Downtown Dallas

"All you've talked about is food!" she accused.
That is not true! I thought. But as I formulated a response, I realized her incrimination had interrupted an animated comparison of Spanish and French cuisine…animated for me and Michael, a friend who'd recently studied abroad.
"oh. sorry," I said with a guilty chuckle.

I knew that the meals would be heavier, creamier, and meatier in the States. What shocked me most was how perfectly polished and plastic the large majority of the fresh foods looked. The carrots were too clean, the apples too round, and the onions too big. Unnatural. No wonder it's the most obese nation, we are gorging (and then throwing away) foods that have been injected with stimulants, preservatives, syrups, sugars, etc. A plague of poor health with every bite of the ranch drenched, dirt free, pinky-sized carrot.
Slight exaggeration, yet my body and mind relaxed as I walked from the station to the apartment, greeted on all sides by the smell of bread and the sight of dirty, lumpy vegetables.
Back in Paris.