Salut!
Welcome to April everybody, if anyone is missing me I will be home in 4 months and 16 days! :)
Usually my dad likes to turn the hot water off in the middle of a shower on April fools so I'm kinda relieved I missed out on that one this year.
Today's blog is going to be all about food since I've had a lot of people asking me how I manage to lead a Vegan lifestyle in the country known for its bread, cheese and pork. For anyone that knows me even a small bit, you know I LOVE food, cooking, baking and especially eating! Well, for starters some bread I can eat and some I avoid like the plague. For example croissant and baguette are both made with butter so I won't touch them, other bread is pretty simple especially since you buy all your bread from the local bakery and they can tell you all the ingredients. Usually when I walk into a store I say "Je ne parle pas français!" and stare dumb-foundedly at the store clerk until they as if I speak english (this is what I did today at the post office). I am working on asking for things in French and until I get better at it I'll keep declaring my anglophone nature or start making bread at home!
(Here by the way is a blurry snapshot of the kitchen
in Kristina and Eitan's apartment. Btw the machine
between the oven and sink is the washing machine for clothes.)
Okay, back to food. The one thing to be leery of if you are vegetarian and travel to France is here vegetarian always means you eat fish (poisson) so you must clarify! If you are Vegan like me that word is not as well known as in Canada, although its popularity is on the rise there are lots of versions that I've seen and heard but I am sure someday it will settle onto one most common term. For now the terms are: Vegan, Vegane, Vegétal (might be the wrong accent)Vegétalien. So if you are vegan and go to France you may have to try a few phrases to explain yourself. When in doubt do not underestimate the power of "Je ne mange pas... (I don't eat...) followed by "prodiuts d'origine animale" or more specifically viande (meat), les produits laitiers, le poisson (remember you must specify) et les œufs (eggs) etc. The second thing (okay when I said one I meant a few) is that the french wont consider broth as meat even though the flavour of chicken or beef broth comes fro the left over fats and bones. So be specific, and ask if your food is made with vegetable broth or animal based broth!
Alright language aside, lets talk grocery shopping. This is really actually very easy. Walk to the local produce shop for all your fresh veggies, fruits, nuts, beans, legumes etc. (btw légumes means vegetables in French) Anyways once you have all that fresh goodness in your wicker basket the bakery is sure to have your grains and carbs (love me some carbs). Now the supermarket will have a little of everything, it just won't have as much variety, but for specialty items it will be cheaper than the health foods store. At the super market I found vegan margarine, every kind of non-dairy milk (non fortified with vitamin B12 that I could tell but all packed with calcium!) peanut butter (yes, in France this is a specialty item), and I also found veggie burgers and vegan cheese (I didn't buy the cheese though)! Finally, there is the local health foods shop usually called something BIO or Biologique, I believe this means organic foods shop or natural foods shop. There are two very good ones here in little limoux so I guarantee where ever you are they won't be to hard to find. I have yet to go to the larger one which has very funny hours and is about 3 blocks away, but I have been to the one just down the street. My first day here in limoux I bought oat milk (they were out of plain rice milk) and a vitamin B12 supplement (which I do not take at home since it is fortified in my almond milk and lots of veggie meats, but here it is either hard to come by or I can't read ingredients well...or very likely both).
Okay so that's shopping and I will post lots of Pictures I promise! For meals I basically eat the same as at home. I have so far eaten stir fry, salad, curry chickpea-potato bowl, pasta with tomato sauce and veggies, PB&J sandwiches, and some of my famous homemade soup (Not to be immodest but I make great soups)! Tonight I got down to baking for the first time since Einat (the other girl in the apartment I'm staying in) was kind enough to take me to the supermarket to by all my baking needs (flour, baking soda, vanilla extract, etc). I made vegan peanut butter cookies, they must have been good because my roomies ate a lot! Actually they hid them on me and told me they ate all of them! That was their april fools against me, so I have to laugh. They put them back, although there were a few missing;) still thought I am glad I got to share some baking and it was enjoyed. Peanut butter really is not used here at all so you don't just go to the store and buy peanut butter cookies! Can't wait to do more baking!
Here is Fabienne's kitchen by the way (My mom wanted to see it)
Oh and if your wondering why I went to the pharmacy (Pharmacie) its because I forgot about my pollen allergies I get every spring and had to go get medicine for them. You'll be proud to know that I spoke in French the whole time...Although the clerk realized I was english pretty quick and half spoke anglais half français. I think she knew I wanted to practice because I kept insisting on stumbling through the sentences I had rehearsed in my head all day yesterday.
That's it for tonight, I'll be sure to let you know if there are any more cookie hijacks.
Au revoir!
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