best of breed

a wednesday wander

It’s Wednesday somewhere. We just left the Pyrénées for a place where the wifi actually works. Here are a few observations from a week and a half of eating in France.

• A potager (a kitchen garden) is a remarkably effective bit of misdirection. No one ever seems to question how much food those few scraggly rows of squash and herbs will actually provide, let alone where the rest of what you serve is coming from. 

• Food seem to have been supersized since I was last here. We’ve had several meals at modern bistros on this trip where the plats came with what I think of as American-sized portions of meat, which makes me wonder what’s changing in the market.

• A comment from a barista running what would in the US be called a hipster cafe (it shares space with a barber and an impromptu bike mechanic…) – third wave coffee has had a hard time getting off the ground in France because the French assume that they grew up with the best of everything, including coffee. (I’m fairly sure I’ve heard this from French expats before, but needed a reminder.)

• I sort of suspect that the terrasse/apero/cafe culture came about because much of the architecture in the villages and small towns – thick masonry walls, tiny windows – is such an effective nudge to spend more time outside the house.

Finally, a butcher in the Marché Victor Hugo in Toulouse selling steaks by the breed.