Je mange pas de la viande!!!!

Ok, so I knew that being a vegetarian in France would be a bit of a challenge. They are known for being meat eaters. They even eat snails and frogs rather than munch down on a tomato. But today my worst nightmare became a reality. The other assistants (Manuela and Guillermo) and I decided that today was the day we would all finally use our 3 euro canteen cards and break our eating in the canteen virginity. In France, however, lunch is never just a sandwich or a salad. Not even a baguette! Nope here it is a starter, a salad, a hot main meal and a dessert (with bread on the side évidemment). I can guess what you're thinking. "That's brilliant, Maisie! So much food and such amazing value!" Well a) I'm not sure how you knew how good value it was seeing as I forgot to mention that each meal costs 2.50 Euros. and b) not when the meal is ALWAYS meat. Now I'm not a fussy vegetarian. I'm, technically speaking, a pescatarian. I eat fish. I don't insist on things being cooked or kept in seperate areas to meat products. I'll even pick the meat out of a dish or eat around it. But when I smile amicably at the chef and he then hands me a plate with a steamiing RABBIT carcass on it, I draw the line. I have a rabbit at home. His name is Bertie. He hops around and eats carrots and does rabbity things. Needless to say I literally gagged my way through my salad and little bits of pasta before I gave up completely. The other assistants found this highly amusing. Therefore, it seems I will be surviving the rest of the year on my cheese, bread and rondelé stash. I still have 14.60 euros on my canteen card. I thought maybe I could just skip out the meat parts of the meals. That works fine...but tomorrow the meal is chciken and carrots. I'll stick with rondelé (which by the way is one of the best things about this country. Pure genius).

Bisous x