Paris: The City of Food and Books
Years ago, I remember a conversation I had with an acquaintance back when bookstore cafes were just catching on as a mainstream concept. He described them as his ultimate fantasy of the hereafter: “If I’m good, that’s where I’ll go when I die…and do nothing but eat and read, forever.”
As someone who adores both food and books, this always stuck with me. It sounds about as perfect a description of the afterlife as any I can come up with (though I might throw in a beach or two). And it also makes me think of one of my very favorite cities in the world: Paris. Because when I think of Paris, that’s what I think of first: food and books. My own personal heaven.
Paris is many things besides, of course: it boasts one of the world’s most fascinating cultures, some of its most amazing monuments, and one of humanity’s richest treasure troves can be found in its museums. Paris is far more than food and books, but nonetheless, isn’t that a great place to start? I think so.
Foodie Paradise
I first came to Paris as a very unappreciative seven-year-old brought along by my parents. It was my first trip overseas, a quick stop on the way to a two-week visit to my mom’s family in England. We spent four days in Paris, and one thing I remember vividly is how much I disliked the food, because it wasn’t like what I was used to at home. I could not grasp the idea of continental breakfasts: where were my eggs and pancakes? What were these croissant-thingys the hotel was trying to foist on me? And why was the only ice cream the street vendor would sell me and my mom vanilla, rather than chocolate?
Ugh. What can I say. I was a kid.
My first adult trip to Paris two decades later was a much bigger success, and the food, happily, was a major highlight of the experience. Childhood breakfast traumas aside, it really is nearly impossible to go wrong when eating in Paris, if you seek out the right things.
Some of the foodie highlights of Paris for me:
- Café Breakfasts: One of my favorite, quintessentially Parisian things to do is start the morning with breakfast at a quaint local café. Pan au chocolate (aka chocolate croissant), chocolate chaud (hot chocolate—yes, I tend to go in for overkill), and a French newspaper so that I can practice my middling foreign language skills. I’ve never gone wrong with this order; it’s my absolutely favorite way to start the day, and reminds me that I’m on vacation. In Paris.
- Le Relaise De L’Entrecote: This restaurant was a guidebook find from my first visit to Paris with friends in 2007 when I was teaching English in Paris. We didn’t have a ton of cash to splash, but we were in Paris, and we wanted to eat some truly memorable meals, so we found a restaurant that served…steak. And frites. And nothing else. My friends and I had to wait about an hour and a half in line to be admitted to this foodie sanctuary, but it was all worth it: for about 21 euros we were treated to amazingly good steak with a sauce I can’t begin to do justice to in my description, except to say it was delicious and brought out the steak flavors like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. And of course, there were frites, as well as salad. That was all the restaurant served, and they kept refilling our plates every time our supplies ran low. Unbelievable! The meal actually worked out to be a tremendous value, especially as we had been eating bread and cheese (mmm) for lunch most days so we had a bit of extra money to spare for dinner.
Another highlight of the evening: my friends and I got into an amusing conversation with a Frenchman at the next table. The gist: he spoke English, I spoke French. I kept thinking that if I could keep my French conversation going long enough, I could persuade him to switch to French and get in some language practice, but no, he wasn’t having it. It quickly turned into one of the most bizarre yet entertaining discussions I’ve ever had.
- Angelina’s: I’ve written about Angelina’s elsewhere, but let’s suffice it to say that their rich, creamy Chocolate L’Africain will change your life. This is the most delicious hot chocolate I have ever had in all my travels, and believe me, I’ve taste-tested far and wide. The thick, steaming chocolate concoction, which comes in a pot with two servings (both for you—don’t even think about sharing) with its own side order of homemade whipped cream, is reason enough to cross the ocean. Paris is full of confectionary delights, but absolutely nothing tops this.
Oh, and both Audrey Hepburn and Coco Chanel used to frequent Angelina’s. No big deal.
Café and Literary Life
- Les Deux Magots: While there were plenty of museums and sights I wanted to see on my first adult trip to Paris, the real truth was, I was there to hunt literary ghosts. I am a huge fan of Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, and like just about every other young literary groupie, I wanted to visit the places where these authors had spent their time, whiling away afternoons eating, drinking, and writing in Parisian cafes. So I took an afternoon to do a café crawl, and it ended up being the most fun I had in Paris. My favorite stop was Les Deux Magots, a well-known café where Hemingway was once a regular. My friends and I ordered a citron-presse lemonade drink (I later returned for the hot chocolate and found that excellent too) and I spent the afternoon gazing around me in wonder, trying to imagine Ernest and Scott eating and drinking at this same table and just maybe, The Sun Also Rises getting a first draft treatment in the very place I was sitting now. Mind blown.
- Shakespeare and Co.: I actually didn’t make it to this legendary spot until my next visit to Paris the following year, and I’m so happy I did. As Hemingway aficionados know, the original Shakespeare and Company bookstore was owned by Sylvia Beach in the 1920s, and she used to let then-broke aspiring writer Ernest borrow books whenever he needed. Sylvia helped foster the entire expat writers’ community which blossomed in Paris in the Jazz Age era. The current Shakespeare and Company isn’t the original, but it’s a rebuilt version that maintains much of the spirit and character you’d imagine it once had. Books everywhere, and a chance to get lost in a magical spot that connects to a piece of literary history. It made for a truly magical afternoon.
What are your favorite experiences in Paris? Are there other cities you’ve been to that have captivated you with similar appeal to food and literature?