“My milkshake tasted weird,” David told us as we pulled out of the Dairy Queen parking lot.
We had just enjoyed a nice evening with some friends from church. There is not a ton of things to do in our small rural town, but going to Dairy Queen is one of our favorites.
“What Was Wrong With it?“
“What was wrong with it?” I asked David. “What kind of milkshake did you order?”
“A chocolate frappé,” he replied. “I saw it on the menu.”
I smiled and chuckled quietly to myself.
French Memories
Memories flooded my mind as I recalled the many after-school trips to McDonalds with my boys in France. On difficult days, on days of celebration, or on “normal” days just to connect with my kids, we would often go through the McDonalds’ drive-thru located next to their school for an ice cream treat.
Unfortunately, in France, there are very few ice cream treats at McDonalds—sundaes and frappés. Frappés are as close as you can get to an American milkshake, yet, still so faraway.
David always ordered chocolate frappés. Those were his favorite.
Tonight, he had wanted a chocolate frappé, but that is clearly not what he got!
Not the Same Thing!
In the U.S., a frappé is NOT a milkshake.
According to Wikipedia, “Frappé coffee (also Greek frappé or café frappé) is a Greek iced coffee drink made from instant coffee (generally, Nescafe), water and sugar. Accidentally invented by a Nescafe representative named Dimitris Vakondios in 1957 in the city of Thessaloniki, frappé is sold primarily in Greece and is among the most popular drinks in Greece and Cyprus, and is available at virtually all Greek cafés. The word frappé comes from the French word frapper, meaning ‘to hit’, as crushed ice does when mixed with a drink and shaken in a cocktail shaker. The frappé has become a hallmark of post-war outdoor Greek coffee culture.”
“In America, a frappé is an iced coffee drink,” I explained to David. “I guess you just drank your first iced coffee with chocolate flavoring. You may have a hard time sleeping tonight with all of that caffeine.”
“Oh, that’s why it tasted so weird!” he replied.
“Why didn’t you tell us or tell the Dairy Queen employee that it tasted weird?”
“I just thought that was what American chocolate milkshakes tasted like!” David exclaimed.
FYI: An American “milkshake is a sweet, cold beverage that is usually made from milk, ice cream, or iced milk, and flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, or fruit syrup.” Wikipedia
—The Cultural Story-Weaver
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Have you ever ordered something in a foreign country and got something completely different than what you had imagined or expected?
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