Supersize Me, French Style

While in the States last month on my annual visit, I found myself with a free evening and decided to go to the movies. I went in hungry (big mistake), so I ordered what I thought was the safest thing on the menu: a cinnamon pretzel and a small diet soda. The prezel contained only 190 calories per serving. Only problem was, it also contained four servings. The “small” soda looked as if it contained about a liter of liquid (the large size was big enough to bathe a baby in it). Thank goodness it was only one calorie per serving. What can I say? During the course of the film, I ate most of the pretzel and drank as much of the soda as I could without having to use the bathroom mid-movie.

Ah, I missed the portion sizes in the U.S. Supersizing until your meal could sustain you for a week’s worth of acclimatization treks up Mount Everest. In all fairness, though, it is possible to have a reasonably-sized meal in American restaurants. And it is possible to have enough food to get you through an entire winter in France.

Most people think of haute cuisine when they think of a French meal: a plate with a carrot and a couple peas artfully arranged around a sliver of meat and, of course, covered in sauce. Let them come to the Haute Savoie, where the restaurants there will show you what “real” French food is like. We have a favorite dining spot near our residence secondaire, a very cozy and warm chalet-type building with lots of charm — and lots of cheese. Fondue, raclette, you name it — cheese rules here and is obviously the most popular item on the menu in the cold months. I caught a glimpse of one woman’s plate during a recent visit. As far as I can tell, the chefs just opened a container of cheese that would get me through the week, popped it into the oven, and voila!, a single-serving meal. With a raclette, a wedge of cheese cut from a wheel the size of a tire is placed into a warmer and is scraped with little paddles to eat with meat, potatoes, and little onions and pickles. Mr. Expat and I ate one once. The last thing to be scraped was me, off the chair. I couldn’t move.

By all means, if you come to our region of France, sample the wonderful range of cheeses and dishes made with cheese. Just don’t plan anything other than a nap for afterwards. As for me, what can I say? Number of calories: unknown. Number of servings: more than you can imagine. I eat most of it anyway…

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