The Frugal Gourmet

It is very easy to take things for granted, particularly if you come from the English speaking world, and particularly if you are British with a violent history of  Empire producing a set of cultural reference points that defines how the world should be. In terms of my themes of frugality and gourmet such sweeping statements would seem to have little space but it is of course not true, food politics, food heritage and the relationship to both defines our society and our politics at a fundamental level.

You will be relieved to know that I am not going to explore these deep themes in this post, though I should at some point. But the little things that catch my attention on things I take for granted.

France is of course a capitalist democracy separated from the UK by 10 miles, but it is enough to flag up differences in one’s daily life. A typical example is the norm of handshaking or bise in France, where all ages and sexes will formally say hello or goodbye with a handshake or kiss on the cheek.

The fact that when paying for goods in a shop, money is not directly handed to the shopkeeper but placed on a small tray on the counter kept for that purpose, and of course the naming of things.

It is of course pretty obvious that the French have different names for things than the English, though courtesy of William the Conqueror (or William the Bastard depending on which side of the channel you inhabit) about 60% of the English language is French. This throws up some odd things, the British Pound so precious to Tory politicians, the British National Party and fellow travellers is in origin French. The French for a pound is Livre, the UK pound sign is £ a stylised L from the French

Thinking about food, cutlery throws up some variations

Teaspoon = Cuillère à café, Far more coffee than tea is drunk in France

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Dessert Spoon = Cuiller à Soupe Hmmm I”ll go with that.

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Soup Spoon = Ce qui est ça!

What is that!

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Fish Knife and Fork = Laugh out loud (English and French)