French Fries...not really french

One of my most anticipated experiences in coming to France was to experience the most celebrated dish of classical french cuisine.  No not foie gras (fattened goose liver), not crêpes, not baguettes, not french wine and not the famous french cheeses that are prolific here.  The pièce de résistance of French cuisine that I have come in search of is the "French Fry."  What aspect of french culinary tradition has transcended more cultural and geographical boundaries than french fries?  What other dish bearing the name "french" is consumed in similar form in more countries around the world?  I would argue that french fries are the vessel by which french cooking has been introduced to the international culinary scene and when I arrived here in Tours, France I was determined to find the humble origins of the french fry and experience the deep fried potato that changed the world.

Without doing any formal research, I figured that the best place to start would be to look for a chip wagon, much like the ones that can be found throughout North America at highway rest areas and fall fairs.  Despite my extensive pedestrian travels through the cobblestone laneways of vielle Tours I was unable to find a chip wagon or anything resembling one.  My next thought was to find a greasy spoon diner or fish and chips restaurant typically known for serving home made french fries cooked to golden perfection in vats filled with hot grease.  Again no such luck.  Finally, I stopped to observe where all the kids were going to get cheap eats during their lunches or late at night during drunken bar outings.  Surely this would yield the illusive origins of the French Fry.  It turns out that the french youth seem to be completely obsessed with kebab stands.  Going out for food is relatively expensive in France so when the students need to get their eats on the cheap they turn to the kebab stands where you can get a middle eastern style doner sandwhich complete with...You guessed it...French Fries!  If you are lucky you can find a kebab stand owned by an indian family and they serve the sandwiches on naan bread made in a tandoori oven.  Anyway, you can get your fill at a kebab stand for around 5 euros (~$8.26 Canadian) complete with fries and a drink.  Also, none of these kebabs stands seem to have falafel, hummus or baba ganoush...What's the deal??

After having sampled most of the kebab stands in vielle Tours I came to the conclusion that the French Fries here, in the home of French Fries are not really that good.  As a matter of fact, this seems to be an area of culinary tradition where the English have made significant improvements over the french methodology.  This realization left me very concerned for the integrity of the French culinary tradition and so I set about the task of doing some more formal research as to the origins of the french fry.  Here is what I have to report:

According to wikipedia it is actually the Belgians who seem to have the most legitimate claim to having created French Fries.  And throughout Europe, they are almost exclusively know as being of Belgian origin.  However, if this is the case, why are they not then Belgian Fries?  The answer lies in a brief delve into history...  Long ago the belgians used to accompany their meals with small fried fish, but when the rivers were frozen and they were unable to fish, they accompanied their meals with fried slices of potatoes.  The tradition migrated to Holland where they were called "Flemish fries" (Flemish meaning Belgian and possessing obvious negative etymological consequences for an anglo-saxon).  Fast forward to World War 1 and the arrival of American Soldiers to the region and their exposure to the unique and delicious food.  The American's dubbed them French Fries because at the time French was the official language of the Belgian Army.  And so it goes, French Fries are not really french and as far as I'm concerned, if the Americans really want to change the name to freedom fries over France's Iraqganistan war policy, then they can go right ahead considering they came up with the misnomer in the first place.

In conclusion, I hope that the next time you are enjoying french fries with a tasty burger, fish or drowned in gravy and cheese curds you remember that it is not in fact the french that you have to thank for the invention but rather the Honourable Flemish or Belgian peoples residing slightly to the East of the French homeland.  

Arrival and reflexions on week one.

First of all, I just want you to know how much I love you all. You are getting a blog post even though I still haven't hooked up the internet in my apartment and am thus forced to compose this at school on one of these ridiculous ZWERTY kepyboards.

Tomorrow, it will have been exactly & week since my arrival in Tours. When I got off the train two really nice escem students named Aude and Morgane were waiting to greet me with a blue escem t-shirt on a pole-and close hanger contraption to let me know they were legit. They welcomed me with a traditional French double cheek kiss which I completly botched. I was wearing a pack on the front and back and as a result had to manouevre around really awkwardly. In addition I kind of actually kissed them which is not really how this sort of thing is supposed to work. You are supposed to just let your cheeks kinda brush up against each other, making a kissing sound, not a big old best friend smooch...idiot! How did I not cover that before I came over here...Anyway, both of my first french friends were incredibly kind an gracious to me and I a, greatful for the warm welcome to their country. After that they took me to get groceries and then to the apartment. The last thing I did that day was spend 20 min trying to figure out how to call my folks collect using all french instructions and operator service...it was somewhat frustrating. Keep in mind at this point I had been awake for close to 40 hours so I was not really at my sharpest.

I spent a long lonely night sleeping interruptedly in my apartment and felt pretty uneasy by the next morning. But when I arrived at the school and started to meet the rest of the exchange students I began to feel more at home. We are a mix match of a Swede a Hungarian, 2 Mexicans, an American, a Japanese and a whackload of Candadians, 2 from Guelph the rest from Quebec. Everyone is really nice and we seem to be forming a bit of a team. I can't speak highly enough of the international student assoc here at escem "aloha." They have really taken good care of us, taking us to pubs, cafés and restaurants (and threw a pretty fun party for us with some students from another university).

Lastly, and the thing I know that you are all wondering about...The markets...Yes they are awsome, and yes they are pretty much open every day. I went to the saturday open air market (oh yeah it's like 5 or 6 degrees today so yeah...open air market). It was pretty good, very similar to our summer farmers markets. It wasn't very big though and I saw everything in a matter of minutes. After that I stumbled upon the Halle Tours indoor market...Cheeses and meats of the highest quality and bakerys that were unspeakable. I didn't know where to start...Someone had told me that the Galettes where a seasonal tradition. They are consumed in remeberence of the 3 wise men and are essentially puff pastry filled with custard. DROOL...Anyway the tradition involves the youngest person at the gathering sitting under the table and deciding the order in which people eat the pieces. The person who gets the small figurine burried inside the pastry gets to wear a paper crown and choose their "special" friend for the day.

Anyway guys that is all for now...I have another 3 hours of classe coming up so I will say farwell for now, but their will be much more to follow.

Pre-departure thanks and CONTEST!!!!!

Well it is 10:30AM and my flight is currently "on time" according to Air France but looking outside at a pretty major snow storm has me doubting.  I am supposed to leave around 5PM and am half expecting to get grounded.  The last week has pretty much been a whirlwind.  Home Street was a rocking place to spend new years, thanks to Matt Henderson and Mike Harloff for providing entertainment.  I was treated to a really awesome surprise going away party on the 3rd organized by my parents and my dear housemate Jenn.  Many thanks go to these fine people as well as Joseph Murray for inviting all the SLC peeps.  Thanks to everyone who came, it was great to see you all.  Another thanks goes out to Jill Brown for hosting a small gathering on monday night where I got to say goodbye to another couple of friendly faces.  There were many people that I didn't get to say goodbye to and I hope that you guys have a great semester and look forward to seeing you again when I get back.

It is hard to really peg down what it feels like to be leaving today.  I have been planning this trip for over a year now but the reality of my leaving hasn't really sunk in, I hope that it will as I start to physically leave for the airport, say goodbye to my family and so on.  On the plane, I have decided to bring the following:

My camera

Laptop

iPod

Journal

2 issues of Geez magazine

Several letters that have been given to me by dear friends and told to open on the plane or upon arrival in France

Contest:

I am interested in any suggestions you might have for things to bring in addition to these, I have some room in my carry on.  If you think of anything, post a comment to this blog and I will see if I can get them in the next couple of hours before I leave.  I will consider all suggestions and the winner(s) will receive a postcard as soon as I can find a place that sells them when I arrive.  So in that case you should also post your address in addition to the comment.  

Additional Criteria:

Must fit inside the carry on bag

Must not result in me getting arrested or harassed by airport security

Must be something that I can realistically acquire either on my way to the airport or at the airport before I leave.

Good luck to all contestants!

All for now, the next time I post I will be in France!