What I eat in a week at my french grandparents‘ home | french food diaries

Hi, I'm Elena, a psychology student from Germany, and today I wanted to show you what I eat in a week in France at my grandparents' house. They live in Burgundy, a region known for its wine and Dijon mustard, and for me this week was all about home-cooked meals, family traditions, and way more cheese and baguette than I usually eat. I went there by train, which took me half a day and a lot of nerves, and when I finally arrived, my welcome snack was a slice of baguette with cheese. Unfortunately, I can't recall the exact names of the cheeses I ate during my stay. There were simply too many. Baguette is basically a daily staple. We have it with almost every meal, and most of the mornings my grandparents go out and buy a fresh one from the bakery. That first evening we had dinner with shrimps, whelks, which are sea snails, and gougères. Gougères are a savory burgundy specialty made from choux pastry and cheese. They're crisp on the outside and airy inside. There's actually also a sweet version of this called chouquettes, and they're sprinkled with sugar. For dessert, my grandma served her homemade plum compote with some little store-bought almond cakes. Simple, sweet, and just the perfect ending to my first evening there. I started the next day with two slices of baguette with butter, a banana, a skir yogurt, and some tea that was kept warm on a little teapot warmer. Meanwhile, my grandparents were already preparing lunch. Since it was lemon chicken, the lemons and limes had been sliced, ready to go. The chicken was browned, the beans were cleaned, and little by little, everything came together in the pot to simmer for some time. While the chicken was simmering, my grandma and I slipped out to the grocery store to pick up a few things. I always love walking through the produce section here. The sheer variety of fresh fruit and vegetables feels so vibrant compared to what I usually see back home, and everything just looks more colorful and inviting. By the time we sat down to have lunch, the chicken had turned out wonderfully tender, falling right off the bone, with a lovely citrusy note that wasn't overpowering. After that, we had buttered beans, and as usual, a bit of cheese before dessert. I'm not sure how common that is elsewhere, but in our family, someone always asks if anybody wants some cheese after the meal. For dessert, my grandmother had made a plum tart from the leftover plums, and as always, it tasted absolutely divine. There's just something so special about grandma's cooking. After lunch, we drove out to the Abbey de Fontenay, a former Cistercian Abbey and UNESCO World Heritage Site, tucked away in the countryside. The place has this quiet, almost timeless atmosphere, with stone walls, cloisters, and gardens that make you feel like you've stepped back into the Middle Ages. My grandma kept pointing out how beautifully maintained the lawns and gardens were, and we wandered around until the evening light dipped lower. Catching those last golden rays of summer there made the whole visit feel so special. Dinner that day was pretty simple. We had some gazpacho out of the package as a starter, then a tomato mozzarella pizza and some vanilla rice pudding with the plum compote. And that was it for day two. Day three started off with two slices of brioche bread with butter, tea as usual, and another skewer yogurt. After that, I went to a cafe and drank a coconut matcha latte, honestly my favorite way to drink matcha. For lunch, we had a smaller version of the gougères. As you can see, they come in all shapes and sizes. Some tomato juice, and the leftover chicken with some pasta. The citrusy sauce went especially well with it, and for dessert, I had another skewer yogurt, some grapes, and what was left of the plum tart. I have to admit that it's amazing when you have someone who cooks for you, which is also the thing I underestimated most about adult life. How tiring cooking and planning dishes can get, so it's always nice when someone else does that for you. After lunch, we went into the city to buy macarons from a patisserie for the evening, and choosing from all the flavors was really hard. They had everything from passion fruit to chocolate, and each one looked absolutely delicious. That night's dinner started with honeydew melon as an appetizer, followed by an amazing omelette with grated cheese, and then of course even more cheese afterwards. And then came the highlight of the day, the macarons. I chose raspberry, passion fruit, and lemon basil flavors, and they were all amazing. Honestly, I've never had such perfect macarons before. They were so flavorful, with a lot of cream and a little bit of jam inside. I would come back just for those macarons, to be honest. This day's breakfast was just like the others, but this time I had some concoyote cheese with it. It's a runny french cheese that tastes a bit like fondue, and I personally love it. Lunch was smoked salmon. I like to absolutely drown mine in lemon juice, followed by potatoes with butter and the rest of the concoyotes. And because that still wasn't enough cheese for my french family, they pulled out a whole cheese platter afterwards. As you can see, I didn't joke about the cheese at the beginning. And then for dessert, I had a small pot of cookies and cream ice cream. And then came dinner with one of my personal highlights, snails. I know, I know, this is one of those foods people often frown upon. They're definitely not something the french eat every single day, and not everyone even likes them. But especially in Burgundy, they're considered a bit of a classic, and over time they've become one of those dishes people strongly associate with french cuisine. Most people buy their snails pre-cooked, which means that the snails and the We started by prepping the herb butter, then placing a snail in each shell and covering it with the butter. To be honest, snails themselves don't taste like much. My mom once said they taste like grass, and I think I'd agree with her. That's why you add so much butter, because the whole flavor of the dish basically comes from it. We preheated the oven to 200 degrees, then turned it off so the butter wouldn't burn, and left the snails in for about 10 minutes. We had some vegetables as a starter, and then of course the snails. I didn't film much because it's a very messy affair with all that butter sauce, but believe me, it was delicious. We ended the day with pastries we had picked up from the bakery, a millefeuille, a lemon tart, and a fruit tart, all divided by three. I just love pastries and friends. After my usual breakfast, we headed to Beaune, a very touristy city in Burgundy, and rightfully so. It has some of the most beautiful traditional architecture in the region. Unfortunately, the restaurant we chose turned out to be a bit disappointing. I had two starters and a dessert. The first starter was a cold cod puree with whelks and various vegetables, topped with mayonnaise and olive oil. That one was actually fine, I'd give it a 6 out of 10. But my second starter, a butternut squash dish with some sort of cold cream inside, was way too sweet. I don't mind a little sweet and savory mix, but when my starter tastes almost like dessert, that's where I draw the line. So for me, this one was more like a 4 out of 10. The bread, however, was very good. The dessert was the biggest disappointment. It was supposed to be a coffee tiramisu, but it had this super crunchy layer that felt completely off. Honestly, it made me uncomfortable eating it. Even my grandma didn't like it, so yeah, safe to say we won't be going back there. After such a disappointing lunch, we were still quite full, so dinner was very simple. Just some leftover vegetables, a bit of gazpacho, smoked salmon, and my last macaron of this day, hazelnut flavored. On my last day, I went to the market halls with my grandma. I love markets, just look at everything they have. I love seeing such a variety of high quality food all in one place. We stopped by the fish stall and picked up some yellowtail for lunch, and afterwards, I treated myself to a coconut matcha latte at the cafe while I started editing my Paris vlog. Coming home to food already cooking is seriously one of the best feelings ever. The whole house smelled amazing, and my grandparents were making a sauce with creme fraiche, lemon juice, and butter to go with the fish. As you've probably noticed by now, we ate a lot of gougere during the week, this time as an appetizer with some orange juice. And oh my god, I cannot even begin to tell you how good this fish was. It was so tender, it basically fell apart, and the sauce went perfectly with it. Afterwards, we had some pasta with grated cheese and the rest of the sauce, and finished with grapes. My very last meal at my grandparents was crepes. And I honestly don't know how my grandma does it, but they always turn out perfect. Thin, golden, soft. As they cook, the whole kitchen fills with this warm buttery smell. I have to admit, I was so hungry I forgot to film what I ate them with, but my favorite way to eat them is with sugar and a ton of lemon juice. And that was my week of eating in Burgundy at my grandparents' house. I'm so grateful for all the home-cooked meals and the time I got to spend with them, and I hope this gave you a little glimpse into French food culture and into my family traditions.