Pourquoi Pas!
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008Que sera sera! I just returned home from a trip to Europe where I visited the beautiful city of Paris. As my colleague said, “Paris is not a place to do things, it is a place to be!” And I couldn’t agree more. Walking around the beautiful streets, even on overcast days, the charm of the city begins to take over. The people, on the other hand, were a different story, c’est la vie! Walking around the Left Bank with some friends, we decided to grab lunch in a petit restaurant and rest our feet. The food was great, the service was typically fair and the discussion was great. As we were eating, we naturally talked about the portion size of the food in Europe versus the USA. I recalled the book Why French Women Don’t Get Fat and, as I looked around the restaurant, of course, all the French patrons were slim, but eating full meals and even desserts! Perhaps this is their only large meal of the day, or they just walk more in the course of the day to keep them slim and lean.
After lunch, I excused myself to the loo. Upon my return, I couldn’t help but laugh and I told my colleagues I figured out why the French aren’t fat. If they were, they would never fit into the bathrooms! This restaurant looked like it was carved out of the 17th century, with thick stone walks and cellars from medieval France, and I think we were just lucky there was a bathroom at all. It was located out the back door of the restaurant and it was so small, I could only turn around if the door was open! The loo included all the necessary functions of a modern-day bathroom, except any space to breath. It certainly made me think twice before ordering dessert, but I figured pourquoi pas? Life is short!
-Alex Young, vice president and associate publisher
