January 12, 2011

Peter (as in the French verb, not the name)

The only rule I ever learned about food and flatulence was taught to me in song form at a young age. You might recognize it as such:

Beans beans the wonderful fruit
The more you eat,
The more you toot!
The more you toot,
The better you feel
So let’s have beans for every meal!!


As a young girl, I did not like beans. I claimed to not like how they tasted, but really I just avoided eating them for fear of farting uncontrollably afterwards. When I finally had enough courage to try beans (after I went to college), I discovered that they were delicious! Now I eat beans without a second thought to the dangers that may lurk on the other end.


Some beans I took with me from CA. I miss Trader Joe's!


One night at dinner, La Maman made FBF and I des poireaux. This was a new vegetable for me, and not even looking up the translation in La Maman’s French/English dictionary (leeks) helped me recognize it. Long, white on one end, green on the other, they smelled delicious, even if they looked a little stringy.

I dug in.

They were delicious! I helped myself to seconds. And then I helped myself to thirds.

“Alors tu aimes bien les poireaux?” (So you seem to like leeks?) La Maman half asked, half stated.

“Oui! Je les adore!” (Yes! I love them!) I exclaimed, ever the excitable American.

She laughed, and then told me, “bon fait attention! Ça fait peter, les poireaux.” (Well be careful! Leeks make you fart.)

At first I couldn’t believe it. Was she really informing me about foods that make one fart? “Ah bon?” (Really?) I said, testing the waters.

FBF replied, “Oh oui!” (Most definitely!) We all had a good laugh.

My knowledge on farty foods has only increased since this first diner conversation. Apparently there are a lot more foods than just beans that make you fart. And not just weird unknown vegetables, either. Foods I’ve been eating for years.

According to La Maman, and my personal use of the scientific method proving her hypothesis, the following foods make you fart:

- Les poireaux (leeks)
- Les oignons (onions)
- Les echalots (shallots)
- Les petits pois (peas)
- Chou (cabage)
- Choufleur (cauliflower)
- Les hauricots (beans, but we already knew that)


Fart inducing foods found readily in la cuisine (the kitchen).


Luckily I wasn’t raised in a French household, or I would have “not liked” a lot more foods.

8 comments:

  1. Hi Laura,
    I just spent the last half hour perusing your blog and reliving some of my first moments living in France, falling in love with my hubby, being a teaching assistant, etc etc. I'm an American in Lille as well, and i'm on maternity leave until March. Let me know if you'd be interested in getting a coffee or something sometime? I love meeting other Americans :)

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  2. Laura

    When you get to my age, pretty much everything makes you fart!

    Seriously though, I have suffered from Bottom wind a lot more since I moved to France - change of diet - probably more bean, pulses and vegetables (certainly less bacon sarnies!)

    Lentils are the worst for me (check out.. http://www.atasteofgarlic.com/general/the-versatile-blogger-award/ - most shameful moment no.3!)

    All the best

    Keith

    P.S. Watch out for that Amber girl!

    P.P.S. Since reading this post have been thinking about the possibility of a fart of the week award but not so sure how to judge it (or, indeed, who to judge it?)

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  3. Life makes one fart - and with good cause.

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  4. Laura, you have to read this post at http://macaronsandmirabelles.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/523/ The peter posts just keep coming!

    Thanks for link to Keith review of my blog! I owe it to you!

    -Linds

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  5. Amber: Thank you for checking out my blog. I would love to meet up sometime! I only work three days a week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday), so we should be able to figure something out. Send me an email at laurasviequotidienne@gmail.com with your phone number and we can organize it! :)

    Keith: Oh man your fart story is hilarious! I can't believe they threw out the meat. Now that I've been informed about all the foods that make you fart, I am much more aware of the effects after dinner, haha.

    I love the idea of a fart of the week award! Or maybe just a toilet humor award? That way people wont think you're rating individual farts...haha.

    Mike: I definitely agree it's for a good cause. Leeks are totally worth it.

    Lindsey: I read the post. This must be the week for fart blogs. It's now your turn! And congrats on the review!

    Ogla: Thanks for reading my blog! I'm glad you found it amusing :)

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  6. FUNNY! I didn't know that about leeks, but I cook with them quite a bit so this post explains a lot :-)

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  7. Glad I could help you out! I'll update the list if La Maman let's me know of any other fart inducing foods.

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