What the French do Better than Everyone Else

Baked goods. That’s what. More precisely, croissants and pain au chocolats (i.e. square croissant with chocolate).

When I first moved to Paris, I found myself dropping into a bakery at least once a day. There I’d be, walking to work (briskly, because heaven forbid I ever leave myself more than a 30 second window of time to arrive somewhere). If I need to be at work at 8am and it takes 15 minutes, then I’m walking out at 7:46 and power walking the whole way. I really had to channel those hard-earned skills learned in a power walking class in college.

Power walking. That was a class. And I took it.

Back to that first year in Paris – There I’d be, power walking to work, when a sudden uncontrollable force would suck me into the bakery like a giant magnet. Before I knew it, I had ordered a baguette and a croissant and was back to power walking, croissant in hand, baguette under arm. It’s like I would black out, impulse-buy pastries, and then come to as I was eating them. “Wha…what happened?” Croissant flakes everywhere.

The best part of the croissant is that first bite. You get the crispy layered edge, which gives way to that soft pillowy center. If I could sleep on a croissant pillow, I would.

If you attempt to walk while eating a croissant, then during bite one, a firework display of 1,000 croissant flakes will shower you with love, and you have to do that move where you stick your butt out really far and stand on your tip toes to avoid flakes covering your body.

If it’s a good day, you’ll get a pain au chocolat, where there’s warm melted chocolate waiting inside. Crispy, flakey, soft, buttery croissant layers….with a double track of chocolate. And that’s why you should move to France.

Or at least visit.