Hi there! My name is Rebecca and I’m a fourth year student here at UGA majoring in food science and technology. This May, I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to France with the French Food Production, Culture and Environment study abroad program. When I first noticed the poster for this program hanging on a wall in the food science building several months ago, I momentarily considered how nice it sounded, but didn’t give it much more thought. However, it wasn’t long until I was sitting in a meeting with my adviser (who happens to help lead this trip), and he was telling me all about the exciting experiences offered during the program. Before I knew it, the idea of going to France for this program was all I could think about, then I was filling out applications and looking at airline tickets. Since this all started when I simply took action on a dream-like idea, I thought I’d share the story of meeting a French farmer who also acted on his dreams.
A couple of weeks into the trip, we all hopped onto a bus headed for a farm in the Gaillac region of France. When we arrived, we stepped out into the front yard of house sitting atop one of the many rolling, green hills that were striped with grape vines. We walked over to a side building with a little table out front where a sweet woman served us fresh homemade brioche and coffee. As we enjoyed the view and the provisions, our guide explained that, if you want to get to know people in France, you slow down for a moment and share a conversation over food or coffee before taking on the business of the day. This made me think I might be a little bit French at heart.
From there, we strolled across a stretch of the vineyard to a patch of land that was dotted with small trees rather than vines. We came to learn about the olive trees that surrounded us, how they grow and slowly bear fruit, and how the fruit is meticulously harvested at just the right time of year. When the olives are harvested, the farmer must press the oil and carefully decide how to blend the oils from different olives to get the perfect flavor. While learning about the process was fully intriguing, my favorite moment was when the farmer explained how he had made his living solely from the vineyard for years, but he began growing olive trees as a hobby. That hobby turned into a passion, one which he persistently worked at until he turned it into a means of income. While it felt like a dream to simply be eating toast with olive tapenade made from olives that were grown on the farm where I was standing, it was even more exciting to meet and hear the story of the farmer who took his dream and turned it into reality.
