How the French do lunch

One of the things I love about France is that meals are an experience. No one is in a hurry.

Today David and I asked Maite to babysit for a few hours so that we could finally go to the big supermarché to stock up on basic supplies for the house (toilet paper, soy milk, cider, wine — things too bulky and heavy to carry on our mile+ walk to the smaller shops).

The supermarket itself deserves its own blog post; literally half the enormous store is refrigerated for the many, many kinds of cheese, yogurt, creme fraiches, etc. on offer.

Afterwards, we had time for a lunch date, so we headed to Rue L'Eau Robec where I spotted a cute little place called Jam. Like many places here, they had a very limited selection, but offered a prix-fixe menu, where you get the daily specials at a very reasonable price.




Over the next 90 minutes or so we had the great pleasure of enjoying an amazing bottle of cider (the producer has revived an ancient variety of apple), followed by one lovely dish after another. The proprietress was very interested in talking with us, and even brought out a photo book about an area of Normandy we weren't familiar with.





This actually brings up another point, which is just how lovely everyone has been to us. From the vendors at the marché (farmer's market) who all handed Anna pieces of fruit to try (one even gave her a little ring she was admiring), to the shop owners who let us come in to look at something that caught Anna's eye (but invariably has nothing to do with what they actually sell in that store). Everyone has been really interested in learning about who we are and how it is that we're here. And since no one has been speaking English, they've been incredibly patient with my French!

Of course, the down side of all this is that I think it officially takes 1 1/2 weeks of eating in France to gain back all of the weight one loses after eating mostly raw/vegan for several months. But when in France…