When we travel, we like to take some small gifts or other items which will be interesting or appreciated in that country. Are there any thoughts on what types of items might be apprectiated by our French hosts? We are in Alaska, and the options range from moose jerky, smoked salmon, to California cabs. I had some daydreams of sitting down with a sommelier in a nice bistro and popping a Napa pinot he may never have heard of. I%26#39;d thought about some moose nugget jewelry, but this would be tough to explain with my limited french...
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By hosts do you mean hoteliers or people you know that you will stay with.
I asked this question last spring before we went to stay with the family of our French exchange student. The consensus was to get some type of photography book of your home town or region (I%26#39;m sure there are a lot of beautiful coffeetable books of Alaska scenery). We did this and our hosts were very pleased.
The idea of bringing wine (to France--the nerve) seemed to be an afront to many of this forums respondents :)
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I think coffee table books are a good idea, and the smoked salmon too.
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%26lt;popping a Napa pinot he may never have heard of%26gt; There is the possibility he%26#39;ll never have heard of Napa ....
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If you came to visit me and bought along a Napa pinot (and I%26#39;ve never heard of it) I would be delighted!
And I wouldn%26#39;t say no to the jewellery either :-)
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Hi FrozeninAK,
What you are suggesting is the nicest, kindest thing imaginable, but I am afraid it might not be appropriate. When you say host do you mean you are staying at a private home? In that case then a gift such as coffee table book, salmon or an Alaskan delicacy would be very thoughtful.
But your dream of sitting down with a sommelier in a Bistro should remain a dream. You%26#39;ll probably only find a sommelier in a classy restaurant where they will be busy and not wanting to chat. When you find a lovely Bistro it%26#39;s much more polite to be effusively praiseful, offer all your thanks and shake hands sincerely with the owner than to offer up a bottle of wine (of which he has lot%26#39;s of botles that he chose). If your French is up to some conversation ask the owner to join you for a digestif (ask his advice which is best) and be nice about him, his establishment and France, shake hands warmly and don%26#39;t detain him from his other customers.
I%26#39;m sorry to say this as I know your intentions are really the best but to me as a European giving out little presents to service staff etc comes across as a bit condescending (like GIs giving out nylons and ciggies during the war).
Anyway have a great trip, you%26#39;re obviously very thoughtful so you will be welcome whereever you go.
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i absolutely agree with Jon88400 ...the only thing you could bring from Alaska is a grizzly bear, everybody would be much impressed .....
don%26#39;t worry frozeninAK, be happy and enjoy your stay in Paris ....
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For a small token of appreciation, we%26#39;ve found that unusual US coins are always appreciated -- the Sacagawea dollar, Alaska quarters -- something they%26#39;re not likely to come across in day to day life.
A small explanation of why they are special is also appropriate -- and kids in particular really enjoy coins from many places. (says she who realises that not everyone is as mad about coins as her numismatist husband)
But as above -- unless you are staying with someone you know personally, I%26#39;d leave the big gifts behind -- it%26#39;s awkward at best.
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I thought I would mention my experience giving salmon as a gift to someone in France. I live in Oregon and we have a store here called Made in Oregon. Everthing comes from Oregon in that store. Well, they sell smoked salmon and I bought some and gave it to my host in Digne, France. His comment was that one of the ingredients was %26quot;sugar%26quot; and he slighted products from the US. I am not sure if the sugar was for preserving or what (and I imagine it was a very small amount but needed to be listed on the box). Anyway, this French person is a fabulous cook and very proud of French food and my gift, although he thanked me, wasn%26#39;t what I had hoped. I suggest that you do not give food to the French. They think theirs is the best.
I concur with a book about Alaska. My experience is that when the French come here (our Russian friends too) they enjoy giving and receiving beautiful scenery books (city or countryside).
Good luck and have fun in France.
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We still don%26#39;t know if the French %26quot;hosts%26quot; are by a private and a purely personal arrangement; (invitational) if so, I agree that a nice book from Alaska might be appropriate*. But if by saying %26quot;hosts%26quot;, the OP means basic accomodation providers (a hotel or rental etc.), then gifts are not appropriate at all.
* I sometimes bring several T-Shirts in various sizes, typical of my area, for kids/teenagers of the people I %26quot;know%26quot;. They%26#39;re usually appreciated.
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I agree that prancing about giving little tokens to waiters and hoteliers and service people is patronizing and likely to be annoying -- I brought many little gift items when I lived in Germany in the 60s and the advice I got about what to take was uniformly bad (it was almost as bad as give chocolate and nylons) luckily even at that time of my life I had the good sense to not come out with most things I brought since it soon became apparent that most of these items were available in similar or better forms in Germany at the time -- the gifts would have been and been perceived as ignorant and patronizing
there is pretty much nothing that cannot be bought pretty much anywhere -- which is why something like the photobook for hosts or a very local delicacy tend to be better choices -- or coins for kids -- or even the hat off your head or the sports pin you wear -- unstudied is the key
but the French host who derided %26#39;American food%26#39; when given the smoked salmon which includes sugar in the cure (I%26#39;ll bet all French smoked foods if they have them also include a variety of ingredients, perhaps even sugar, in the rubs used in this process) is just a jerkface -- to use a host gift as a platform to deride the guest is bad behavior in any culture
it is too bad wine is no longer easily transportable because most people who love wine are up for trying something new from another part of the world -- so a good bottle of American wine is a good gift (not that jerkface in the example of the salmon wouldn%26#39;t take that as cause to deride the American wine industry) a good bottle of US wine is not an insult to French wine, it is an exploration of wine and most people I have met in Europe enjoy that just as we are delighted to try a special wine from South America or Australia when visited by guests from those parts of the world - they aren%26#39;t saying %26#39;ours is better%26#39; they are saying %26#39;here, try ours.%26#39;
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