It’s one of the things that stuck in my mind the most, in those many years of studying French, that when ‘Petit Dejeuner’ is the question, the answer is almost always…pain au chocolat!
(Washed down with ‘le chocolat chaud’, of course!)
This misconception that in France, cereal is all but obsolete… well it might not make much sense to anyone whose GCSE years WEREN’T defined by the role-play delights of ‘Encore Tricolore’, as mine were.
Unsurprisingly, devouring these books for breakfast, and digesting their croissant-ordering cliches as continental gospel, has left a legacy of more than just a vague proficiency for navigating the Paris Patisserie experience.
As well, it has left a particularly enduring penchant for Pain au Chocolate - fed by Libby’s gluten-free finest, no less - and which I justify by the knowledge that if it’s good enough for all the fictitious Veroniques from Guadeloupe…it’s good enough for me.
For those whose breakfast tastes are similarly antithetical of UK norms, Libby’s part-baked home-delivery option might just be the answer to all your pain-au-choc prayers!
Deliciously crisp and irresistibly gooey, they not only put the shop brought equivalents to shame, but also remind me that while my personal theories on breakfast might be half-baked…my weekend coffee accompaniment never is!!