Food In Europe
Hotels in Western Europe come in 4 categories from 1 to 4 stars. This is the official rating given by the Ministry of Tourism, and it is posted at the entrance on a blue shield. Rates vary according to accommodation, location and sometimes high or low season or special events.
As of 2004, the rate for a *** hotel listed in a reliable guidebook falls between 70 euros (cheap) and 110 euros (expensive) for a double without breakfast.
All hotels in France, by law, must have their rates posted outside (or visible from outside). Bargaining is not the norm but you can always ask for a discount. Hotels located in city centers or near train stations are often very small (15 to 30 rooms) which means that you should book ahead. The newer hotels, business oriented, are found in the outskirts of cities and are sometimes larger structures (100 rooms or more); they may not be easy to reach with public transportation.
Prague Serviced Apartments provides a variety of cheap and luxury serviced apartments in Prague centre and the old town square.
Along the highways, at the entrance of cities, you find US-like motels ; they are very often reachable only by car. When visiting Paris, it is essential to stay in the city. Some motels have minimal service, if you come in late you find an ATM-like machine, using credit cards, which will deliver a code in order to reach your assigned room. The newer hotels are often part of national or international chains and have high standards. Many older hotels are now part of chains and provide standardized service but they retain their own atmosphere.
Throughout France, England, Belgium and Germany, mainly in rural areas but also in towns and cities, you can find B&B’s and gîtes. B&B’s are generally available on a nightly basis, possibly with breakfast but not always; gites or gites ruraux are holiday cottages, and generally rented out as a complete accommodation unit including a kitchen, mostly on a weekly basis. There are very few near or in the cities. Finding them requires buying a guide or, for greater choice, using the internet, as you will not find a lot of signposts on the road.
Traditionally, gites provided basic good value accommodation, typically adjacent to the owners household or in a nearby outbuilding. More recently the term has been extended, and can now be used to describe most country-based self-catering accommodation in France. Hence it includes accommodation as varied as small cottages and luxury villas with private swimming pools.
During peak summer months most self-catering gites require booking several months in advance. There are thousands of B&Bs and gites rented out by foreign owners, particularly British and Dutch, and these tend to be listed, sometimes exclusively, with English-language or international organisations and websites that can be found by keying the words “gites” or “gites de france” into any of the major search engines. There is a large number of organisations and websites offering B&Bs.
In Eastern European countries like Poland, with their recent accession into the European Union the accommodation landscape is changing. Many hotels are now catering to business people and EU citizens taking advantage of the favorable Euro and Sterling exchange rates. This means that hotels are charging more than they would a few years ago. For non-EU citizens, the situation may be a tad more painful as many hotels, especially larger ones, post their rates in Euro.
The Athenaeum Lodge Guest House in Plymouth, Devon is a charming Georgian Grade II Listed Building, ideally situated in the heart of the city close to Plymouth Hoe, about 200 meters from the seafront and a 10 minute walk from the prestigious Barbican.Centrally Located Bed and Breakfast in the heart of the City on the famous Plymouth Hoe.
For budget travellers, the news isn’t much better. Hostels affiliated with the national hostelling association are often horrid options for backpackers because of imposed curfews. Most large cities have an abundance of hotel options. When traveling to a popular vacation spot in the summer make sure to book a room in advance because demand may outnumber supply. Additionally, some of the Cafes on the main highways between cities also often have rooms to rent. You can also book a self catering cottage on Mull in one of our fantastic self catering cottages. All situated in stunning locations on the Isle of Mull.
Food Eaten By The Locals
Spain / The Aymes Family, Orginially From Ecuador
The Ayme family in their kitchen house in Spain, with one week’s worth of food. Ermelinda Ayme Sichigalo, 37, and Orlando Ayme, 35, sit flanked by their children (left to right): Livia, 15, Natalie, 8, Moises, 11, Alvarito, 4, Jessica, 10, Orlando hijo (Junior, held by Ermelinda), 9 months, and Mauricio, 30 months. Not in photograph: Lucia, 5, who lives with her grandparents to help them out. Cooking method: wood fire. Food preservation: natural drying.
One Week’s Food in September
Grains & Other Starchy Foods: $17.40** White potatoes, 100 lb; white rice, broken, 50 lb, cheaper than whole rice; ground wheat,* 15 lb; corn flour, 10 lb; white flour, fi ne, 10 lb; green pea flour, 8 lb; white flour, coarse, 6 lb.
Note: The Aymes normally grow their own potatoes and corn, but have none to harvest at this time of year. They have eaten the last of their homegrown barley.
Dairy: ** Milk, 1.8 gal, from family cows; only part of the week’s supply is shown in the photograph.
Meat, Fish & Eggs: none.
Fruits, Vegetables & Nuts: $11.25
Plantains, 13.4 lb; yellow bananas, 6.2 lb, purchased overripe as they are cheaper that way; oranges, 3.6 lb; lemons, 2.5 lb; Andean blackberries, 1 lb; lentils, 10 lb; carrots, 3.6 lb; red onions, 3 lb; leeks, 2 lb; lettuce, 1 head.
Condiments: $2.90 Brown sugar, 11 lb, purchased as a cake, used for sweetening coffee and eaten as candy; salt, 1.5 lb; vegetable oil, 16.9 fl oz; cilantro, 1 bunch.
Beverages: ** Stinging nettle, 1 small bunch, gathered wild for tea; corn silk, 1 handful, boiled in water for both tea and medicine; water from a nearby spring, carried by hand, for drinking and cooking.
Food Expenditure for One Week: $31.55 **
** Total value of homegrown foods, if purchased locally: $3.20
Eating Out
With its international reputation for fine dining, few people would be surprised to hear that most European cuisine can certainly be very good. Unfortunately, it can also be quite disappointing. Finding the right restaurant is therefore very important – try asking locals, hotel staff or even browsing restaurant guides for recommendations as simply walking in off the street can be a hit and miss affair.
There are many places to try French food in France, from three-star Michelin restaurants to French “brasseries” or “bistros” that you can find at almost every corner, especially in big cities. These usually offer a relatively consistent and virtually standardised menu of relatively inexpensive cuisine. To obtain a greater variety of dishes, a larger outlay of money is often necessary. In general, one should try to eat where the locals do for the best chance of a memorable meal. Most small cities or even villages have local restaurants which are sometimes listed in the most reliable guides. There are also specific local restaurants, like “bouchons lyonnais” in Lyons, “crêperies” in Brittany (or in the Montparnasse area of Paris), etc. Ethnic food is available throughout France, Chinese restaurants and takeaways (actually most of them are Vietnamese) are everywhere, and large cities have North African, Greek, Italian (pizzerias) restaurants and eateries. The ubiquitous hamburger eateries (US original or their French copies) are also available.
Despite jokes and stereotypes, internationally-orientated British cuisine has improved greatly over the past few decades, and the British remain extremely proud of their native dishes. Restaurants and supermarkets in the middle and upper range have consistently high standards, and the choice of international dishes is the best in Europe. However, British eating culture is still in the middle of a transition phase. Unlike their continental neighbours, many (especially poorer) Britons still eat to live rather than live to eat, and as a result, food quality is variable on the budget end of the market. The United Kingdom can be an expensive place to eat out compared to say, the more southern European countries, but relatively cheap in comparison with countries such as Switzerland and Norway.
You may want to try the 5 star Bed and breakfast Hotel in Bournemouth. It’s a non smoking family run hotel, specialising in traditional cooking.
German food sticks pretty much to its roots and a typical dish will consist of meat with some form of potatoes and gravy, accompanied by vegetables or salad. However, the modern German cuisine has been influenced by other European countries such as Italy and France and gets a bit lighter. Dishes show a great local diversity and it might be interesting to discover those. Since most bigger employers have a canteen for their employees, you will find fewer sandwich shops and takeaways than in the Anglo American world and therefore the eating out culture in Germany is dominated by the Gasthaus/Gasthof and Restaurants to have proper food.
Poles take their meals following the standard continental schedule: a light breakfast in the morning (usually just a coffee and perhaps a pastry), then a lunch at around 1pm or 2pm, then a supper at around 7pm. It is not difficult to avoid meat, with many restaurants offering at least one vegetarian dish. Most major cities have some exclusively vegetarian restaurants, especially near the city center. Vegan options remain extremely limited, however. Restaurants and other types of food service are generally inexpensive for those accustomed to price in Western Europe or the United States. Finer restaurants are on par with the best in those regions but cost two or three times less.
Italian food inside of Italy is different than Italian in America or western Europe. Italian food is based upon a few simple ingredients and Italians often have very discriminating tastes that may seem strange to Americans and other visitors. For instance, a sandwich stand might sell 4 different types of ham sandwiches that in each case contain ham, mayonnaise, and cheese. The only thing that may different between the sandwiches is the type of ham or cheese used in them. Rustichella and panzerotti are two examples of sandwiches well-liked by Italians and tourists alike. Also, Italian sandwiches are quite different from the traditional Italian-American sandwich. Rather than large sandwiches with a piling of meat, vegetables, and cheese, sandwiches in Italy are often quite small, very flat (made even more so when they are quickly heated and pressed on a panini grill), and contain a few simple ingredients, rarely, if ever lettuce. The term panini may be somewhat confusing to travellers from Northern Europe where it has erroneously come to mean a flat heated sandwich on a grill, in Italy the term is equivalent to “bread rolls” (plural) which can be simple rolls or sometimes with basic filling. However instead of a sandwich why not try piadinas which are a flat folded bread with filling which are served warm. Americans will notice that Italian pasta often has a myriad of sauces rather than simply tomato and alfredo. Also, Italian pasta is often served with much less sauce than in America.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011 at 11:18 am and is filed under Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.