Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Star mania - is it really fun?

I've been reading reports of visits to France revolving around food & restaurants and it set off my muse mode. Is it really fun/ enjoyable to eat at Michelin starred restaurants five nights in a row? Not even taking into account the cost this, to me, gets to be a bit much.

At today's ridiculous exchange rate we're talking something like $300 per head - right? Every night? I don't care how much money I have I still find that a bit silly. Ok; once in a life time experience & all that I guess, but why not just come back more often?

I love to eat & I value great food, but too much too close together devalues the whole experience. One, or at least I, gets sated if I have too many of these meals to close together. A truly outstanding restaurant meal once a month does me with a good restaurant meal thrown in once a week.

Beyond all of this is the fact that spending a lot of time & money in top French restaurants doesn't do a lot for understanding or enjoying French culture & society. Far better to go to the sort of places John Talbot reviews regularly on eGullet. Those are the places where the French go where one sees true French life. (Question? Next time you are in a top French restaurant in Paris see if you can count the number of ordinary French people dining; not the tourists & not the obvious expense account types, but real couples or families. Interesting?)

I guess that I'm just not there on this. Trophy restaurants? Oneupmanship back home? Whatever? Guess I'm getting old & grouchy, but maybe older & wiser a bit.

Maybe somebody can explain the allure to me?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Definitely the allure wears out pretty early. Laws of diminishing return and all. If we live here we can take our time to explore but tourists have not this luxury. Still, I would really target 1 or 2per city that I am visiting.