Good evening Charlie's oib!
Today realised that ever since we came back from our trip to Canada I had not written you about it! So today instead of covering a boring topic such as the beautiful colours of trees, our beautiful day at the Parliament where we saw the beautiful Prime minister or the beautiful friendships we created and strengthened I'm going to tell you about something that left all of us, chocked: the food.
First let me talk about the amount of food consumed daily by an average Canadian by giving an example of one day in my life in Ottawa. This day, after waking up at 5 (jet lag) and getting out of bed at 9, I went to the kitchen where my host mother had served breakfast: croissants, toast, cake and strawberry milkshake(I usually don't even eat that much in a whole day but ok). After that, at around 10 am, my host and I decided to make waffles, so we baked and ate our waffles as a second breakfast (I truly felt like a Hobbit), after that my host family and I left to go apple picking! On our way there we ate lunch in the car (not even a full hour after finishing our waffles), and once we arrived there we, obviously, ate apple, and less obviously, ate candied apples and churros as well. At around 3pm, after finishing the most amazing pumpkin/apple picking experience ever (truly, it was one of the best day), Sibylle's host family invited me over for Thanksgiving! Once we arrived to their house, they offered me soda, peanuts, some kind of bread and a black beans dip (that was delicious but that was like my 7th meal of the day), and we then ate Thanksgiving dinner (at 4:30 pm, obviously). There was so much food, so many different kinds of potatoes (I don't get why but apparently Canadians love potatoes), the Turkey was huge, there were 3 desserts, anyways, the table was covered in food. After we ate dinner, my host and her father picked me up, I thought we were going home, but no, we stoped at Tim Horton's (it's like a cheapest, better and very Canadian version Starbucks) and got doughnuts, "timbits" and hot chocolate (I'm a very polite person so I basically ate everything they recommended me to eat even thought my whole body was begging me to stop and I know a lot of my classmates can relate to that haha). Once we got home, the first words of my host mother were literally "Esther what do you want for dinner". Long story short: I ate another diner. Then we watched a movie while eating ice cream and pop corn.
So, yes, we all felt like we were getting ready to hibernate but apparently that's Canadian's daily diet, because the thing I probably heard the most after "oh my gosh your time table is terrible how can you not kill yourself?" and "why would you have so much homework if you finish so late" is probably "French people basically don't eat anything".
So, according to our Canadian friends we should start eating like them, according to me, an healthy body is more important than your 12th meal of the day.
The next little point about Canadian food that we all noticed is the quality of it. Even fruits and vegetables taste sweet and industrial, food is very very cheap (for example, for 4 dollars I got a huge box of fries and the biggest ice cream I had ever seen), which makes me question a lot the quality of what composes their food. Every single snacks we ate was a subject of questioning and big confusion, every single of our lunch breaks were filled with debate about like "what is that strange thing in my lunch box? Why does it looks like a fruit but tastes like industrial vanilla ice cream?"
Anyways I really wanted to express our general confusion about this topic and remind all of you to avoid eating too much fat and sugar, to eat HEALTHY, to regularly practice a sport and to avoid eating snacks between meals because we all broke these rules for 2 weeks straight and personally I feel like the obese men from Wall-e.
To my classmates: feel free to share with your experience
Bye see you all on Monday haha.
Sther
I was waiting for someone to talk about this particular aspect of Canadian life and was not disappointed ! This made me smile very much, thanks :)
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, there's a night when I almost starved (yes, I am being hyperbolic). I don't remember on which day it was, but remember that in the afternoon I thought to myself "It would be cool if we ate pastas, it's been a long time since I haven't eaten pastas and I really love pastas !" (this is a non-realistic but maybe a little reconstitution of what happens in my head when I start to feel hungry). So a little while later, Abby's parents came home, her mum made dinner, and when I came upstairs for dinner, guess what I saw ? PASTAS ! I felt so happy, my wish had come true. So we all sat around the table. I was the first to help myself some pastas, as I was the guest. But the thing is, Abby's family is quite big (compared to mine at least) : they are 6. So as I don't really have a sense of proportions, I chose to take not much pastas to make sure everyone had enough, I just filled half my bowl. The problem is that's all I ate this night because I was too shy to take some more again after I had finished my bowl and we didn't eat a dessert (that's a food difference I noticed between France and Canada). I finally spend the rest of the evening feeling hungry and didn't eat anything else until the next morning. That's quite a stupid story, I know.
ReplyDeleteAnd unlike your host family Esther, mine didn't eat too much, it was quite the same amount of food per day as I normally eat in France. But I did notice that almost all the food we eat was from the supermarket, even all fruits and vegetables. Everything came out of a plastic bag (milk included, that's a suprising thing, in Canada they have bagged milk) or a can.
The only thing that suprised me a bit was when Abby had some ribs for breaksfast but that's just because there were some in the fridge, my family usually had cereals or toasted bread for breakfast.
Holy macaroni, Iska, what a story! You're a credit to your upbringing but next time do speak up or at least get something later from the fridge or cupboards. (You were part of the family and this is totally acceptable in North America). The bagged milk is indeed something but that's a story for another time and it will invite discussion and nuance. Maybe in our next awareness club session. Mrs.C
DeleteCan't beat a good hyperbole, can you?
DeleteI heard some rumors (I'm not sure though) that some have been TRULY disturbed by the Canadian eating at 5 in the afternoon
ReplyDeleteNo way!! Where did you get your information from?? Who could it be I wonder??
DeleteIt's all part of the experience. Yeah!
DeleteYou should come live with me in Scotland: I have dinner anytime between 3pm and 8pm, depending on whether I'm going somewhere in the evening or if I'm at someone else's flat... or maybe that's just living the Student LifeTM
Delete^ I second that, nothing is more chaotic than a student diet in the UK. Also hail baked beans, a cheap but nonetheless crucial life saviour
DeleteHello Esther,
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess, I would have liked to read more and first about these beautiful Canadian memories but I guess you had to get that load off your chest, didn't you?
True enough, North America can indeed be junk food heaven, but is actually also possible to eat healthy and fresh produce in Canada. I have.
Besides, I understand you felt "choked"/ "shocked" (Did you purposely pun?) But you might want to use a bit more nuance. I'm sure, you've appreciated that your host family offering you food so often was clearly their way to make sure you felt welcome and at home. I understand you wanted to be polite but you didn't have to eat so much and as Iska pointed it out, being too polite is not always for the best and sometimes you need to speak up. Had you explained that you felt as stuffed as the Thanksgiving turkey, I'm sure they would have understood.
For the record, Thanksgving is a feast so it goes without saying that you'll have a table full of food and as many delicious dishes and treats as possible and it is part of the folklore that you are to eat until you burst, but no one has to and most people do balance it with lighter meals. Mrs. C.