Say it Ain't So!!

August 24, 2009

Tucked down in the lower right hand corner of the first page of Sunday's Wash Post Travel section there was a little story with the tag line: “ An Unsavory Holiday in France”, by somebody named Zofia Smardz. It began with a statement about how much she enjoyed being back in France and settling in at a corner brasserie with fond memories of previous travel in France: “wonderful, cheap food, everywhere you went”. Okay, check, so far so good. Agree. Continuing on, the more I read (it continued on Pg 3) the more my eyes widened and the hackles (whatever those are) rose on the back of my neck. The basic premise was that the “wonderful cheap food” was no more. After that initial statement, she began a descent into criticism – “how could the food be so….awful? My onion soup was a pale, watery broth. I swallowed the cheese in one spoonful and eyed the few sad onions slivers floating in the bowl. My husband’s grill platter looked greasy, and, well, kind of gross”. Goes on to say in a week she had one good, never mind great, meal and did admit she never ate in any starred restaurants. “The food wasn’t always bad, but it was reliably mediocre. Uninspired. Blah.” Pretty strong words and very unsettling.

Then, to reinforce her point, she goes on to refer to a book by Michael Steinberger called “Au Revoir to All That: Food, Wine, and the End of France”. A quick check finds that he does have some chops, and is a wine editor for Slate magazine (which, incidentally, is owned by the Washington Post). The closing sentence of the article was a quote from the plane ride home from hubby: “I can’t wait to get back home, to have some really good French food”. Well, then.

I am not sure how to react to all of this. I shared her exact opening opinion on good food everywhere, but to be truthful I haven’t been to Paris/France in many years. Our experience was exactly that. You sat down at any little café or bistro, and the food would be wonderful (by our standards). The best meal of my life was in France. Not being there lately, I can’t judge. I wouldn’t want to believe it, but maybe she’s right. But, should we trust her palate? Is she just making a buck? Shilling for that book? C’mon, lady, tell us where you were. Name some of the places you went. The article does retreat a little saying if you plan well, have some contacts you can find good food, yadda yadda. It cites statistics about the closing of hundreds of “little places”, and things like the French don’t take time anymore, they go to McD’s. I would not want it to be so, but as much as I don’t like it, things change. I still view the French as the creators of my favorite cuisine (note I didn’t say it was “the best”). I guess she doesn't have to go back.

wonder if they
DFD