Tastes Like Chicken

I tried escargots back in December and liked them. Now I can also say that I have eaten les cuisses de grenouilles.

Yesterday a group of us went to Lyon. After a day spent seeing the sights with our newly-arrived American friend Claire, we set out to find a bouchon Lyonnais, a traditional Lyon restaurant, for dinner. Lyonnais cuisine is very carnivorous, offering such specialties as tripe and brain. We chose this restaurant that seemed to be a modern take on a bouchon Lyonnais that also offered a vegetarian menu as Claire is vegetarian.

In France restaurants frequently offer set menus, which are typically good value. The only downside to this is when you are torn between dishes on different menus. Last night, for example, Claire ordered delicious chèvre crème brûlée and was nice enough to let us four omnivores have a taste.

When our frog legs arrived, we were surprised to see that they had been breaded and fried--we were expecting them to be pan fried in butter and more readily resemble legs; that they didn't made it easier to not think about the fact that we were eating frogs. The legs were delicious and they did actually somewhat taste like chicken.

Eating amphibious creatures spurred the debate as to whether a pescatarian would eat frog legs (a quick google search reveals we aren't the only ones who have wondered). We texted our pescatarian friend Annie who responded that she wouldn't eat frog legs as frogs weren't fish.

So there we have it. I have had the two most renown unsual French foods. Are there any others I should try while I'm in France?