For a people that have tried to resist the on-the-go style of eating, symbolic of the current Anglo-Saxon lifestyle, and prioritize home-cooked sit-down meals around a table lovingly adorned with loads of baguette and bottles of wine, the French sometimes have questionable taste. Hear me out. They’ve successfully mastered a number of foods – from breads and carnivorous main courses to caloric creamy sauces and gut-busting sweets – but their unoriginal and frequently bland side dishes leave me perplexed if not utterly disappointed.
On any given day in Paris, you can find local fresh produce, dairy and meats at one of the 20 some open-air food markets and if you can’t manage to make it to one of those (because you’re lazy), the veggies at most supermarkets are a fine alternative. Still, every time I go to the supermarket (which merit an anthropological study of their own), I witness educated, cultured and individuals, who outwardly appear to be slow food subscribers, throw already-prepared meals and an arsenal of canned goods into their caddies – green beans, peas, carrots, corn, beans, even raviolis. What happened to the kind of French cooking that inspired Julia Child?
Sure, canned foods are simple, quick to prepare,…
