In France, meal time is for families

Dinner at the Royal N'Orleans may seem like a flawless French meal, but not even the best chef could serve a perfect imitation. After living in France for over two months, I've realized that French food is not only different than American food, but it is also much different than I had expected. The eating habits are different than I am used to in Southeast Missouri. Meals are always eaten with the rest of the family at my house in France and at very specific times.

Breakfast is usually a small meal, but a very important one; not many French skip their breakfast. My host mother always eats buttered bread with homemade jelly, topped off with sugarless coffee. However, my 14-year-old host brother has hot chocolate and cookies. My host father eats toast and yogurt, along with coffee. However, I still have a hard time grabbing even an apple before heading off to school, just like when I was in Missouri. Before coming to France, I was under the impression that everyone only ate bread for breakfast, which I found to be false; choosing what to have for breakfast is merely based on preference, but usually includes a hot beverage and some type of bread.

Lunch is a fairly large meal eaten after noon. At school, there is a restaurant that serves all three meals for boarding and daytime students. Sometimes the lines can get very long and you can wait for up to 30 minutes. Fortunately, lunch break lasts for at least an hour and a half.

Bread starts off the buffet; French bread is typically soft in the middle with a harder outer shell. Next is various types of cheese, which France is famous for. Since I only like Velveeta cheese, I skip that section. Some cheeses have a scent so strong that you mustn't touch them with your hands, but instead with a fork to prevent an unbearable stench which can last for several days.

Then comes whatever kind of fruit happens to be in season; lately we have had a lot of oranges. Salad here is composed of lettuce and vinaigrette; very rarely will I get a salad with anything else on it.

Next is the main dish. There are always four different choices that have different types of meats, cooked veggies and some kind of carbohydrate (usually potatoes or noodles). School lunch is surprisingly good. Instead of getting a milk carton with lunch, everyone grabs a glass, then at each table is a pitcher of water. The first day of school I learned that there is even a game that goes along with this: Whoever has the bigger number on the bottom of their glass goes to get refills for the water. I found lunch to be quite amusing!

Supper is always the most important meal to the French, and the hardest on me since my family typically eats around 8:30 p.m. here. In Missouri, I would eat as soon as I got to work around 4 p.m. and then I would normally eat a cinnamon roll or brownie during break, usually around 7 p.m.or so. So this was quite different to me. Also, supper is a very long meal, lasting at least 30 minutes, but normally longer. This is the time in the evening for the whole family to sit down and socialize about their day. My host family always has wine for supper. We have white wine with our salad and bread, and then switch to red wine when we eat our meat and vegetables.

I found it bizarre that the French drink wine like I drink Coke: ALL the time! And they drink Coke only at gatherings or when they have company over, which is when my American family would have wine! Being a Cherry Coke lover, I was crushed to find out that there is no such thing in France. There is, however, Coca-Cola, Sprite and occasionally Pepsi. At home, I'm not too fond of Coke, but I love it here; it seems to be much sweeter. I found this to be odd seeing how it is all made by the same company!

French food is amazing. I have gained 18 pounds in the two months I've been here, which is strange since I'm eating so much healthier. At home I eat a lot of fast food and drink a lot of Cherry Coke; I've only had McDonald's, called MacDo here, twice since I have arrived.

It must be the bread.

Brittany Lang is from Cape Girardeau and living in France for a year through the Rotary International Student Exchange program.