They Stock the Toppings, But Not the Food

One of the stranger things about grocery shopping in France is that they stock the accessories — just not the meal itself.

You can find Cholula in most grocery stores. Real maple syrup, too. Imported. Proudly displayed. But if you go looking for an actual taco, good luck. Best case scenario it’s filled with ground beef, shredded lettuce, and — inexplicably — french fries.

Pancakes aren’t much better. In theory they exist. In practice, they’re more of a rumor.

And if you ask a French person — especially outside the south — why they don’t eat gazpacho, they’ll tell you it’s too spicy.

Gazpacho.
Cold tomato soup.

This is a country where the average palate tops out at black pepper, and even that comes with a warning look. So it does raise a reasonable question: who, exactly, is buying all this hot sauce?

Because someone is. The shelves keep getting restocked. Which means somewhere out there, people are enthusiastically pouring Cholula on things that were never meant to experience heat.

You get the sense someone went to New York once, saw a lot of people eating brunch, and came home with maple syrup and hot sauce — but absolutely no idea what either one is for.

Which, in its own way, is very French. Curiosity without commitment.