In France they eat cornbread with a fork and knife

Well, this was an interesting weekend as well! Saturday was very pleasant and uneventful which I think I need once in a while and Sunday was, well, a cross-cultural experience for certain.

My very thoughtful parents sent me a U.S. care package in which among various things included the basic dry ingredients for chili, a pancake mix, and Grape Nuts. The Grapes Nuts were perfect and I’ve been having them for breakfast almost everyday now and am going to have to go on an aggressive search for other super healthy, high-fiber cereals because I love the way they fill me up and I don’t feel like I’m about to roll away from the dinner table. Once you taste the good stuff again, it is really hard to go back to some bread and coffee in the morning. I am way too much of a breakfast/morning person. Yes, I’m one of those. Feel free to stare with annoyance at the computer screen now. I understand. My kind can be ridiculous to put up with.

This is where I found myself in the middle of my first cross culture experience. My host family looked at me with raised eyebrows when I smiled and showed them the Grape Nuts. I didn’t understand why someone as old as me liked eating cereal. Doesn’t the sugar upset my stomach? What sugar? It is Grape Nuts, nothing but rolled up barley. They just shook their heads until I opened up the package and showed them to their surprise the very non-child-friendly nature of Grape Nuts. It seems to me that only elderly people with iron stomachs and problem colons and I eat this stuff. Then, because I’m a nerdy amateur historian on American History, I proceeded to explain the origin of cereal in America and that it started out as solely a health food. Much later did the sugary cereal for kids make its debut. I further learned that most cereal found in France is the sugary, Frosted Flakes and Coco Puffs, kind. When the Grape Nuts are out, I may have to switch to muesli. They do have a lot of that here.

I have not cooked the pancakes yet though I think I’ll make the first batch this coming Sunday and we’ll see how that goes for reasons you will later see why, I think I’ll have to make it ridiculously clear that one eats pancakes with a fork and knife and not with one’s hands like their some sort of wannabe crepe. They’re not. We’ll see if I can help my host family see that. Pancakes are also a breakfast item but it doesn’t matter how many time I tell my host family this because they are always wondering whether we should have pancakes for after lunch or dinner for dessert. It is not a dessert. Pancakes are not like crepes like that. They are not like crepes besides that one makes them on a skillet and flips them over. The batter and cooked product are very different.

Maybe we can work on a compromise and have them for Sunday brunch.

In the meantime, I did cook a very basic meat-n-beans chili and cornbread lunch for them on Sunday. I had the chili going for hours and so it was at that wonderful thick stage where it is hard to distinguish meat from beans and traces or tomato have long gone away. Perfect. The cornbread was also incredible dense but soft with just enough sweetness to contradict the savory flavor of the chili just right. Gosh darn it, I can cook good ol’ American food even in France. It is a good feeling to have.

Then it was time to eat.

The parents exclaimed that I had forgotten the entrée (the first course). The poor girl it seemed like they felt had been so occupied with the main course. She forgot to have something with which to start off. I quickly tried to explain that one just only eats chili by itself. However, they insisted that, no, no, it must be that chili is served with an appetizer so everyone fills up more easily from the meal. That is why one has an entrée, of course, they explained to me.

Sure. Ignore the American who has been eating chili all her life.

Well, we had the entrée, me insisting on just having a bite, and it was time for the chili and cornbread. They began handing me their plates to have the chili served on them. I was very surprised and asked where the bowls were. They gave me a puzzled look and I said. Well, as I’ve been saying, chili has a similar nature to soup. It is thick but not served on a plate. Amazed, they got out the bowls where they all took a modest soupspoon sized portion eat, a slice of cornbread and some salad. Feeling a strange need, I quietly served myself with what I grew up as a real chili serving and cornbread, leaving the salad alone for the most part.

The mother suddenly looked up and observed that I was holding and eating my cornbread with my hands. Well, yes, I replied. After all, it is called corn bread and is to be treated like any other bread. It is just different from any bread one would find in France. I heard some silverware clinking and realized that up to that point the family had been eating the cornbread with a fork and knife! The daughter ignored the newly discovered fact and ate what she could of the chili and cornbread with her fork and knife. I guess adaptation to foreign customs comes at different times for us all.

I say she ate what she could because even the small serving the family had, made them all stuffed very quickly. They all wondered how I could be left with just a “satisfied feeling” in my stomach. I joked and replied that it shouldn’t be any mystery now how Americans have a reputation for being able to eat so much. So it ended rather well. Dessert was pineapple slices and ice cream. They were glad that I was very strong in saying that whatever the dessert was that it had to be light. It seemed to be a good experience for us all in the end I think.

Amboise was pleasant and, again, hugely uneventful. I totally missed Leonardo’s Da Vinci’s house, which I feel stupid about but I am content nevertheless to have visited his grave…surrounded by a dozen photo-happy people, but still it was a visit. I’m sure wherever he is, Leonardo wouldn’t really care whether people visit his remains in a quiet and respectful atmosphere or not.

I also met up with a bunch of CIDEF students again! They were on the last chateau tour offered by the university for the semester. It was a total accident and I enjoyed the company for a short while. This is Jamal on the right and Spencer on the left. Both of them are classmates and hail from Kansas University. They are standing in front of the chapel where Leonardo is buried currently.

The only stain on my day was the fact that I lost my dark red leather gloves en route back to Angers. I do not remember putting them anywhere other than my trench coat pocket and I honestly wonder if maybe it was the result of a pickpocket attempt. It is a thought that puts me ill at ease but incredibly thankful that it was only the gloves that disappeared and the stuff of real value like my passport, credit card, debit cards, etc. were more safely kept.

I’ll be working the rest of the week finalizing what I’m doing with my two-week spring break if I can and making plans for my one night stay in Versailles this weekend. I will leave Angers to arrive at Versailles in the evening and have all day until 5:00PM to explore the chateau and grounds the next day. It is the very end of the base season so the idea is that I’ll get to enjoy the high season weather at this point with base season prices. It is getting nicer and nicer out. Tomorrow it will be a pleasant 14 degrees Celsius.

So while I’m basking in the French spring sun, how’s the weather back in Illinois, everyone?

Feel free to stare at the screen in annoyance again and enjoy the two new dog photos I came across in Amboise. Take the pug in good humor if you will. I certainly did.