For serious foodies, Clotilde Dusoulier's day job is a mouthwatering dream.
The 28-year-old native Parisian writes about food full-time from her Paris apartment, sharing her gastronomic discoveries on her popular blog, Chocolate & Zucchini. Her latest guidebook, Clotilde's Edible Adventures in Paris, showcases many of her favorite restaurants, markets and shops in the City of Lights.
Dusoulier, a former contributor to NPR's Kitchen Window series, goes beyond simply listing recommended restaurants in her book. She hunts down the best Paris has to offer and weaves in advice on how to understand French menus, how to order food correctly and how to behave in a French food store.
Shops are not perceived as public places, Dusoulier says, so customers are expected to show the same respect as if they were visiting a private home. Always greet attendants with a pleasant "Bonjour," she advises, and never treat shopkeepers like servants. The French are very particular about their cuisine, she says, so visitors should be cautious before they criticize it.
"[The French] are proud about the way they make and serve their food, so if you come into their home and ask them to do otherwise, they're hurt in a way," she said in an interview with Ari Shapiro.
Dusoulier recently spent a day with Shapiro in Paris hunting down some of her favorite food haunts.
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