Paris, wir lieben dich

 

I've been trying to show Christian Paris for years; the lack of success is not because of any hesitancy on his part, but either money or global pandemics or some combination of both have gotten in our way the last three attempts. However, during lucky try number 4, we made it! 

Paris is one of those cities where, if you don't like it, I probably don't like you, because I just don't understand what there is to dislike. If you can't find something, anything, here that tickles your fancy, you are dead inside, and even then, visit the Catacombs (more on those later)! For us, it has many of our favorite things: carb-laden cuisine; lots of street art; world-renowned museums; dive bars; more carbs; creepy dead people stuff; and tasty food. Add to that easy walkability, and a damn fine Metro system when you can't be bothered to walk anymore, and you've got yourself a mighty-fine weekend trip!

You might be thinking that we only ate croissants the whole time, since we are vegetarian. You would only be partially correct: we did eat at least a couple of croissants every day (c'mon, it's PARIS), but this city has come a long way on vegetarian and vegan food offerings, even creating traditional French dishes with vegetarian and vegan ingredients. Sacré bleu!

Our first night in Paris, we tried BMK Paris-Bamako, a West-African restaurant in the 10th Arr. This restaurant is vegetarian friendly, and also offers carnivorous options. Plus, they have a wee general store, with lots of West and South African goodies, including chocolate, tea, and spices.

I ordered the "Sweet Bouaké", which is roasted plantain and peppers, pineapple, cassava semolina, chickpeas, and salad, while Christian tried the vegan version of a West African classic, "Mafé", which is peanuts roasted in a lovely sauce with lots of veggies. Because I am a fruit bat, I also ordered the sweet potato and coconut cake, topped by passionfruit puree. Not like we need any more motivation to explore more of Africa, but this food made us certain that we'd be happy as vegan clams if this kind of food was readily available.