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The Gallant Gallic Galette

Buckwheat flour, darker and tastier than refined white flour, is the perfect base for pancakes. In the Brittany region of France, it's the basis for both sweet crèpes and savory galettes.

In fact, a country sausage wrapped in a galette is kind of like a ballpark frank, in the same way that a BMW is kind of like a Buick.

This fellow had pitched his wagon near a popular spot on the 50-mile-long waterway, the Canal Ille et Rance that runs north-south across Brittany, at a place called Hédé, where a series of 11 locks climbs the hillside from the Atlantic Ocean towards the English Channel.

Lunchtime!

I’ve just spent ten days in France, attending a series of trade shows for people in the travel industry. Here’s the thing: there’s no fancy new equipment to look at, no lavish exhibits, just a warren of booths staffed by folks from hotels, local tourist boards, bus companies. You have a schedule: an appointment every 20 minutes. But at 1 PM on the dot, everything comes to a halt and everyone—300 exhibitors, 300 delegates—files into the convention center’s “restaurant.” What’s going on?

Well, duh, this is France, and it’s lunchtime. Three courses, three sets of cutlery, glasses for wine and water, plus a cup for the post-prandial coffee, cloth napkins. Anything less would be a scandal.

The first course is already plated: a fillet of smoked trout, perhaps, with walnut salad, or freshly cured salmon with field greens. White wine, naturally. The red wine goes with the second course: a duck confit, perhaps, or a chicken breast wrapped in cabbage and pastry dough. The waiters move quickly; they’re used to the pace. Dessert and coffee: a sorbet with plum brandy, or a caramelized apple tart.

In the afternoon session, some exhibitors offer visitors a glass of champagne "to tide you over." The gala dinners (three of them on this trip) begin late, eight-ish, always with an aperitif followed by at least two wines and a digestif. Four or five more courses (a fish appetizer, a main course, cheese, dessert). Music, interminable speeches badly translated into English, more music. The formal banquet: it’s like church, a familiar rite for the French, who seem to take comfort in its ritual. Midnight and counting, with an early start the next morning, only the Americans, disoriented and tipsy, get impatient and annoyed.

Pyramid Schemes

UPDATES: Four alternative designs to the food pyramid in Slate ...

... and check out Mark Fiore's "It all started with the Pyramid" cartoon ... hilarious!

Agriculture Department releases new food pyramid with "vertical stripes." Not one-size-fits-all, either. No less than 12 styles. Can't wait to hear the howls of derision.

Two more disturbing items. First, a report from the Centers for Disease Control saying that it's OK to be a little bit overweight.

And second: those studies showing that moderate drinking helps you live longer may be flawed. Argument is that the moderate drinkers had healthier lifestyles in the first place. But isn't that precisely the point?

To me, it looks like the puritan food lobby got into the henhouse again.

Mellow Monday

Much wailing at the growing number of sushi bars in Belltown. Tell me again, why is this a bad thing?

Latest is Wild Fish, which has moved into Afrikando's space at 1st & Broad. No liquor license yet, but owner Kyeong Han is doing fine with a four-item "sushi set" of tuna, salmon, albacore and shrimp for $4 during the Mon-Sat happy hour. Even better, not on the menu, oyster sushi. Instead of being served on the half-shell, the oyster is plopped on a pillow of rice, wrapped in nori, anointed with plum sauce and topped with tobiko. It's wonderful.

Not far away, The Apartment is running its happy hour all day long on Mondays. The cucumber-infused martini is $4, and chef Colin Regis will fire up an order of calamari, $5, sauteed with garlic, sambal oelek and flavored with a bit more of the cucumber vodka.