About

goût n. /gu/
taste ; tasteful (for adj.)

Goutaste is a combination of French goût and American taste; a blog for things that taste good and things that are in good taste.

Here you will find a wealth of information on how to live life as the French do, without leaving your hometown. Leave the beret and French 101 textbook at home as you learn practical tips to up the Frenchiness in your lifestyle and gain some joie de vivre (that’s French for “joy of life,” mon chéri).

“Boy, those French! They have a different word for everything.”
― Steve Martin

About the Author

“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”
― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

Like many great loves, my infatuation with French lifestyle began in Paris.

I used to recount my experience as the story of how the most significant romantic relationship in my life fell apart in a place that was dubiously labeled, “the city of love.” I had moved to Paris two months before my long-term boyfriend was to join me on what I had hoped would be a romantic adventure, but he announced his true feelings shortly after his arrival and we broke up.

That was the story I used to tell. But the more I replay those months in my mind, the more I realize that I was the one who ended our relationship:

I cheated on my boyfriend with Paris.

It became all too apparent when mon copain (my boyfriend) joined me abroad and I scoffed at how slowly he was walking. Why didn’t he want to read in the park? What did he mean he wanted to grab a “quick lunch”? Why was he wearing board shorts in the city? Paris had been my lover for two months now and this homo sapien just wasn’t going to cut it.

From the moment I laid eyes on him, Paris was my leading man and getting to know him was — and has continued to be — one of the greatest romances of my life.

About this Blog

I have found myself to be a merger of two distinctly different lifestyles: the American one with which I grew up and the French one I came to love. I don’t believe that one precludes the other or that these seemingly different lifestyles should be mutually exclusive.

What I hope to give you in this blog is the chance to live like a Parisian for a moment, a day, or a lifetime in the comfort of your own American city. I hope to give you the tools to create your own perfect blend of french-ness and la vie américaine.

Language

I adooooore le français just as much as the next francophile (and spent many many years studying before I embarked on my torrid love affair with Paris), but this is not a language blog. I tend to pepper my everyday English with French vocabulary, but my intent with this blog is not to make you a better French speaker.

For this reason, my phonetic spellings aren’t perfect French pronunciation, but rather they are geared towards making the language readable and accessible for native English speakers. I trust my fellow linguists and francophones will not be needing transliteration anyway.

Affiliate Links

Blogs cost money. Some bloggers pay for their blogs by using advertisements or taking on sponsored posts. I really want to avoid this.

The best solution I’ve found to help pay for the domain, hosting, and other costs of Goutaste is to use affiliate links occasionally when I reference a product.

What is an affiliate link? An affiliate link is a link with tracking data that tracks who referred you to a page or product. Some companies give out a percentage of the profits they make on a sale to the referring party based on that data. Kind of like a commission.

NOTE: I will NEVER recommend a product simply for the affiliate revenue. And in fact, only a small percentage of the links on Goutaste are affiliates.

But when I do link to something on Amazon and you feel so inclined to buy it, it’s helpful that Amazon gives me a few pennies to keep Goutaste running ad-free, and without asking my readers for donations.

If you feel strongly against this, please leave me a comment and I’d be happy to discuss alternative means for keeping this blog running ad-free!