I’ve just returned from a few days holiday in France where I spent a lot of time doing what I do best. That is sitting about in cafés and bistros eating and drinking.
The French have a saying .. “le client est roi” .. the customer is king, but this does not always apply in the case of French waiters. So when I find an inviting place to eat, like the brasserie in the above picture, where the waiters are friendly and polite and put up with my attempts to speak their language I am well pleased.
I was just wondering if the present welcome “euro crisis” would allow me to go more ‘up market’ for my next meal and dine at this rather more posh establishment …
… when to my surprise horror I looked up and nearly choked on my ‘moules-frites’ on seeing this apparition …
… A bloody ‘Subman’ ! .. Now I know that ‘McDonald’s’ has been around in France for quite some time, (remember … Pulp Fiction’s .. “Royale with Cheese” ?) but I have never understood how ‘fast food’ could be popular in the land of the two hour lunch break. Blimey ! You don’t even have pay to park your car from midday until 2pm when everything stops for ‘Le Déjeuner‘.
If you want take-away food in France there are ‘traiteurs‘ and ‘boulangerie–pâtisseries’ to be found everywhere, selling mouth-watering delights aplenty, so quite what the appeal of a submarine sandwich would be to the French is a bit of an enigma.
One thing that doesn’t change in France when it comes to eating is the traditional trip to the ‘boulangerie’ before mealtimes to buy ‘les baguettes’ and you can still see people nibbling away at those delicious long loaves on their way home from the bakers. My daily visit to the bakers came at breakfast time, for although I am a fan of the full English breakfast I did enjoy my fresh croissant and brioche at the start of the day.
As the French have taken to ‘Le Big Mac’ and ‘La Pizza Sub’ I wonder if one day they will take to “Le Full English” and we will see British style ‘caffs’ opening in France where scruffy waiters shout orders to the kitchen for a breakfast of … “Eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, tea, bread and butter and a fried slice !” … If they do ? … I know just the name for such an establishment …
… “Le greasy spoon” !
bigjohn 
