French Cuisine

I was not quite sure what to expect a typical French meal to consist of before arriving in France. When I visited France a few years back, I remember eating a lot of pizza and pasta in restaurants, which I was sure was Italian food. I just came to the conclusion that maybe I didn’t branch out far enough on the menu to try any real French cuisine. After being in Angers for a few weeks, I have learned that while French cuisine does in fact exist, there are so many different cultures here that bring different foods into the mix. For example, there seems to be a fairly good-sized Arab population in Angers and with this comes the creation of the “Kebab stands.” I have eaten at one of these a few times and I can say that while it may be satisfying my desire for greasy food, it is something I cannot eat more than once in a blue moon.


I have also seemed to notice several Asian food restaurants. Not too many, but more than I expected there to be. I ate and a Thai restaurant on last week that was pretty delicious. It was a little on the spendy side but was refreshing and perfectly proportioned. Then there is the ever-so-popular Chinese restaurant called Asia Wok, which I find myself at a few times per week. The owner, as do I, enjoys giving me French lessons while preparing my food.

One part of French cuisine I very much enjoy is the creperies. These are definitely the type of restaurants that I can call French. I love the fact that I can enjoy a crepe at any time of the day without being judged. A couple friends and I ate at a creperie on Sunday night called Creperie Bretonne on rue des Deux Haies. The obvious and instant plus to this restaurant was that it was open on a Sunday. However, it was also very delicious and it was here that I managed to eat my first nutella crepe. The only strange part about my experience here was that all the lights went out in the restaurant for a few seconds. Nobody reacted or said anything except for Dayna who pulled a flashlight out of her purse and announced “flashlight!” It was amusing to see that we, the Americans, were the only ones who reacted. Something interesting about dining in a French restaurant is the delivery of the bill. In France you have to ask for your check when you are ready for it- a very foreign concept. At this creperie, however, the check was brought to our table without asking. The waiter must have known we were American, weird I know. We then put our money on the plate and waiting for it to be picked up. After 15 minutes, it was finally retrieved by the waiter. My friends and I were expecting change so we waited at the table for it to be returned. It must had been 10 minutes when one of us said “where is our change?” We waited another 20 minutes and couldn’t understand what was taking so long. We all started to get a little anxious. I felt as though there was nothing I could do. For some reason I felt rude asking for my change in a foreign country. This silly little problem was out of our hands and, although I am usually a very patient person, I did not enjoy it. We then saw the people sitting at the table next to us walk to the register to pay. We followed and were finally given a chance to relax as we walked out the door.

So, what is French cuisine? So far I’ve found that it consists of a lot of bread, cheese, vegetables, and galettes, but it is also a combination of foreign cuisines. This is similar to American food and that makes me feel right at home.