David Jaggard
When Continents Collide: The Tribulations of Making (and Serving) Thanksgiving Dinner in Paris
Finding a turkey in Paris at this time of year can be a wild goose chase. The French don’t need Thanksgiving. They already have nationally mandated days off on New Year’s Day, Easter Monday, Labor Day (May 1st), VE Day … Read More
Beyond the Péripherique: Art Appreciation 10001 BC in the Caves of Southwestern France
We Know When They Did It, but We'll Never Know Why
I recently went on a pilgrimage in southwestern France. Not to Lourdes, home of the cave where the Virgin Mary put in a famous personal appearance in 1858 (she looked great, by the way), but to Cabrerets, a small town … Read More
My Days Are Numbered, Thanks to the Firemen’s Calendar
Need something to worry about in 2012? The Paris Fire Department to the rescue! It’s that time of year. In Paris, autumn means a chill in the air, leaves on the sidewalk, wild game in the markets… and firemen … Read More
Sing a Song of Stereotypes: What I Used to Think I Knew about France
According to Hollywood, this is the view from every window in Paris. Which is closer to the truth than some of the things I heard… Photo: Darren Palmer The first thing every Frenchman does in the morning is not take … Read More
A Slurp with Destiny: How I Became an Oyster Addict
There’s no accounting for it: people either love oysters or hate them. But I can guarantee that by the time they reach the condition shown here, oysters hate people. As I have mentioned from time to time, it so happens … Read More
A Piece of the Action, on and off the Track at Longchamp Hippodrome
I didn’t get lucky, but number 9’s grand-sire sure did. The horse track is a key fixture of American popular culture, serving as the setting for fiction by writers from Damon Runyon to Charles Bukowski and episodes of TV shows … Read More
Hand to Mouth: Questioning the Questionable Hygiene Practices of French Food Servers
Buying one of these pastries could turn out to be a hands-on experience. Back in the 1950s, the French government undertook a large-scale campaign to improve the population’s general health. Under the impetus of prime minister Pierre Mendès-France, people were … Read More
Getting a Cupful and an Earful on the Café Philo Circuit
How I Spent €9 and Got Everyone's Two Cents
One of the things I admire about the French population as a whole is the surprising number of people here who can’t get enough of school. For example, from 1985 to 2005, one of most eagerly awaited television specials during … Read More
Good Riddance to Bad Reads: A Two-Bit Foray into the Used-Book Biz
Cheap Shot: I'm Cheap, so I Gave It a Shot
Back in the 1980s when I had just moved to Paris, I used to go sell a batch of unwanted books every August. This was the result of a concurrence of circumstances: 1. I used to (and still do) buy … Read More
People-watching while Waiting to Watch the Tour de France
To some it’s the sporting event of the year. To others it’s a metaphorical sensation of discomfort in exactly the same place where the riders experience literal discomfort by the end of the tour. The Tour de France is many … Read More