Just got home from my three months in Paris. Still in the midst of culture shock. In terms of the table: Besides the gargantuan portions, there’s the question of speed. Americans eat FAST. Watching people woof their food, it’s like they’re going after a completely different indulgence – the raw feeling of gorging – with taste being a completely secondary factor. It was such a pleasure to cook for friends in Paris. Nothing’s worse than spending hours in the kitchen, only to watch your friends gulp down your lamb chops with a grunt and a “goes down like chicken.”

Oh and welcome to the foodie club, ya filthy snob.

I think this sentence says it all. When I visited the US last year one of the things that hit me was that some of the food just didn’t taste like it was made from real food.

I live in Turkey at the moment. The farming methods here are a lot less industrial than in Western Europe, and you really notice how much more tasty the food is. I guess it has more nutrients as well. So my fingers are crossed for organic farming.