Yes, this is another food post, but I couldn't help myself food is such a huge part of life here that it's impossible to avoid talking about it. Since food is so important in France the school food has to be up to par, because the French are used to eating well. When I first tried school food in France I was blown away, the fact that we were given real silverware, the food resembled something like food and we always have at least a four course meal was a huge change from the cafeteria in the US where we're given less than half an hour to buy and eat our food.
Now, here's the whole process on how the school lunch room works in France;
In the morning you have to pass your school lunch card to" reserve" a meal for lunchtime, that way the cooks never make more than they need.
The machine which counts how many lunches you have left and reserves your meal.
The lunch line empty...
And how it normally is. I think of the lunch line as a corral for cattle, we're guided completely by the railing and we're pushed by other students with no personal space until we finally get to the door and the lunch lady lets us in to eat.
Once you're finally in the building you have to swipe your card again for another machine to give you a tray, the tray literally pokes out so you can take it, if you forgot to swipe your card you have to wait for everyone in the school who ordered their lunch to eat and hope that there's food left for you.
There's always bread, fruit that's in season, a dairy product, an appetizer, a main course and sometimes a dessert.
This video gives you an idea of what we eat for lunch at school in France. Jealous?
When you've finished your meal you put all of the trash on your plate and the tray rolls on the conveyor belt to be cleaned.
My Christmas meal. The day before Winter break we were given a special meal which is supposed to be "better" than normal. My friends here find the school food terrible and inedible, but compared to what I'm used to in terms of mass produced meals it's great. Anyway, for Christmas we had a foie gras creme brulee with toasted spice cake on top, sweet potatoes, chicken, mushrooms and an amazing chocolate cake.
My chocolate cake with a truffle on top!
My friend's Christmas meal, she got shrimp.
More food.
Me and my friends. The consensus was that the Christmas meal was better than what we normally eat but nothing special, if they ever eat in a high school in America they're in for a big surprise.
Yesterday at school we had an Irish meal in honor of St. Patty's day. I know that other French schools have themed meals quite often but this was the first time we've had a themed meal at Lycée Henri Laurens.
