France #5: Food and Culture

Neva ’27, describes the variety of great food offered in restaurants and with her host family and how it has been a contributing factor to a great experience in Arles.

Whether I’m eating at my host family’s house or a restaurant in town, I think the food in Arles is amazing. I am not a picky eater, so I appreciate the various types of foods offered here. For example, a sushi place and an Italian place are both right next to my house. Every restaurant we have gone to together has been very good and definitely provided generous portions. With my host family, the food has also always been great. My host mom is a great chef for both dinner and breakfast. For dinner, she makes great pasta, salad, quiche, veal, etc. For breakfast, she always asks what I want to eat and says she will make whatever said food. I like to have eggs for breakfast so she usually makes me good eggs with a side of toast. There’s also many cafes open for breakfast if I don’t get the chance to eat with my host family. I’ve never felt like I didn’t eat enough or didn’t like the food offered here.

During our free time, my friends and I like to walk around town to find different places for breakfast, ice cream, or even Boba tea. We found that there are a lot of different options and have loved each one we’ve tried. Food hasn’t been a burden or a worry for me here, instead, it has been consistently very good. I think many of my classmates would agree with me since I haven’t heard any negative opinions about the food here. I also think the people in Arles are very kind, so when ordering food and probably making mistakes, they never make me feel like I should just give up and speak English. I’ve had a great experience in Arles so far and the food is definitely a contributor.