A Visit to El Ghoul Brahim

 After all of our class discussions on the history and culture of Algeria, I was excited to experience a piece of this culture here in Lyon. 

Upon arrival, it was busier than I had expected.  Simply due to my expectations based on visiting French bakeries late on a Thursday afternoon.  We couldn’t even find seats!  All we could see from outside were the few mystery items in the window. 

 

Inside there was a small pastry counter (small compared to those I’ve seen in France at least), an espresso machine, and a dedicated station for frying the beignets.  There were a handful of tables filling up the rest of the space.  I’ll be the first to admit that my French accent is not the best, but I was surprised at how hard it was to communicate with the vendor.  We had a lot of difficulty understanding each other, but were able to figure it out. 




As soon as my beignet was set in front of me, I knew I would need to come back and share this experience with other friends.  It was deliciously sweet and left my fingers covered in sticky sugar.  The tea is super sweet, which I don’t often enjoy, but this was so well balanced with the mint flavor that I loved it and have been trying (and failing) to recreate it myself.  The second time I came to this bakery, I shared a beignet and baklava with a friend.  The baklava surprised me a lot! It had such a strong peanut flavor which was lovely after missing peanut butter here in France.  There was also a strong orange floral flavor which I thought was interesting but is something I have experienced while eating Moroccan and Tunisian food as well. 

 

For a seemingly unique bakery, it seemed that everyone there was local and many were clearly regulars having their afternoon coffee or catching up with friends.  Everyone was very kind with offering each other chairs.  It felt similar to the small boulangerie near where I am staying in Lyon, but also distinctly different.  Both are places where women/mothers come to purchase traditional desserts for the family dinner.  The biggest differences were the dessert offerings and how crowded this Algerian bakery was.

 

It was a really fulfilling experience to go out and experience a piece of one of the cultures we’ve been studying in this class.  In a lot of ways, it made what we’ve discussed regarding the relationship between France and Algeria feel more real. 

 

It was very heartwarming and home-y during a time when I have been missing that feeling.  Having now spent four months in a new country, I have a better understanding of the desire to have a piece of home that you can visit in your new place of living.  Even though Algerian food is not my personal comfort food, I can still feel the comfort of it.  I would absolutely recommend this bakery to anyone looking for delicious afternoon pick-me-up!

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