Lost in Translation

Alas, alack, another entry about food. So this evening I had dinner with my host family (I'm now eating with them every Tuesday and Wednesday night because Ultimate Frisbee practice is on Monday nights). This evening Renyu (yes I completely butchered his name in my last entry) prepared the meal for us. It was an authentic Chinese-French meal and I found every aspect delicious. Noelle asked Renyu why he called it Chinese-French instead of just Chinese, and he said because he prepared it here in France. Gaspard helped him and I was totally impressed by their culinary skills.

We had an onion-based soup with noodles to start. I could have just had the soup for dinner, it was delicious and perfect for a chilly fall evening. But then each of us had a plate with four different elements: a piece of chicken, some mushrooms, onions and peppers, and what resembled scrambled eggs with fresh tomatoes. For dessert we had a pomelo (Noelle's contribution). I'd never seem a pomelo before - the fruit is enormous! It's sort of like a grapefruit on steroids, but the sections on the inside look more like a giant orange than a grapefruit. The texture is closer to an orange, but less juicy. The skin is much thicker too, you can peel off the inner casings since they're so thick. Maybe polemos are very common, but I've never seen one before. I'm including some pictures I found online in case you blog readers have not encountered one either.
So during the dinner Noelle proposed that I prepare an American meal for them. Jenn has already cooked meatloaf for her host parents (the two of them), but I am a little intimidated at the thought of cooking a meal for Noelle, Joseph, Orane, Gaspard, Sarah, and me (6 people!) Renyu proceeded to ask me to describe typical American food. Of course, this is slightly more difficult than it sounds. Unlike "French food" or "Chinese food," a lot of "American food" is really a variation on the ethnic foods of other nationalities. Of course, apple pie and macaroni and cheese are both "American comfort foods," but it's not like my mom prepares those everyday. It was really difficult for me to describe how our dinners are different from theirs. And it wasn't because the two are so similar, I can't say that anything I've had here has really resembled something I eat at home on a regular basis. We have yet to have any fish...and salmon is a staple at my house. I have yet to eat any corn, peas, asparagus, or broccoli. We've had other vegetables: lots of beets, lettuce, and peppers. Still, it's sort of difficult to explain breakfast foods like muffins or things like "pumpkin pie" when there aren't really exact translations. Some boulangeries sell "cookies" (same thing as the American version) and I've seen "muffins" too, but those words are Anglicisms and although the word "tarte" sort of gives the impression of "pie," it also makes it sound less unique when I describe it using a very French term.

After dinner Renyu got out his laptop and I showed them some pictures on Foodnetwork.com. It's a little easier to demonstrate with photos than to try and describe them. Renyu showed us some pictures of Chinese dishes his friends prepare at home. The photos were on the Chinese version of Facebook (apparently they have their own knock-off version, in addition to the world-wide standard one). Renyu suggested that all of us (Orane, Gaspard, Sarah, him, and me) hang out tomorrow afternoon after I'm finished with class - the rest of them are on vacation this week. I get out of class at 1pm tomorrow and I think I'm going to run to the grocery and pick up the supplies to bake the famous Dayton-family-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies. I need my confidence a little bit first before I tackle a full meal using measurements I don't recognize and an oven/kitchen I am not used to. Apparently tarte tatin is Joseph's favorite dessert, and since that's the French version of apple pie, I'm planning on making one of those too. But one thing at a time. I'll let you know how it goes!

Oh, and in case you, dear blog reader, were getting the idea that there is no intellectual activity going on here in Dijon, I am pleased to inform you that classes continue to go well. I had lots of them today - 6 hours in fact. Expression Écrite (written expression) from 9am-11am, La France Contemporaine from 12:15pm-2pm and then Art History from 2:30pm-4:30pm. Waking up at 7:30am for class on Tuesday morning is always a little rough after the late night Ultimate practice on Monday evenings, but I really shouldn't complain. I am learning so much and having a wonderful time!