A teen-aged friend in France wants us to bring him some root beer when we visit (he's the only one in his family who acquired a taste for it in the year they were our neighbors). Does anyone know whether it's possible to buy the drink in France? I really don't want to take it in our luggage.

I'm going to buy him a kit to make his own, but we'd like to turn up with at least a little ready to go.

Presumably it's not possible to buy it easily in France, although I'm sure somewhere sells this vile liquour.

How about peanut butter? Do they sell that in grocery stores in Paris? I can't recall.

Root beer and peanut butter are different things?

It's like trying to satisfy someone craving champagne with a pint of lager.

Perhaps I should have started a separate "peanut butter" thread but I figured since it was sort of on the topic of available foods, it was okay.

Peanut butter and root beer are not readily available in France.

I have looked.

Have never seen it-not even if Paris but we were not really looking. You may find an epicerie that specializes in NA food. Perhaps an expat can help out. Personally, I stick to the vin rouge ordinaire.

You can't buy root beer in France. MK2, root beer has no alcohol in it -- it's a soda pop, like coke. It's not like ginger beer in the U.K., which is pretty vile. My English friends, who have tried root beer while visiting the U.S. generally hate it.

Peanut butter is now readily found throughout France. It used to only be found in specialty shops or health food stores.

I know that it has no alcohol content, but it still remains utterly vile and should at all costs be poured down the nearest available drain.

Vile? OH no no no I guess you've never had the wonderful experience of having a Black Cow for dessert, sitting on a porch swing on a summer evening. (A Black Cow is a root beer float. The better the vanilla ice cream you pour the root beer over, the better the float. Sigh.)

We had a Belgian exchange student a few years ago, who got hooked on root beer while he was staying with us. Apparently he's not able to find it at all in Belgium, including when a new "American foods" store opened up. (He apparently had quite the fit at them when they thought stuff like blue pepsi was American, but had no root beer at all!) When we went to go visit, we brought a 12 pack for him, which he was highly delighted with. You should have seen the looks he gave his girlfriend and siblings when they wanted to try some. ("MY rootbeer? But.. but.. but..&quot

If you'll be on the Côte d'Azur, you could try posting this question AngloInfo's riviera site:

http://riviera.angloinfo.com/

From what I've read on their shopping board, most people suggest heading to Cap 3000 for hard to find US/UK items or a small shop in Antibes (sorry I've forgotten the name). Good luck!

Maureen

Thanks very much--we'll be there and will give it a go.

Uh-oh, that's definitely my kind of summer evening. Try pouring the root beer over quality coffee ice cream. Sublime.

...and top it with whipped cream. Life is short.

The Real McCoy store in Bordeaux sold root beer last time I was there a few years ago. I know there's at least one Real McCoy store in Paris - perhaps they have it (maybe they have a website where you could check). There may be Real McCoy stores in other cities as well.

I never drink soda pop of any kind, but if I did, I'd choose root beer. It's made from the sassafras root, which has a distinct taste that I find far from vile.

Patricia Wells' "The Food Lover's Guide To Paris" lists this possibility:

"Thanksgiving" ("a tiny American food shop in the Marais&quot

13, rue Charles V
Metro: Saint-Paul
Tel: 01 42 77 68 29
Open 10 AM to 7 PM
Closed Monday, 3 weeks in August, & one week after Christmas

Hope they carry root beer! (IBC's my favorite.) Good luck!

You can get peanut butter at Fauchon's and wouldn't be surprised if they had root beer. We sent Peanut Butter to a waiter in Crillon who never gets to Paris.

The French family I just stayed with in Tours told me that the peanut butter available in France is all vile. So I just sent them a care package with delicious American peanut butter so they could compare.

I understand the addiction to root beer as my teenaged son is addicted to Virgin Green Apple cola and Kaz lemonade soft drink in France. My backpack full of litre bottles of both almost kept me off the plane last week at CDG. Not to mention my practically broken back from hauling it around for hours before boarding. But how yummy!

For the Pb and root beer I'm wondering if the food halls at Galeries Lafayette or Le Bon Marche might have it; think I remember seeing a section labelled "foreign foods". There is a Real McCoy store in Paris in the 7th because I remember passing it on the way back to the rue Cler.