On Picard and French air kissing

France, a beautiful country with a complex history, people, and unique food culture. The monarchy, dukedoms, Napoleon, l'art nouveau, the modern French state, a rich and varied terrain, and an importance of food and food culture. Croissants, pain au chocolat, pâté, quiche, escargot, bœuf bourguignon, and I could go on and on. Before I met R I learned and understood little about European history (except in my World History class), much less French history.

To help bridge my lack of cultural understanding, I devoured a book that R lent me which he read himself when he moved to France. Authored by two Canadian expats studying French culture and economy, "Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong: Why We Love France but Not the French" is a good introduction to France and what it is that make the French so French.

How can a country with a 35-hour work week be one of the most productive countries? Despite eating copious amounts of wine, cheese, and butter, how do French maintain such enviable waistlines? Why is life expectancy higher in France, with its "socialized medicine" than in the U.S.? The French seem to have it right, if you ask me. 

It'll take me a rather long blog post to review the book. But in bref, France is the way it is due to history, history, and history. If I've piqued your interest, consider reading this book yourself, and then make a trip to France one day.

PICARD
That's why I find it so interesting, even ironic that Picard has over 820 stores in France, a country with a strong food culture. You haven't heard of Picard stateside? Well I hadn't either until I arrived. After our hike today, I shopped there for the first time, curious to check it out after driving past it many times. Picard is unlike any supermarket I've ever visited. Instead of trying to be all things for all people, it has a simple concept. Provide the best frozen foods. But it's not your average Lean Cuisine or Swanson dinners they're hawking.

In 1906—before the advent of the modern refrigerator and freezer—Raymond Picard founded a factory to produce and sell ice boxes. Since then the company has evolved to selling and distributing frozen foods, and not the ice boxes to preserve food. Since one of my favorite past times is browsing foreign supermarkets, I happily looked in all the freezers, marveling at all the choices and beautiful packaging.  If you're looking for fast, no prep food that you can zap in the microwave or reheat in the oven, Picard has a big selection of what they call cuisine evasion. Here you can find almost ready to eat Vietnamese spring rolls, curry dishes, lasagna, etc. Or maybe you'd like ready made desserts? There's a wide choice, from macarons, petits canelés, moelleux au chocolat and more. What about vegetables, seafood, ice cream, aperitifs? It's all here.

Not a fresh vegetable in sight, but don't get me wrong. I love this store! I think it's funny that France, with its awesome food culture should have such a popular chain. The farmer's markets are great but when you're a busy French mom, Picard is a great option when you want to put tasty, nutritious food on your family's table.

Today we bought frozen spinach, cauliflower, une tarte provence, wild boar, and frozen smoothie pops (cassis and peach/mango). In France, the spinach comes in small blocks so you can reheat just the right amount you'd like. And at Picard the soup comes in block form for portion control. How convenient is that?

FRENCH KISSING
Americans shake hands when meeting new people, and may kiss and hug family members and close friends. Not accustomed to hugging (not done in many Asian families), I've gotten accustomed to it by now. But upon moving to France, I found myself in another culture which has a different way of greeting. Yes, the air kiss, which is practiced not only in France but also Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, amongst other countries.

How many times is the norm? It depends where you're from and on the individual. In my area the norm is two times, but sometimes three. In the south and among really close friends, I've heard it's up to four times! Actually the whole French air kiss is subtle, as you'll see. Here are two situations. What's the protocol for each? 

• You're having dinner with a female friend and her friends of both sexes. If you're female, you'll air kiss everyone present. If you're male, you'll air kiss the females present (including those you are meeting for the first time because they are friends of your friend) and shake all males present. Unless you're from the South or you're related, and then you may also air kiss the males. When you're ready to depart, you'll repeat the above.

• You're going to a concert and you sit next to a nice couple who start chatting with you. Since this is the first meeting and you are total strangers, you'll all shake hands, or perhaps the women will give each other air kisses. But at the end of the evening, you'll say your goodbyes with kisses. See above for protocol between men and women. What happens when you see the couple the next time? You go straight for the air kissing, except for the man on man air kissing.

Case in point: After Picard but before dinner tonight, R and I stopped at the neighbors' for an apero and play "guess the apero", as in guess what it's made from. Tonight it was cherry wine made with cherries from our cherry trees. Since R and the neighbors have been friends for more than 10 years, it's an open invitation whenever they're at home, except on Sundays which are devoted to family time. Here's how the air kiss exchange goes:

R usually initiates by planting 3 kisses on the wife's cheek (I think it's left, right, then left). Simultaneously I receive 2 air kisses from the husband. Sometimes I receive 3 when I leave my chek open for another kiss. Why don't I retract my cheek after the second kiss? Because I'm used to three times (the Dutch are generous apparently so I'm used to the Dutch way of 3 kisses). Then R will shake the husband's hand while I exchange air kisses with the wife. A quick peck on the left cheek, then right, then left cheek. By tradition the neighbors are a two air kiss kind of family....and are often thrown off by mine and R's 3 air kiss quota. Like tonight...my timing was a bit off and I almost kissed the wife on the mouth. A bit embarrassing but also highly entertaining.

During the apero, a friend of theirs, an old schoolteacher in his late 70s, stopped by. Another opportunity to air kiss. Monseiur Clavelle teases my air kissing in a very sweet way and in the end, just kisses me on the top of the head, which made me laugh. Rather than cold and rude, I find the French I meet here to be very warm and welcoming.

TONIGHT'S MENU
Tournesol pan-fried polenta, sliced in thin rounds with sage leaves (fresh from the garden) pressed into it. I served with it with some garlic-ky spinach and steak hache (cut up steak) seasoned liberally with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper. For our sweet tooths—an assortment of macarons and a slice of heaven called heavenly called Bisous-Bisous from Brocard in St. Genis-Pouilly. These macarons are better than the ones I tried at the Laduree branch in Geneva. Delicieux. Mmmm.