Paris vs. New York 1

Facebook Postcard Swap, Sender: Terry
Sent: 20 July 2012, Sent from Sherwood, AR
Traveled ~12,288 km

I am taking Beth's lead and posting something edible for today's Postcard Friendship Friday.

This postcard is from the Paris versus New York Postcard Book by graphic artist Vahram Muratyan. The artist is French who later moved to New York. His Paris versus New York postcard set is a witty and genius visual comparison between the two great cities. It was based on his blog bearing the same title, with a welcome note that says: A friendly visual match between two cities told by a lover of Paris wandering through New York. Details, clichés, contradictions, this way please.

Here is the 'le pain' or bread comparison -- with the French's  baguette on the left and the New Yorker's bagel on the right. A similar graphic was posted on the artist's site on 22.10.10.

Baguette means stick or wand in French. It is a long thin loaf with crunchy crust made using lean dough. It basically contains flour, water, yeast, and salt. It actually came from Vienna, Austria but is very much considered a symbol of French culture. It can be eaten for breakfast with jam or chocolate/fruit preserve spread, usually torn or broken into pieces for serving. The 65 cm long le pain can also be cut in half and eaten as sandwich for any time of the day.

Bagel, the New York counterpart, is called cement doughnut. It is made from a pretzel-like dough recipe. Though it also comes as a ring-shaped roll like the doughnut, this bread is dense in the inside with a shiny and crispy crust. The texture is different because bagel is boiled first before it is baked. It is the only bread that is boiled before it is baked. It has similar ingredients with the French baguette but sometimes, eggs, milk, or butter is/are added to make the inside lighter. It is great served with cream cheese for breakfast (my favorite version of it, actually) and can also be made into a sandwich for snack.

Ok, that's it for now. I'm hungry and will proceed into preparing dinner after posting this. Happy Postcard Friendship Friday everyone!

~maria