One of the biggest culture shocks for me in moving to France from America was the culture around food and mealtimes. There's an unspoken rule here that everyone eats at the same time and that people don't eat in between meals. For this reason, restaurants aren't open all day. Once the restaurant stops serving lunch they close down until dinner time. The French also take lots of pride in sharing a home-cooked, traditional meal with the freshest ingredients. Mealtimes are designated for people to sit down and enjoy a meal with their family and friends. Lunch breaks can be as long as two hours because of this!
For lunch, I either order takeout or go eat at restaurants with my friends. For dinner, I eat with my host family. My host mom prepares a lovely, traditional French meal every night. This week, we had Boeuf Bourguignon. This is like a beef stew that is cooked in a thick gravy with mushrooms, carrots and potatoes. I like to eat this dish with rice or pasta.
I love Boeuf Bourguignon! It's one of the top traditional French meals. It takes a lot of time and ingredients to prepare, but it is well worth the wait!
