French What?

Senegal was a French colony. Now, I don’t know about you but a big part of what I think of when I think of French culture is the wonderful food, pastries, coffee, etc. I have only been to Paris once but I remember those pain au chocolates like it was yesterday, and the coffee was heavenly. A reasonable conclusion would be that some of this would have rubbed off here during the years of occupation, ummmm that’s a negative, the only thing to be found here in Kaolack, and in towns and cities all over Senegal is this stuff that looks a lot like French bread but turns out to be what can only be described as some form of Styrofoam with a hard, crusty outside. And as for the coffee, in addition to the French influence, there are some major coffee-producing countries in this part of the world but that’s another no, unless you go to a nicer restaurant it will be Nescafe instant coffee that you are drinking. A coffee-lover’s nightmare. Leave it to a former French colony to turn me into a true, British-style, tea drinker.