A Study in how to become French

By yours truly, from The Knoxville News Sentinel.

Oh there it is – the sigh. Lips slightly pursed, outwardly turned, delicate. My seatmate at the train station turns away slightly, sips her coffee again.

That was no contented “ahhh” coffee sigh of a lazy American mouth. Two points.

The best victories in the game of spot the Frenchman are those that confirm all cultural stereotypes.

A Monument to underwear

A monument to underwear

I investigate Knoxville’s former standing as the underwear capital of the world. On my journey I find out which undies locals prefer, visit a converted textile mill and ask if we can reclaim the title.

This is my first video for knoxnews.com. Yay! Maybe tomorrow I’ll get the video to embed. It hates me right now.

In search of ‘Cheesey’

In Oxford, Miss., the Mexican restaurants serve “queso,” also known as “cheesey” to Hispanic waitresses. In Oxford, you can buy the cheese to make such a dip (queso blanco) at Kroger, Wal Mart and probably other places. Not so in either Bay St. Louis, Miss., or Knoxville, Tenn.

I need my cheesey! I tried Kroger here in Knoxville and the Food City. Then I got adventurous (well just hungry) and went to the first taqueria I found. Queso fresca like crazy. But the man at the fresh meat/cheese counter had no idea what queso blanco was. (Queso blanco does translate to white cheese – and there’s a lot of white cheeses). So the guy told me to say “fine” instead of “good” to the question “Como estas?” and winked at me a few times. I was browsing elsewhere and he brought back this woman who speaks English. She was like, yes, for cheesey, when I said something about melted queso dip. And she said she tried to make cheesey with queso fresca but it didn’t work, and that she never makes it here. So, no queso blanco! Sad, sad day. (Is Queso Blanco an American Invention??)

Then I ordered chorizo tacos (in English like a Gringo), got stared at intensely and got charged twice for a Jarritos. I shall return for Mexican bakery items and tacos, but I will learn to order in Spanish and I will not ask about cheese. I’ll post pics when I retrieve my USB camera cable.

Also noticed the odd religious diversity of Knoxville. On my way to West Knoxville, I took Kingston Pike and observed many Christian denominations next to a Unitarian church, Christ Scientist church, Synagogue, Temple and Greek Orthodox Church. These were all on the same road, next to some very ritzy houses. Strange.

Update: Days later I remember Moe’s has queso. Pretty good queso, but expensive queso. I continue the search, and a wonderful Food City in West Knoxville (where I also found rhubarb), carried the illusive queso already in dip form. A week or two later I found it next to fancy cheeses and hummus in Kroger (thought I’d checked there).