Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside. And so here I am, getting a dose of fresh sea air for the first and (spoiler alert) last time on this trip.
Also, I've now travelled far enough north & west that I've reached the parts of France which used to be part of England, politically at least. We got booted out of La Rochelle by the French (assisted by the Spanish) in 1372 but at the time of writing there are no plans to take it over again.
I remember somebody telling me many years ago that in France they serve pizzas where the base is coated with crème fraïche rather than tomatoes. I finally got round to trying one here. See Edd vs Food below. It's not bad, and it's not as radical as it sounds, but I think I'll stick to old school pizzas in future. Perhaps the French are just trying to commit the same playful outrages on Italian cuisine that they've already perpetrated on Mexican cuisine (viz 'French tacos')?
As for British cuisine - I haven't tried the local attempts at fish & chips, and I don't think they even know what a sausage roll is. Most of our dishes tend not to travel well. Some years ago I ordered an 'authentic English cottage pie' in an 'authentic English pub' in Nashville, Tennessee. When the pie arrived, it was smeared all over with mozzarella.
Here in La Rochelle I encountered an outrageous 'Le British' supermarket sandwich. Made with vegetarian bacon! We've fought wars for less. My favourite bit was a little asterisk & footnote clarifying to the locals that 'British' means 'britannique'. Also, Heinz beaked beans are on sale here, but they're ridiculously expensive and you can get the same product in a different (French) tin for less than half the price.
Finally, throughout this trip I've been collecting photos of the eye-rollingly unoriginal names that they give to 'British-style' pubs. On all three counts - sandwiches, beans, and pubs - see pictures below. Back to proper French food next time round.
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| Port des Minimes |
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| The Old Port by day, from the inside |
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| The Old Port by night, from the outside |
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| Quai Duperré |
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| What they think we eat (see above) |
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| What they think our pubs are called (see above) |
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| Bean branding (see above) |
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| Edd vs Food #174 Pizza San Gennaro at Pizza e Basta, 41 Boulevard Joffre, La Rochelle Tomato-free (see above) |
