last week in my food history class we talked about the concept of “terroir,” something that we don’t talk about much at all in the U.S. because it doesn’t impact our lives neeearly as much at all. It’s the place from which I think France gets much of its culinary reputation. It’s the idea that everything comes back to place of origin in relation to food. Where was the food planted, grown, harvested…how was the climate, the soil, what sorts of mushrooms attached themselves to the grapes…etc. That’s important for obvious reasons…I.e. you plant one type of grape in two different areas, you’re going to end up with two completely different tasting/smelling/looking wines. But also for naming things. When you buy a camembert cheese in france, you can tell whether its authentic, trustworthy camembert by finding the AOC (appellation d’origine contrôlé) symbole on the container. They’re very serious about regulating the naming of products.


There’s no wonder the wines, cheese, breads, etc here are so good. They’ve got the food quality police out all the time trying to protect the French reputation (and finally the french earned back their bread-making reputation this year. theyve lost the breadmaking world cup the past couple years....U.S. winning it at least once, but they finally earned it back last week!) Too bad this food quality doesnt extend to nutritional quality...white bread and cheese fat arent exactly high(or i guess, low) on the food pyramid. tant pis.

In other news, a day hasn't passed since I last posted where there hasn't been some sort of strike or manifestation, always going past my street on the bd Montparnasse. The past couple days it was people blocking the olympic flame passing through Paris, today the students were back at it again standing on top of bus waiting-booth things (how they get up there is beyond me) and blowing their whistles. cops lined the intersections w/those plexiglass-esque shields and sent traffic in other directions. they had some intense bullet-proof-vestage going on.
Hmm and a short recount of the past week...last Friday I went on a promenade around Montmartre in the North of Paris with EDUCO people and we stopped and grabbed coffee at the café where Amélie was filmed. They had funny American music blaring (think Shaggy and random 80s). Then that night Katie and I made an insanely yummy mexican feast. Mexican food is certainly not one of the reasons to come to Paris...you'll have to scavenge to find taco seasoning anywhere. And Saturday morning we took a trip to Versailles to see the Grandes Eaux Musicales, even though it was a dreary day. We got lost in Marie Antoinette's village, but enjoyed the rando farms animals (one pen = a peacock, ducks, roosters, a goat, and a dog...) and the fighting donkeys. After that I went to a prayer lecture at the ACP which..eh..was less than what I expected, mainly because I disagreed with a lot of the pastor's...theology, i suppose. Anyways, then we went on the pub crawl that my friend Marla is now running. Sunday and on has a been a lot of lazing in my room, writing my archaeology paper, and figuring out Emory details (honors thesis, random applications).

Bon week-end à tous et toutes!