Hi Soupers,

I’m  Coty Pate, and I am going to Lyon, France to do my Culinary Internship. At least I hope I am as I came here without a job or a place to stay really.

Not to provide too much detail, but I am a student at the International School of the Culinary Arts and part of our program is to do an internship in a working restaurant. I thought it would be fun to do this in France. After all, isn’t France the home of the culinary arts? It is a bit risky, but we will see.

Anyway, it has been a bit of trial getting here, but I won’t linger on that. Now, I am here and I am ready to study the cuisine and try all kinds of different foods. I will also be studying the culture and language and life in general. All along the way, I will be keeping you up to date on all my experiences.

I arrived in Paris last Monday and stayed in the city of love for a few days. I did not find love but I did try some great restaurants. The things they had on their menus at the common bistro or cafe are things that we would only find on menus at higher end “fine” dining restaurants in the US. Imagine if I went into a four star restaurant in France and found a Big Mac… maybe not.

In just a few short days, I had beef tartare, sautéed white sea bass, and andouillette and those were just my main courses. I have also had a variety kinds of amazing cheeses. Cheese is served at the end of the meal just before the dessert and as you can imagine, wine is quite common always.

I am not a grand speaker of French but I did learn a few terms in culinary school and can find my way around a menu. Still, when I get stuck the people have been very helpful. Not what I expected considering the reputation. Even when they don’t know English, they try their best to help me out.

On landing, I headed straight for the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. Neither disappointed! I personally loved Notre Dame. Cathedrals are chalk full of detailed work and history. No Esmeralda though.

France is generally easy navigate so far. I took the train from Paris to Lyon which only took two hours. It seemed to just glide across the tracks. There was so much scenery along the way. The rolling farm lands with creeks running through them and the Rhone Alps in the distance were a beautiful site.

The food in Lyon so far is more of “comfort” foods variety. One of my favorite dishes was a delicious salmon tartine served with a raspberry vinaigrette side salad. 

On Saturdays they have many different markets set up on the side of the streets. One is sponsored by Paul Bocuse (one of the finest chefs in France and, therefore, the world). They have all for food than you can image from sea foods, poultry, fruits and vegetables and a great assortment of cheeses many of which I have not seen or tasted before and look forward to telling you about. Paul Bocuse also has restaurant here which is actually right outside of Lyon. Not far at all and definitely worth the trip. He is world renowned for traditional French cooking.

Well, enough waxing. Got to get to work finding a job. Maybe Chef Bocuse needs an intern. I hope you will enjoy reading about my experiences, trials and tribulations as I make my way here in Lyon and tour Europe.

Au revoir,

Coty

To read more of my experience in Lyon, click here