I asked my dear friend, Meredith Prevot, to guest post after reading her French culture posts on her family blog. Meredith is an American artist who married a Frenchman and they have spent many months living in France at different times during their life together. She and her husband are my go-to experts on all things France. To see her work, visit Meredith’s website.
One of several words I absolutely cannot pronounce in French is yaourt. I mean, how do you pronounce three vowels in a row? Most of the time I just resort to my Spanish and say yogur when I’m trying to find it at the grocery store in France. Luckily, I usually don’t even have to ask for it because it just so happens that the yogurt aisle at any given grocery store in France is typically massive. It’s actually a bit shocking. You would definitely expect this with the cheese aisle, but yogurt?! Amazing, I know! Everyone knows the French love cheese, but I really think yaourt is their best-kept secret.
The yogurt aisle is like their version of our potato chip aisle, only much healthier. Yogurt is a pretty major staple in the French diet. They typically do not drink much milk, but they eat a lot of yogurt and cheese–the good stuff! Interestingly, you also rarely see any kind of low-fat/non-fat products in the yogurt aisle. French yogurt also typically comes in smaller containers than its American counterpart (which makes up for it not being low-fat). It is often eaten as a light dessert (in my experience the yogurt often comes out with the cheese platter at the end of a meal) or sometimes as a daytime snack.
When I lived in France, I got in the habit of eating plain yogurt on a regular basis because the flavor was so good and natural (which, interestingly, is what they call plain yogurt in French: yaourt nature). This is something I would never do in the US, as our plain yogurt isn’t usually very appealing. It is worth a trip to France just to see the staggering amount of yogurt creations and the variety of flavors available. Some French yogurt products (such as the “Activia”-style) have been adapted to the US market. However, the French version still tastes a lot better. This is probably due to a variety of factors. Sadly, our yogurt here really doesn’t compare. We have done many taste tests at our house. Lately we have been eating a lot of Stonyfield Organic and Wallaby Organic (and our daughter loves her YoBaby!). Greek-style yogurt seems to be making some major headway in the US market right now. Hopefully real French yogurt will be next!
What is your favorite kind of yogurt? I’m always up for some new recommendations!
photo credit
La Laitière yogurt is probably my very favorite.
Not only is it delicious, but they also use a Vermeer painting as part of their marketing.
Brilliant.
Now I am feeling thoroughly homesick for France and my mouth is watering.
Passez une bonne semaine!
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WOW! I seriously want to go to France now purely for the yogurt. We LOVE yogurt at our house. We consume massive amounts weekly. I have actually been trying to find some low sugar (healthier) yogurts lately but I am having a hard time. I probably just need to hit up whole foods. Any reccomendations on a good, better, best choice in yogurt?
By the way I LOVE your blog!
Anna, this might sound a little counter-intuitive, but I typically don't buy anything labeled "low sugar" because I find its usually it's being sweetened by artificial sweeteners, which might be low in calories but i think are worse for you. I usually stick to plain greek yogurt and sweeten it with honey or stevia, or just plain with berries. I have some berry parfait's that I've posted in the past that I love. http://www.healthgirltv.com/2010/05/spring-strawberry-yogurt-parfait-recipe.html I hope that helps!
I agree Hil! Plain Greek yogurt sweetened with honey is delicious. When I do buy sweetened or flavored yogurt, I usually stick to the organic kinds that are sweetened naturally so I can avoid HFCS. Maybe we should do a yogurt tour of France? The regional products there are so varied and amazing!
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