GDPR is clearly not perfect but this incessant bashing is tiring. Not everything has to be about being more productive. Privacy and sensitive data protection matters. I find it kind of sad to have to say those things when it’s been a year of constant warnings about the future dangers of AIs.
It’s easier to not care about it when half the companies leeching data are US based but from what I read about the TikTok ban, as soon as it’s not an american company, then it’s a big problem. The EU cannot rely on the US (and US companies) to care about them or be very reliable (and have proven that time and time again).
French here.
Paris is an island in France, they are completely different from the rest of the country. We know it, they know it (and they want us to know it) and we don’t like each others that much. Several of the experiences you talk about are typical parisian bullshit that would almost never happen elsewhere. About the “fancy” experience you describe, I’d say it’s far from the majority and most restaurants would on the contrary be “à la bonne franquette” especially outside of Paris.
Really when you said this, I was thinking about 90% of my food experience in France, especially at home (but I’ll come back to this later):
“What I love most about American food, and eating in America in general, is that it is the opposite of the French mistake of trying to impress you or waste your time. American food wants you to be happy, it wants to give you the experience you want and not hold back, it values your time and it does not much care how it looks doing it.”
To come back to regional specialties, when you look for them you can have everything in Paris . I have to admit that. It may not be the easiest thing, especially for a stranger, but if you go outside of the touristic places you will find them and good food is worth searching for. I know there is a lot to visit in Paris and that may not be the priority but I feel like that’s one of the reasons why strangers never actually eat typical french food.
There is no “french food” per se, the style of food completely changes from region to region and I feel like this is really what most people miss about it. Sure is easy to know about italian food, it’s pizza, pasta and ice cream. French food is not that way, for better or for worse.
In my (limited, but still a few months) experience, americans rarely (if ever) eat home cooked food. For americans to eat at home, there is either a sports event that forces you to stay home or twice a year you will have people coming and make food. I have known couples who had four plates and that’s it. All of this shocked me a bit and I honestly did not like it very much. Maybe it’s bad luck but the sheer quantity of fast food (and extremely fat food in it) makes me doubt it. Did you try McDonald’s in France? I could not believe how healthy it was actually compared to the american ones. (easiest comparison but it’s the same in other fast foods)
We love our restaurants but cooking at home is a huge part of our food culture. If it takes the whole day to cook for friends and family, well it takes the whole day. The quality of the food we can buy in markets is way better than what I found in the US (the EU rules are much stricter) and many French become good cooks since they spend so much time in the kitchen so food at home is really really good.