I have to ask, not trying to be rude but, you are worried about your children eating chocolate and bread everyday? Were you as concerned while living in America, about all of the food additives in our food? Europe has banned most of them. First off that chocolate and bread is probably much healthier than the food choices made every day here in America. European chocolate also contains way less sugar. When I am visiting family and friends there, I eat healthier than I do at home. Just my 2 cents🥰 but I do agree with you on the other points!
Fair point, Deb, and you're completely right that French chocolate and bread are in a different league - the ingredient lists alone are a revelation. My hesitation is less about the quality and more about the daily-at-4:30 rhythm of refined carbs and sugar at that hour, shortly before dinner. But I take the broader argument: kombucha-and-almond-butter mom over here is not above reconsidering ☺️
It's not shortly before dinner if you have dinner between 7 and 8 pm and it's very common also here in Italy, you eat at 6 pm in hospitals only! (Even because most of us work until 6 pm)
This post made me smile. I am a European living in the US and could list these items in reverse. Not eating processed food is nearly unaffordable. The horrible bread they try to bake. The lack of real charcuterie, the over-sugared cakes and sweets, or the horrible tasting chocolates. The windows that can either not open; or, when they do, you slide the bottom over the top and they are impossible to clean. You have to climb on a ladder to clean them from the outside. Air conditioning is a must during summer but the recycling of dust is rather unhealthy. Stuffy nose is a given during those months. Nobody likes to walk, everybody drives the car even for 100 meters. And, getting a friendly "hi" from a neighbor is hard to find.
Like you, I am not complaining, it's just a list of things I find hard to adapt to. I do like living here, but every time I visit Europe I stuff myself with their good food and walk the countryside and farmer's markets with gusto.
Omg. You’ve hit all my nerve points. I will not live without screens on my windows! I live in Ohio but we’ve had a recent influx of stink bugs (last 5 years) and I mean they cover the house by the 10,000’s. Turns out they’re in France too (my friend lives in the Dordogne and has been battling them without screens!) Hmmm? 🤔 Like those screen free windows now France? 🇫🇷 😊
I agree with you about air conditioning. The fact is that the world is getting hotter and canicules here in France are occurring with a greater degree of frequency and lasting for longer periods. There are ways to use it responsibly, such as the hottest days only for a couple of hours in the evening and to have it powered by solar panels. This is how we use it for a handful of really hot days. My husband, who despises air conditioning BTW, insisted that we install it several years ago because we saw the trend of hotter days and I have several health conditions.
Window screens are available here. Our house in the rural SW came with screens on some of the windows and most bricos will sell kits so you can install them, which we did on some rooms that didn’t have them already. Some people have them on wooden frames that you can pop out seasonally but we keep ours in all year. With the rise of various types of mosquito-borne illness throughout France, my guess is that they will become a lot more common (like air conditioning.)
I met an American in Greece whose obsession seemed to be the poor state of the plumbing. The fact that he was in the crucible of civilisation with one of the richest histories and archaeological legacies seemed to be taken for granted. I found it to be a very odd perspective from which to view a fascinating and beautiful country.
Says the person that doesn’t live in GA (in the US) where temps are in the 90’s in the summer and the humidity is awful. Our AC unit was waiting for a part for two months last summer in the midst of a terrible heat wave and it was brutal.
I grew up in MA and we didn’t have AC, but it was a whole different ball game up there.
French houses have shutters. When it is hot you close them and keep the windows open; airflow and cool without any air-conditioning adding to global warming.
I love your post! I’m French, living in France, and it’s so funny to see how things that are normal for you are typically French!
However, I agree with most of your points except for two: the A/C everywhere in the USA is probably what I hate the most. Every time I went inside, I was afraid of coming back out frozen! Also, eating at 10 PM.
I mean, every day with my kids I eat at 7 PM, but when we are with friends and we have an 'apéro'... well, you know how sacred the apéro is in France! 😅
French have this thing about A/C and gently mock Americans for it. But it’s hardly the Americans that are the exception. Almost everyone house or flat in Greece will have A/C these days. They’re all over much of the world. Just look at pictures of HK. Aussies have them. It’s the French who are the odd ones out.
Late dinners — not good for digestion or for sleep! I wonder whether people who eat so late do it every night and whether it might be to do with working hours? Who knows. Living in Switzerland many years ago, we ate our main meal of the day in the middle of the day. Work breaks were two hours to allow for this. Evening meals were small, simple and easy, often after 7pm. The working day often started early and finished later to allow for longer meal times in the middle.
It seems a shame to have to fix insect screens over your lovely windows. I wonder whether some kind of fine cotton fabric might work either blowing in the breeze or stretched tight over a frame to keep mozzies out? That could be an interesting possibility.
I have to ask, not trying to be rude but, you are worried about your children eating chocolate and bread everyday? Were you as concerned while living in America, about all of the food additives in our food? Europe has banned most of them. First off that chocolate and bread is probably much healthier than the food choices made every day here in America. European chocolate also contains way less sugar. When I am visiting family and friends there, I eat healthier than I do at home. Just my 2 cents🥰 but I do agree with you on the other points!
Fair point, Deb, and you're completely right that French chocolate and bread are in a different league - the ingredient lists alone are a revelation. My hesitation is less about the quality and more about the daily-at-4:30 rhythm of refined carbs and sugar at that hour, shortly before dinner. But I take the broader argument: kombucha-and-almond-butter mom over here is not above reconsidering ☺️
Life is short, give them that bread and chocolate a couple of times a week🥰
It's not shortly before dinner if you have dinner between 7 and 8 pm and it's very common also here in Italy, you eat at 6 pm in hospitals only! (Even because most of us work until 6 pm)
This post made me smile. I am a European living in the US and could list these items in reverse. Not eating processed food is nearly unaffordable. The horrible bread they try to bake. The lack of real charcuterie, the over-sugared cakes and sweets, or the horrible tasting chocolates. The windows that can either not open; or, when they do, you slide the bottom over the top and they are impossible to clean. You have to climb on a ladder to clean them from the outside. Air conditioning is a must during summer but the recycling of dust is rather unhealthy. Stuffy nose is a given during those months. Nobody likes to walk, everybody drives the car even for 100 meters. And, getting a friendly "hi" from a neighbor is hard to find.
Like you, I am not complaining, it's just a list of things I find hard to adapt to. I do like living here, but every time I visit Europe I stuff myself with their good food and walk the countryside and farmer's markets with gusto.
Omg. You’ve hit all my nerve points. I will not live without screens on my windows! I live in Ohio but we’ve had a recent influx of stink bugs (last 5 years) and I mean they cover the house by the 10,000’s. Turns out they’re in France too (my friend lives in the Dordogne and has been battling them without screens!) Hmmm? 🤔 Like those screen free windows now France? 🇫🇷 😊
Seriously! 😂 And yes, there are LOTS of bugs here, and I’m happy to have them as neighbors, but not as roommates, if you know what I mean 👀
I am not American but oh boy do I agree with you!
Ha! Turns out polite declining is a universal sport I suppose. Welcome to the club 😄 Glad it landed wherever you're reading from, Aleksandra.
This was interesting!
Glad it landed! That post was basically my list of polite mutinies 😄
I agree with you about air conditioning. The fact is that the world is getting hotter and canicules here in France are occurring with a greater degree of frequency and lasting for longer periods. There are ways to use it responsibly, such as the hottest days only for a couple of hours in the evening and to have it powered by solar panels. This is how we use it for a handful of really hot days. My husband, who despises air conditioning BTW, insisted that we install it several years ago because we saw the trend of hotter days and I have several health conditions.
Window screens are available here. Our house in the rural SW came with screens on some of the windows and most bricos will sell kits so you can install them, which we did on some rooms that didn’t have them already. Some people have them on wooden frames that you can pop out seasonally but we keep ours in all year. With the rise of various types of mosquito-borne illness throughout France, my guess is that they will become a lot more common (like air conditioning.)
“I love France . . BUT . . . “
I met an American in Greece whose obsession seemed to be the poor state of the plumbing. The fact that he was in the crucible of civilisation with one of the richest histories and archaeological legacies seemed to be taken for granted. I found it to be a very odd perspective from which to view a fascinating and beautiful country.
The “American wellness” actually made me laugh out loud. There is no such thing.
AC is a very wasteful use of energy
Says the person that doesn’t live in GA (in the US) where temps are in the 90’s in the summer and the humidity is awful. Our AC unit was waiting for a part for two months last summer in the midst of a terrible heat wave and it was brutal.
I grew up in MA and we didn’t have AC, but it was a whole different ball game up there.
I love this! Much of it applies to Italy, where I live, as well. Not the whispering, though. Italians are LOUD!
French houses have shutters. When it is hot you close them and keep the windows open; airflow and cool without any air-conditioning adding to global warming.
I love your post! I’m French, living in France, and it’s so funny to see how things that are normal for you are typically French!
However, I agree with most of your points except for two: the A/C everywhere in the USA is probably what I hate the most. Every time I went inside, I was afraid of coming back out frozen! Also, eating at 10 PM.
I mean, every day with my kids I eat at 7 PM, but when we are with friends and we have an 'apéro'... well, you know how sacred the apéro is in France! 😅
I was just telling a friend about ‘no screens’!!! It was so wild to me. I went in April and July and honestly saw no bugs in my friend’s apartment.
The screens…. I feel certain my dogs would be forever jumping out the windows.
French have this thing about A/C and gently mock Americans for it. But it’s hardly the Americans that are the exception. Almost everyone house or flat in Greece will have A/C these days. They’re all over much of the world. Just look at pictures of HK. Aussies have them. It’s the French who are the odd ones out.
Late dinners — not good for digestion or for sleep! I wonder whether people who eat so late do it every night and whether it might be to do with working hours? Who knows. Living in Switzerland many years ago, we ate our main meal of the day in the middle of the day. Work breaks were two hours to allow for this. Evening meals were small, simple and easy, often after 7pm. The working day often started early and finished later to allow for longer meal times in the middle.
It seems a shame to have to fix insect screens over your lovely windows. I wonder whether some kind of fine cotton fabric might work either blowing in the breeze or stretched tight over a frame to keep mozzies out? That could be an interesting possibility.