How to Order Ham and Cheese/ coldcuts in France

Carol, My French skills are somewhat "limited", but the words you're probably looking for are: > Cheese - Fromage > Ham - Jambon > Salami - same You might find it helpful to pick up a copy of the RS French Phrasebook, as I believe it has a section on foods. There are also some good menu guides, but I've never used them so can't offer any comments. You'll probably find that the Deli staff will be able to speak at least some English, so if you speak slowly you should be able to convey what type of foods you're looking for. Your children may have to be a bit "flexible" with their dining choices, as not everything will be (or taste) the same as it does at home. Happy travels!

Carol, buying take-away lunch in Paris is very different today from 20 years ago. While the changes may be better for tourist comfort, they are not better for the many virtues of European travel "sung" by Rich Steves! When I address someone now in Paris, in adequate French, I am now answered quite often in English, with no hint of scorn or resentment. To get to your concern, in any busy neighborhood of Paris, you will pass at least two bars or snack shops in each block that have pre-made slim baguettes made with a)cheese b)ham c)ham and cheese. All you have to do is point to what you want and indicate the quantity. I don't have children, but alas, at the level of cuisine we are discussing here, the epicurean qualities of the two sandwich coverings will be at about the blandness of a Subway here. The bread will be far superior. Hope that helps. Do they have falafel in Lynn? (just kidding ... ) Be sure to read up on "L'As de Falafel". My point (Ironica typeface) is that it's easier to get a fine Middle Eastern sandwich in Paris than a fine train-station sandwich!

You don't say if you are going to Paris, but if you are, this is a good place to learn about eating there: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/paris/. Don't just look at the restaurant recommendations (although some mention being kid friendly) and don't be put off by the links to his and other guidebooks for sale. Go all the way down and explore the page for other tips, including ones about kids. Many of the tips are applicable all over France. Rather than just tell you to use Google to find the answer(s) to your French food vocabulary questions, here's a list of words that you might find useful: http://www.vocab.co.uk/vocabulary/uk/french/food.htm. I have these saved on my Kindle. France does have supermarket style grocery stores with packaged deli meats and cheeses which look very similar to what we have in the US. We stayed in the Marais last June and there were lots of restaurants and take out places on a major street near our apartment. Some did have rotisserie chickens making my mouth water as I went by. They were hard to miss. I didn't see any in the two supermarkets near us, but that wasn't on my radar. You and the kids will have fun exploring those markets so long as no one is famished and crabby when you are doing it. If you do go to a fromagerie for cheese or a charcuterie for deli meats, ask for a taste (un petit gout) if you are unsure. And my husband says to try Schweppes Agrum if you like carbonated citrus beverages. France is the only place we have been able to find it so far.

We've had a lot of fun putting together a picnic from a supermarket where all the labels are in French or some other language. The meats are packaged similar to here unless you use a deli. The only thing we had trouble with in Paris was mustard. There were a dozen to choose from. We had to ask. With a lot of funny sign language and laughs all around, the lady showed us the mild one.

Thanks for the information. We are staying in Paris this summer in the 7th a street away from Rue Cler and I thought we could go in one place for bread, one for cheese and one the other meat. I guess I could do one stop shopping in a grocery store. I guess it depeneds on how adventurous we are and I thought going into each shop atleast one. Later we leave and tour the country for several weeks and I plan to do the picnic thing as often as possible. Knowing my kids and our budget we won't be sitting down to dine very often. I have been reading about street food and we all love ethnic foods and take aways. What is one of your favorite charming foodie street? I read the Marais, Montmarte, St. Germaine, Latin quarter. I don't have time for all of them but want to experience the best of these areas. Thoughts? So in Lynn we have a very diverse population and ethnic food everywhere. Our kids eat Vietnamese, Mexican, Cambodian, and Indian food regularly. My falafel experience is limited to tastings at Costco. I know we can exjoy this in the Jewish Quarter. Have a great Sunday

Carol, the point method works well for us, we just point at the meat or cheese we want.. for cheese for kids I guess you could ask if its taste ( gout) mild ( leger, douce gout) or strong( fort gout ) . Ham is easy , they have great ham in France. Try some of the salamis too. We have been in places, far from Rue Cler where the staff seem to speak little to no English but they have always been helpful, often even offering a taste too.. it helps a lot to choose a place that is not super400 crowded as they can get impatient if there is along line behind you. Also, in many places one person puts your order together and then its passed off to the cashier where you go pay. I will assume you are not familiar with metric, but about 50-80 grams of meat is enough for one sandwich , so for three of four sandwiches you could just order say 300-grams of a sliced meat. It helps if you have a pad of paper to jot down numbers if you are not confident with prounoucing or understanding numbers .. 300 is trois cent( pronounced "sont" grams. finally , when you hold up your fingers to indicate numbers, your thumb is number one, if you hold up your index finger for one they will likely interpated that as the number two. They start at the thumb , so thumb is one, index finger is two, middle finger is three and so on..

hi, this was just my experience in France last march. But if i wanted to interact with any locals, i would say as follows in French. > Hello. They would usually say the same. > Do you speak English, please? They would say Oui (yes), Non (no) or say or make a hand gesture of litte or say "little". > i would say "thank you" in french again and get down to business. if you can count from 1~10 whatever and dont forget that they use kilograms (kg) there for weights. i was able to get by. But most of the times, they spoke better english than my french. i will also echo what was said, that i never got a rude look if i asked them in french first! if they were unhappy, they didnt show it. with regards to the premade baguette sandwiches, they are usally made dry. example, no butter/mayo...ect at least the ones i had. Also, they dont pile on the stuff to feed an army. its a few slices of everthing. But i will tell you the bread is to die for. I had a few of them and even if they were made that morning (AM), it beat alof of the premade sandwiches here! If you look around there are small grocery stores here and there and on the Rue Cler street there will be restaurants/shops putting up their stalls and selling alot of foods. There is also a couple fruit vendors on that street too. If youre going to be in Paris, you MUST try some of the macroons. They are like a sandwich cookie, but waaaaaay better! you will see them all over the place too. happy trails

Carol, I strongly recommend you spend $9 on RS' French phrase book; I easily found the answer to your questions and many more in my copy...Concerning food only, there are sections on restaurant foods and a menu decoder, picnic foods, fruits, vegetables, drinks (juices/milks/coffee/wine/beer), dietary restrictions, paying for your meal, how to ask for a fork, etc. Be sure to spend a considerable amount of time with the phrase book at home, though. You might even write out some questions in advance that you can show the person you're dealing with if you get in a bind! Depending on the ages of your kids, you might even make flash cards with some of the more common words on it - make a game of it! The kids will feel a huge sense of pride and accomplishment when they are able to figure things out on their own :-D Do prepare them that some things may taste a little differently there - the provolone might be a bit smokier/sharper/drier (or whatever) than they're used to. Ham won't taste just like Oscar Meyer - and may vary from store to store. You might think about always keeping something in your daybag they will eat (peanut butter crackers, Snickers bars, whatever) for those times their food is 'yucky'...Good luck!

hi again, if youre always walking around with a iphone or phone stuck to your face, you maybe able to download a translator app. for the life of me i dont see why someone hasnt made an app so you type in what you want spoken, or speak what you want and it translates for you. If there is one, why arent people using it? worse case, start snorting like a pig and clucking like a chicken, i think its sort of universal...lol. the cheese and salami will be up to you. happy trails.

Or you could go to the Subway Sandwich Restaurant at 98 Rue Monge and order a coldcut combo.

Or you could go to the Subway Sandwich Restaurant at 98 Rue Monge and order a coldcut combo.

When I lived in France and got homesick for American cheese, I'd buy Dutch mimolette, a brassy-orange colored cheese, which you can find in any cheese shop or grocery store in Paris. Honey ham doesn't exist, but you want what is called "jambon de Paris" or "jambon blanc". For salami, can have the shop slice hard sausage for you. My husband always gets one called "Rosette de Lyon". Yummy. You're right to buy it at shops and bakeries because the quality will be better, and your kids will appreciate it. If you are going to buy a rotissorie chicken, bring wipes, lots of wipes. If you don't bring a pocket knife, you can buy a folding-blade Opinel knife at any hardware store you pass.

@Ray, "for the life of me i dont see why someone hasnt made an app so you type in what you want spoken, or speak what you want and it translates for you. If there is one, why arent people using it?" There is in fact an App like that available, and it works reasonably well. Have a look at the Jibbigo website. With the App, it's possible to speak a short phrase in English, and it then translates and speaks the same phrase in the target language. It also displays the phrase in both languages, so it's also easy to just show the words to the person you're trying to communicate with. I've asked native French and German speakers that I know here how well it works, and in both cases their reply was "it's close and gets the meaning across, but it's not a perfect translation". One other advantage is that it works off-line. The files are a bit large, so will probably be more useful to those with lots of free memory on their phones. I always recommend buying as much memory as one can afford, and this is one reason (my iPhone has 64 GB so I have lots of room). Cheers!

Back to the original question: Jambon is ham. Jambon cru and Jambon de Parme are closer to Prosciutto. Jambon Fumée is smoked ham. No honey ham available. Saucission Sec is salami. Watchout for large peppercorns in it if you don't want it "spicy" Dinde is turkey and Poulet is chicken for the white lunch meats. You may also find porc, but you can probably figure that one out on your own. Most pre-made "Jambon Fromage" baguette sandwiches will come with emmenthal, which is a mild Swiss cheese. Your kids might prefer it with buerre (butter) rather than with crudités (lettuce and tomato, maybe egg and/or mayo). Find a good bakery and you will find good sandwiches. They may offer a "formule" where you get a drink + dessert included for 7-8€. If you go to the grocery store, you can probably find individually wrapped "Hamburger" cheese slices that are the same processed junk you can get in the US. Other mild sliced cheeses are Gouda and Edam. A young Comte is also mild. Provolone is rarer, but you might be able to find it. If you're in a cheese shop, you could ask for them to make the cheese tranché, which is sliced. But don't be surprised if they won't take the time to slice, or won't cut the cheese thin enough.
You could also try getting a soft herbed goat's cheese (chevre) to spread on sandwiches or buy fromage nature à tartiner (like cream cheese) To be continued...

... Rotisserie chickens bought at the market or small butcher shop are pricey IME. Be careful whether they say they are priced by kg or by the piece. I'd expect you'll encouter prices of 10-15€ for tiny ones. 16€+ for larger ones. For a first try at a picnic with kids in tow, I would recommend a grocery store. You'll be able to look at everything at your own pace. There's a Franprix near the Rue Cler area with a halfway decent ion and prices. You should also be able to purchase napkins, beverages, and paper plates there if you wish to gather fixings at smaller specialty stores. Don't forget you'll need knives to cut apart a rotisserie chicken. And one last tip - don't let your kids get tired and hungry. Stop to sit at a cafe or outdoor restaurant and have a drink. (Tip to save money - you can sometimes buy a 1.5L bottle and share) Grab a sugar crepe from a vendor and sit on the curb or a bench if you can find one. Go back to your room and shower before dinner. Make sure it's an enjoyable vacation.

When you see the rotisserie chickens, look down where the chicken fat drips. You'll find potatoes roasting in that chicken fat, and they are wonderful. I suggest you buy lunch early, and carry it around with you. You may see two bakeries on every block, until it is lunchtime and everyone is getting grouchy. Then suddenly you find you're in an area with nothing to eat. Also, a handful of nuts can keep the meanies away until you can have a real meal.

Just a suggestion for an easy lunch for you & the kids. Across the park from Jardin palais du Luembourg is a great "take-away" for sandwiches & panini called Founil. It's very easy to find, grab some sandwiches & a drink walk back over to the park where there are chairs to sit and eat. Get a spot near the "pond" in front of the palais and the kids can play with the sailboats (they have push sticks for the kids to turn the sailboats around). And you can relax. To find the sandwich shop go through the park to the right of the palais, cross over Rue de Medicis (Le Rostand Cafe in on the corner)Walk around to your right,pass LeLuxeibourg & Itadaki Restaurant. Founi is next door. Menu is posted and you and just point to what you want. It's fun and gives you a break. Enjoy!!

Thank you one and all for your advice and tips. Everything else is planned except for the food planning which is what I am doing now. My husband read my question yesterday and laughed at me thinking it was such an obvious question. " Look up the word cheese in French" he said and you are going to get some responses with the dreaded, "Read a book". Well I have four books on France, but not the one that was mentioned which I will go and take a look at. I also told him that that the reason our trip to Germany, Austria, Switzerland in 2010 was so seamless was because of the RS books and the hundred questions I asked on this helpline. Merci Caroline

@ carol, with regards to cheese in french, RS book covers it and some other foodie words. happy trails.