Today there is a greve - that is a strike to you and I. As a result the secondary teachers are out in force and the majority of classes have been cancelled. I work from home so my friends who go out to work, have dumped a variety of offspring chez nous. Entertaining other peoples children is always an eye opener and never more so than when they are of another nationality.
Cultural differences are always going to be a source of amusement and over the years we have had more than our fair share of moments where the entente has been less than cordiale.
Food is often a factor. Or rather, the bizarre eating habits of Les Anglais, as perceived by the French. One regular sleep over guest now brings her own breakfast. This came about after the famous occasion when I had run out of chocolate covered cereal and nutella for the toast. The conversation went something like this -
Me - “How about some fruit?”
Her - Blank incomprehension, shakes head, thinks, ‘why is this woman offering me dessert?’
Me - “Would you like porridge oats?”
Her - Blank incomprehension, politely refuses, thinks, ‘why is this woman offering me horse feed?’
Me - getting desperate, “ I could do you a fried egg?”
Her - Looks terrified, thinks, ‘ this woman is trying to poison me!’
I gave up. She now arrives with a jar of nutella and strangely enough, a loaf of white sliced, crustless bread, something that couldn’t be more English. But clearly it is ok as her mother brought it in France, therefore it must be edible....
Anyway, we had the last laugh. The bread brought back so many happy memories of kids birthday teas and crustless marmite sarnies - bliss - that the OH and I devoured the lot in bacon butties. Ha.
The French do have an incredible arrogance about food. They maintain that if it is French it is Good and if it is foreign it is Bad. This is why it cracks me up when Raymond Le Blanc starts twaddling on about ‘France and ze fine dining’ on the TV show The Restaurant.
I wholeheartedly agree that French food can be fantastic, especially traditional regional dishes.
But the French also love to take dishes from other cultures, add a touch of arrogant ‘we can do better’ and cock them right up. Go to a Pizzeria and the cheese and tomato options may be edible but the ‘special’ will involve some ghastly confection of honey, nuts, apple, duck and curry sauce.
It is also why I went to an up-market restaurant recently and was nearly poisoned by the dish of the day. It was advertised as a kebab. I imagined some Gordon Ramsay type special - maybe free range lamb, rocket, fantastic sauce and a home made wrap.
The special ingredient turned out to be foie gras, marinated in Sangria. I am all for fusion cooking but this was a step too far. Actually, it was several steps too far.
Bastardising ethnic food like this may explain why the French have such a distrust of eating anything foreign, as generally it is not very nice. It may also explain why French kids will only eat pasta plain. Although sometimes they will add tomato ketchup, if they are feeling particularly cosmopolitan and adventurous.
I had better go and buy some baguettes for lunch. They are always a safe bet served with ham. And nothing else.
