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I Moved to France and Made Peace with Crumbs

Do you also suffer from crumbitis?

Jenny Austria
2 min readSep 28, 2022
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Growing up, I had crumbitis.

Ugh, crumbs! I disliked them in any size, smell, or form.

If you so much as took out the first potato chip from the bag…Or pulled out bread from the pop-up toaster…Or ate a crispy cookie without cupping a hand under your chin…

I would’ve given you the side eye.

But that was moons ago when crumbs bothered me. Today, it’s different.

Everything changed when I moved to France.

Land of la baguette. Home of les pâtisseries. One mega-Crumbland.

Bread and flaky things came at me in every meal, every single day. At first, I wanted to scream when I saw crumbs everywhere.

At breakfast…

The croissant made a big, crumbly mess on my shirt.

At lunch and dîner…

The baguette was passed around the table — sliced, pulled apart, or broken with hands — leaving a messy trail.

At dessert…

The crumblier, the better, they said. Tarte au pomme, fraise, ou citron. Paris-Brest, Saint-Honoré, kouign amann, mille feuille.

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Jenny Austria
Jenny Austria

Written by Jenny Austria

France-based storyteller. I write about life lessons, self-growth, and la vie en France. Read unlimited stories: https://iamjennyaustria.medium.com/membership

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