I Miss U all my Blog: Paris Miam-Miam

Friday, April 9, 2010

Paris Miam-Miam

Posted by pece at 7:04 AM

This morning I got an email from Cindy:

Bonjour Carol - What does "miam-miam" mean?

This is a complex question that has been keeping me up nights...

The basic translation of miam-miam is your everyday Yum Yum or nom nom nom, it's used more extensively in France than we would expect...

And while it's also true "miam-miam" is basically a kid's word (like yum yum),in Paris you'll hear "miam miams" coming out of the most sophisticated mouths. It's actually kind of shocking...

If you go into Hugo & Victor, you'll hear a lot of "miam miams" over these very high-end marshmallows.

Galeries Lafayette Gourmand is Miams HQ (headquarters if you're not British). They have this giant poster plastered over the entrance. And please note the words MIAM MIAM are spelled out in red and hit you immediately upon entering. You would never in a million years find Dean & Deluca plastering YUM YUM on any of their posters...if they had a poster, which they do not...sniff

Another one of those French cultural nuances that takes a bit of getting used to - this woman is having a severe attack of the Miams and is trying to merge with the window - something the French call, "le leche vitrine" meaning to lick the windows!

Laduree, is another Miams HQ. This customer is on her cell desperately calling for help on what to buy and who can blame her? The choices are infinite...

At macaron class at the Paris Ritz the sound of miam-miams was deafening, and this was The Paris Ritz!

One Parisien phenomenon that makes me go miam are these "fake" madeleines inside every vending machine in every Metro station. They have to be fake don't they? Can a madeleine be mass produced? It goes against all belief. And yet I have lost more $$$ than I like to think, trying to grab a bag. These vending machines are a total scam...