Une Pizza ou Un Sandwich?

Let’s face it: of all of the people in l’Union Européenne, the French probably have the reputation for consuming the weirdest foods. Who else is known to eat such vast quantities of smelly cheese or escargots ("snails"), for example? (Around 20,000 tons a year of the latter according to some estimates.) While I am personally a huge fan of both, I realize that some readers have very disgusted looks on their faces at this point. A few years ago, my husband and I led a small group of college students to Paris and Beaune for their first trip abroad. For the most part, everyone in the group joined right in trying different dishes, like salads garnished with gésiers (gizzards) or chèvre chaud (warm goat-milk cheese--pictured). But one young woman stuck to her ingrained habits of eating only cereal and pasta, which became the running joke of the trip: “Jessica won’t eat THAT!”

Yet French restauranteurs attempt to cater to the tourist trade, at least somewhat. Here in Bédoin, where there are several campsites and, since the beginning of April, swarms of vacationers from Belgium, the U.K., Germany, and the like, the local sandwich shop and pizzerias do their best to accommodate the visitors' fast food needs. Point Cuisson, which was principally a not very good boulangerie-pâtisserie ("bakery and pastry shop") until about month ago, had a change of owners and with that a change of menu. They now serve, among other things, des ailes de poulet (“chicken wings”) and des donuts! While I have never tried either, I feel confident that they are à la française and not how they are chez nous; how could they be otherwise? The shop offers a fairly large selection of sandwiches, too, including one called un sandwich américain: a burger, all right, but on a baguette with French fries inside. The rest of the menu is devoted to French favorites, like croque-monsieur (a type of grilled ham and cheese sandwich) and one Provençal specialty which I particularly like: un pan bagnat, a tunafish sandwich on a baguette with a vinaigrette sauce, hardboiled eggs, and des anchois ("anchovies"). Delicious, but hardly your typical lunch at Subway.

The same is true for pizzas. Unless you live in Paris or another grande ville and have a Pizza Hut or Dominos nearby, you’re just not going to find thick crust pizza with tomato sauce and all of the customary toppings on it. Still, I’ll bet that even these American chains have made concessions to their overseas locations, as they should. So, here at Pizza Phil or at Pizza Paradiso, you’ll find roquefort or chèvre cheese (again) as well as mozzarella under toppings such as artichokes, eggplant, ratatouille, anchovies, or seafood. In terms of sausage, the choices might include merguez (Algerian), figatelli (Corsican), or chorizo (Spanish) instead of pepperoni. My final piece of advice is what I always tell my students. “France isn’t the U.S.: it’s different; that’s why we go there.” As I recall, even Jessica tried a little taste of cheese.