Studying abroad changes every perspective a person has about the world in every sense of the way. Immersing oneself into the culture of a different country is the proper way to fully understand and appreciate others around the world. Globalization has helped the transition into forming more relationships and gaining experiences through first-hand traveling. Throughout November, every weekend I traveled and every weekend I learned new things, attempted to try new food meals, and gained new insights about the various cultures.
Northern Ireland was the first trip of November to visit a friend and I absolutely loved it all. With the food aspects of the Irish culture, the portion sizes are much bigger than the French lifestyle, the focus of the dish is more meat, beans, and potatoes, and the length of the meals are much shorter. Throughout the trip, we continued the trend of eating out at various restaurants and cafes for all the meals because the limited amount of time we had to eat while exploring the towns restricted our ability to cook our own food. After Northern Ireland, I traveled to Barcelona for a few days and it was incredibly nice to eat tacos again. Barcelona and the Spanish culture slightly reminded me of back home since the food was relatively similar and how openly nice everyone was toward each other. For our hostel situation while in Spain, there was a full kitchen available for us to cook a homemade meal together and we did consider buying groceries. However, yet again we were pressed for time with seeing the beach, the “tourist” hot spots, along with just walking around the city, we stuck to what we knew and continued to consume tacos. Tapas, churros, and tortilla soup were all fantastic and wonderfully cooked. “The encounter with the other through food caused anxiety and alienation, which [we] dealt with by consuming familiar, western foods that enabled the maintenance of an embodied sense of comfort and a familiar sense of home,” thus further allowing me to continue my desire to travel because I know there will always be food from back home in any part of the world I can go to for comfort (Bardhi). The portion sizes were about the same size as the French meals and smaller than the Irish meals, but the spices made the dishes stand out among the rest. The comfort and nearly familiar environments surrounding each meal enhanced the food experience we had throughout our trip to Barcelona.
Chicken breast with fries and mashed potatoes in Derry, Northern Ireland
Beef tacos in Barcelona, Spain
Tortilla soup in Barcelona, Spain
Normandy and Mont St. Michel were the following weekend with everyone else in the program. Aside from the incredible views and ridiculously windy weather, I definitely want to travel back to this region in France. The meals held up the French standards with multiple courses, more upscale restaurant environments, more natural ingredients focused, and the ability to relax and enjoy the food and the people around the table. One food item I missed while walking around this region that I knew was local was the cider from Normandy since this region “is the most important apple-growing area of France,” (Root 127). Eating local food, and having the knowledge and history about the food from the region is one of the best things a person can do for helping the environment along with just appreciating the native cultures.
Chicken, potatoes, and a salad at a restaurant at Mont St. Michel, France
For the Thanksgiving holiday, I traveled to Paris for a few days along with Paola, Vince, and Vince’s parents. Throughout this trip, we experienced the high class lifestyle since it was Vince’s parents first time in Paris, they wanted it to be the best possible. With a higher class lifestyle, the more exquisite the food served per meal thus I more definitely expanded my food taboos. One of the meals included multiple courses for the full French cuisine experience including a seafood plate, beef plate, cheese plate, dessert plate, and the various wines to pair with the individual food courses. For this meal, I ate lobster for the first time therefore expanding the range of my food taboo, however I still would not prefer to eat seafood; I’m glad to have tried it, but the texture and taste are not favorable for me. One food item I did try that I really enjoyed was duck breast at a nicer restaurant for our Thanksgiving meal. It was cooked well done and tasted slightly different than beef. The presentation of all the meals always impressed me as well as the restaurant atmosphere; I felt like I had to be on my best behavior.
Lobster with marmalade and herbs course on dinner cruise in Paris, France
Duck breast with potato puree and vegetables at a restaurant in Paris, France on Thanksgiving
During this month, more restaurants meals were consumed definitely on the weekends while home cooked meals were more frequently eaten on week days. Over the course of the semester, I have come to realize that eating out at restaurants is more the norm for everyone when eating at home is emphasis more specifically on Sundays. Since nearly if not all of the restaurants are closed on Sundays, I along with everyone else, almost always ate at McDonald’s as our lunch meal. The grocery store was open until 1pm, but if I didn’t get to the grocery store before noon then I would not be able to buy a baguette because they make all the bread inside each grocery store. A lot of planning goes into every meal regardless of where and what I ate specifically.
Nutrition plays more of a role in the home cooked meals than in the restaurants here in France according to the students in both the Study Abroad and First Year in France programs. Back in the United States, I believe it is the opposite; more households have a tendency to prepare and cook any food just to fulfill the daily caloric intake requirements. However, it may be my American perception that the French people are healthier since they eat more natural food regularly when Americans consider this type of food “going on a diet.” When truly the French still most likely consume high amounts of sugar and not the best well-rounded meal, but due to the portion size and the length of time for each meal, less food is consumed overall. The French elongate their meals and provide the time for appreciation of both the food and the people also eating the meal; it is one of the best aspects of the French culture I am gladly going to take back to Texas with me. In the United States, most of the time meals are not the center of the day for each individual, but instead it is about what a person will accomplish and work for at the end of the day. With the focus not on food, the time is normally limited for how long a person can spend eating therefore it is more about how much food can be eaten for energy rather than concentrating on the nutrition values of each food item and the best possible meal.
Beef burger with ratatouille in a restaurant in Angers, France
Observing my environment around me whenever I was eating a meal, whether it was in my own room, at a restaurant, at a cafe, or outside and with or without friends, the taste of the food slightly changed since I was not necessarily focused on the food the entire time. The perceptions of the meal was altered and sometimes not for the better. If I was eating, let’s say the lobster in Paris, since I knew previously I did not prefer seafood, a bad connotation was already set in my mind allowing for little room of appreciation. The psychological connection between the brain and the food in the meal in addition alters the taste and experience. If the people around the table already tasted the food and expressed disgust for the food, then questioning and anticipation are immediately felt. Comfortable environments with people I enjoy being around I have found are typically the best meals without even discussing the food. Because the influence of other people around the table is strong, “when people engage in conversation, they tailor their utterances to their conversational partners,” (Walker). I can attest to this because I most certainly alter my conversations based upon the people around since not everyone is the same thus various topics of conversations; it is not a bad thing, but whenever I’m with a close friend eating a simplistic meal such as spaghetti we made at my apartment, I am going to talk about casual things rather than with friend’s parents at an upscale restaurant since then I would talk about what I would be doing after college or later on in my career. The food and the atmosphere yet again emphasize the style and set the standard for the meal.
Liz helping to prepare a meal in my apartment in Angers, France
One of the most important and most obvious functions for food is replenishing one’s body energy. The costs and benefits of either preparing and cooking a meal at home or going to a restaurant both present various cultural differences and priorities. Through observing my own preferences and actions toward expending energy for eating food, I tended to weigh more importance for quick service and less outward energy to get food through choosing to eat out at restaurants. The energy output is greater and more apparent to me when I cook my own food since prior planning as to what food to buy, allowing preparation time before actually eating the food, and washing the dishes after. However, the energy gained from the food is not always as obvious. The environmental aspects of energy consumed throughout the meals are a different part to calculate for each meal. From my perspective, eating out at a restaurant would result in a higher consumption of energy in general because the transportation to the restaurant, the larger ovens or stoves to cook the larger amounts of food for every person in the restaurant and the transportation back home. The home cooked meal may require less energy overall with the smaller scale cooking area, the possibility for not consuming meat, and transportation is not counted.
France has shown me that it is possible to consume more than just a chicken breast or a stead because nearly anything can be seen as edible. As a college student, I have definitely noticed “that consumption of food abroad becomes a symbolic project of maintaining boundaries with the other and sustaining a sense of home” because the balance of wanting to try new things is present, but also the fear of not liking the food weighs heavily on my choices additionally (Bardhi). My food taboo originally set at strictly no seafood, and no mushrooms (as well as anything that I couldn’t pronounce) was expanded this semester and gave me new perspectives in addition to appreciation for others. New perspectives meaning to eat what is grown in the area rather than what is imported from the other side of the world, not only for environmental reasons, but because it is respectful and almost more preferred. New appreciation is for the people that are able to eat anything that is put in front of them because growing up a picky eater and even still today, I am unable to do such a feat. I regret not trying more typical French food items, but this gives me more motivation and reason to come back another day to learn more about the regional cultures through the food.
With all said and done, a person’s diet depends solely on every decision one makes on a daily basis. “Individual dietary choices are primarily influenced by such considerations as taste, cost, convenience and nutritional value of foods,” therefore everything around a person presents even the slightest impact (French). In my seemingly limited perspective on the daily diet for the French culture, the options for French food is very diverse. I had a tendency to stick to what I knew which lead to having a baguette, brie or camembert cheese, and rosette for dinner multiple nights or going to the same boulangerie for the same baguette sandwich to the point of the owner smiling at me every time I entered the shop because she awaited for my struggling French words to ask for the same sandwich. Studies have been conducted pertaining to this theory suggesting “it is adaptive – for the adult – to prefer the familiar to the unknown, because more risk is involved in ventures into the unknown,” (Soderlund).
An observation I would like to point out that I have not previously in my other blog posts, but the much lower consumption of water in Angers, and around France in general than the United States. Water is a key staple in a person’s diet because hydration for one is extremely important, and helps keep a person healthy. I noticed no water fountains on campus opposed to the numerous water fountains back on St. Edward’s campus. On multiple occasions, I found myself extremely thirsty but not willing to pay one euro for a plastic water bottle out of a vending machine therefore I did not drink any water until I got home for the day. It appears the French culture adheres to drinking more wine than water when it is seemingly the opposite for the United States. History confirms that more wine should have be consumed because centuries ago when the water was contained diseases and lots of bacteria, doctors said to drink the wine because it was healthier and assisted in fighting the harmful bacteria. Understanding the background of the country’s history within the food culture is extremely helpful and again provides further appreciation for the knowledge gained outside of one’s own culture.
In conclusion, this semester taught me many things, but one of the best and most important aspects I am going to take away from it all is to keep an open mind with any culture’s importance dealing with food. Food is a priority for all and everyone appreciates a good meal.
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