Name: Gaëlle Marquet le Coat
Scran: Blinis aux Oeufs de Poisson
Mother Language: French
“Le petit déjeuner a toujours été mon repas préféré. Même si il fût plutôt inexistant pendant mes années universitaires, j’ai toujours pris plaisir à cuisiner un brunch, des petits déjeuners sophistiqués le weekend en solo ou pour mes amis. Quand j’étais petite, ma mère prenait toujours des petits déjeuners salés, alors que nous les enfants on était plutôt branché sucré (à l’époque). Je ne me souviens plus comment, mais un jour ma mère mangeait des oeufs de poisson sur des blinis avec de la crème fraiche et un peu de citron et je décidai de goûter. Ma mère me fit goûter, pensant que j’allais être révulsée mais au contraire j’ai adoré. Elle me dit alors que les oeufs de poissons faisaient rétrécir les enfants et que seulement les adultes pouvaient en manger. je m’abstins donc pendant un moment, peut être quelques semaines puis revins à l’attaque. Observant que je n’avais pas rétréci, je promis à ma mère de ne pas dire à mon frère et ma soeurs que les oeufs ne faisaient pas rétrécir les enfants.
Je me demande toujours comment cet en-cas russe à fini dans nos assiettes au petit déjeuner et cette histoire me fait sourire chaque fois que je vois des oeufs de poisson au supermarché.”
In English:
“I’m French, and my parents are French, but we, kind of, travelled quite a lot. Like, I grew up in Germany, then my parents moved to Spain. My Dad lived in Portugal for a little bit, and Ethiopia. We just all travelled quite a lot. And we always had funky breakfasts with food from everywhere. like all the time, growing up. My Mum loved having savoury food for breakfast which I thought was really gross when I was a kid. And she always had eggs, and like, cheese and ham, that kind of stuff…
And she loved to have fish, which as a kid I thought was so disgusting (laughter)! She would have sometimes like, when we were having breakfast with my parents on weekends, she would have this fancy breakfast, of Blinis with creme fraiche. It’s called ‘Lump fish roe’ or something, with a bit of lemon. I thought it looked really gross, and for years I thought this was really disgusting. And then one day I tried it, and I was like, “Ummm!! This is nice!” And then my Mum was like, “Umm you can’t have this!” And I said, “Why???” She said, “If you have it, you’re gonna shrink!” and umm… (Laughter)
She was telling us she didn’t want us to have it coz it was quite, its not as expensive as caviar, but it was quite expensive food. And you don’t want your kids – who could just be eating cereal, bread, or like croissants, whatever, for breakfast – to eat that.
So, she would tell me that you would shrink., and then for a couple of months, ok so you can’t have it… and then one day I had it, and like, “Wah! I didn’t shrink! And she was like, “Ok… Don’t tell your brother or your sister. Like, you’ll be fine, but they won’t be fine. So they can’t have it!”
And that’s kind of like, for a few years we thought we were gonna shrink, and eventually we were like, no, that doesn’t make any sense. Like we’re not gonna shrink. That’s my story! But, it’s funny coz it’s not even French food. I think originally it was like a Russian starter? It’s like something you have in Russia, but for some reason, we ended up having it for breakfast sometimes. And yeah, that’s my story! (laughter)”