France is Chocolate
Is chocolate taking over French supermarkets? Not that I'm complaining or anything.
I was in France visiting my parents for the first half of the month and recuperating from the trip for the past few days. I thought I'd have plenty of time to write, but it turns out that I didn't write a single line while I was there. Now you know why I was silent.
When people visit other countries, there's one thing they should do but rarely do: visit (or even better, shop at) a local supermarket.
It tells you a lot about the local population's habits. It's interesting when you visit a country for the first time. It's even more interesting when you repeatedly visit a country, especially if it's your native country that you left twice in your adult life, the last time being almost 15 years ago.
One thing you'll probably notice when visiting a foreign supermarket is that some aisles or sections are huge there but tiny or almost nonexistent in your own country.
For example, when I first visited the US, I was shocked by the variety and quantity of potato chips, soft drinks, and, on a slightly healthier note, cereal (which is often sweetened, hence the "slightly").
In Japan, it was the fish section. However, over the years, I've noticed that it's smaller than it used to be. I wonder if it's because of the economy (fish isn't cheap, even in Japan) or the depletion of the oceans. Probably both.
In France? It's definitely the cheese and yogurt sections.
On my last trip, though, I noticed one aisle had gotten much bigger:
Chocolate!
It took up an entire aisle in my local supermarket. While the number of brands hasn't increased (Lindt probably took up half the aisle) the variety of available chocolate has. As you can see in the pictures, it's not just the variety; the sheer quantity of available chocolate is the main reason.
I've always thought that French people eat more chocolate than average (probably less than Swiss and Belgian people, but more than anyone else), but something else is going on.
Is it a way for French people to cope with the current state of... everything? Especially now that people are drinking less (it's true that the wine section has gotten smaller)?
No idea.
Talking about different varieties of chocolate:
99% and 100% cacao (cocoa bean)! You read that right! When I lived in France, such chocolate was only available in specialty stores. I wonder if Americans could survive the experience; they're only used to eating "chocolate" that contains only traces of cacao and is mostly sugar and solidified palm oil.
If you've never tried such chocolate, the real deal in my opinion, you need to at least once in your life. You'll realize that everything you thought you knew about chocolate was wrong.
There were also some "interesting" novelties. This one was located at the end of the aisle.
I was tempted to try it, but then I saw the price! Yikes! All the other chocolates are around 2 to 4 euros a bar.
Note that matcha chocolate does exist in Japan, but it's not that great unless I haven't tried the right kind. Also, it's not actual chocolate, just matcha-flavored white "chocolate."
I also wonder what "Dubai style" implies. Does it mean "luxurious in appearance but actually classless and tacky"?
Before we end this post, you might be wondering about the title. It came to me in the aisle and definitely comes from one of my favorite anecdotes, which may or may not be true. It's the infamous "Knowledge is power. France is bacon" story. You can read it below if you're not familiar with it.
Fun Police
All right, that's all for today.
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Until next time.
Best,
David
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