European Pastry

© 2009 Constance Hobbs. All rights reserved.

© 2009 Constance Hobbs. All rights reserved.

© 2009 Constance Hobbs. All rights reserved.

One of the pitfalls, or not, of living in Europe is the constant availability of delicious pastries. Not only pastries but chocolate too! I'm grateful that I am not a chocoholic. That would be a disaster. The variety and quality of both are amazing here. The pastries above are from our little, local, modest pastry shop. I never read the book "Why French Women Don't Get Fat" but I have my own theories about that. Europeans are by and large very slim. One of the major reasons for this is that they do not over consume. They are reasonable about food. They eat fresh food including lots of fruit and vegetables. Snack foods, like chips etc., are very expensive here and consumed rarely. When you go to a restaurant the portions are small compared to American portions. You might call American portions generous, or perhaps grotesque, depending on your point of view. I like to think of them as generous. The important thing to remember is that you don't have to finish everything on your plate no matter where you live. 

Geneva is part of French culture. So, living here is almost like living in France. Of course the Swiss won't agree with that, but its largely true. Geneva is surrounded by France. The border is minutes away. So while Americans are having cocktails and munchies the French are having coffee. They do not have a cocktail hour, that is an American invention. They do not drink wine until they eat, which is better for you, and they do not over consume the wine as well. The food here is not as pumped up with pesticides and other chemicals as it is in the States. That is because the food simply does not have to travel the long distances it does in the States. So the Europeans eat lots of pastries "sensibly" and remain slim.