Food

When you travel to France you will find that one of the most difficult tasks to do is order food. This experience will be both fun and difficult trying to pronounce the menu items. However be assured that whatever it is that you order it will be good. This is difficult to say in the US but in France their culture revolves around really good fresh food. Food in France is really important and they take pride in the presentation that it is served. If you order water the server will bring you a jug of water and you typically serve yourself. Most restaurants will be sit down restaurants and unlike American restaurants they will bring you what you ordered and will leave you alone until you are finished.

When you visit I recommend that you try different types of food like Indian, Greek, American, and of course French. Be open to comparing the food in the US to French food. My favorite restaurant in France was called Le Comptoir De La Gastronomie because of the service by the server who was French but spoke English and was a very funny person. I ordered escargot as an appetizer for the table and the server showed us how to properly use the escargot tong which is the utensil that holds the snail in place. I highly recommend going to Le Comptoir De La Gastronomie at the beginning of your stay in France because it is very traditional which is something that you will be looking for and the service will be great which is important when you are a foreigner in a country that does not speak much English.

In France you will find that fast food restaurants are not at every corner like in the US. That is because fast food, particularly fried food, is not very French like. However what is fairly common is seeing small gyro restaurants that the French typically have to go. I recommend a particular one called Nabah Kebab which is near the CEA classes which is a good spot to go on your breaks. Nabab Kebab has a gyro type of sandwich for €6 with fries. It is a very good cheap meal! You may find yourself spending a lot of money on food but cheap meals like these make them taste even better. Overall you will find yourself going to restaurants a lot. It won’t be common going to a restaurant more than once because you will be in different areas all the time. Enjoy the food it is the most important part of the French culture!