Welcome back to Forked Tongues: Conversations with Foreigners Living in France! Episode 16! The first conversation in over a year on the podcast.  To mark this special occasion, my guest is Kerry Varo from the US. He's a young guy, open, friendly, fearless. A talented baker, musician, and polyglot (his parents are  Mexican), he has been in France for almost ten years now and has had many interesting experiences. We had a great discussion, touching on some of my favourite Forked Tongues topics: French food, the French language, French behaviour, as well as other unexpected subjects ..read more

Hello all, Welcome to Episode 6 of Forked Tongues! Thanks for your patience. It took me a bit longer to get this episode ready than previous ones - I'll blame it on the (French) winter blues...  I shouldn't have delayed though, because as you'll discover my guest for Episode 6 is a very interesting, intelligent, warm and easy-going Brazilian, Igor Albuquerque Maia. Our conversation took us on a journey across countries (France, Brazil, Australia, among others), touching on a wide-variety of subjects from Igor's background in Brazil, his arrival in France,  learning French, switch ..read more

Hello all! It's been too long...  But I'm happy to let you know that Forked Tongues will be returning soon with new episodes. New conversations with fascinating foreigners talking about their experience of this equally fascinating country that is France. The adventure continues! I hope you'll join me. Thanks for listening. A bientôt! Derek Rawson ..read more

Welcome to Forked Tongues: Conversations with Foreigners Living in France! Episode 14 of the journey, but not your usual FT episode as it's not exactly a conversation... This episode is dedicated to French food, as seen through the eyes of one of my favourite writers, Jim Harrison. In it, I read his piece, Thirty-three Angles on Eating French, taken from his first collection of food writings, The Raw and the Cooked:  Adventures of a Roving Gourmand. Jim Harrison's glorious pen and unmatched lust for life are very much on display here. So come spend a moment with myself and Jim Harriso ..read more

Welcome to Forked Tongues: Conversations with Foreigners Living in France! Episode 14 of the journey, but not your usual FT episode as it's not exactly a conversation... This episode is dedicated to French food, as seen through the eyes of one of my favourite writers, Jim Harrison. In it, I read his piece, Thirty-three Angles on Eating French, taken from his first collection of food writings, The Raw and the Cooked:  Adventures of a Roving Gourmand. Jim Harrison's glorious pen and unmatched lust for life are very much on display here. So come spend a moment with myself and Jim Harriso ..read more

Welcome back Forked Tongues: Conversations with Foreigners Living in France! Episode 13! The first episode of 2022. In this episode I speak with Lesley Webster, a retired English teacher and passionate Francophile, who has been living in France for 20 years now. I met Lesley 10 years ago but hadn't seen her since, so our conversation was a great opportunity to not just catch up but learn about her life and life-long love of France. Our discussion takes us from her first visits here as a young girl to becoming a French citizen a few years ago, and much more in between! So join me for anothe ..read more

Welcome to Episode 4 of Forked Tongues! The journey continues in 2021... In this episode I'm joined by Mark Jordan, a towering and jovial Irishman who is the manager and chief brewer, not to mention co-owner (with brother, Peter) of an Irish brew pub here in Poitiers, The Cluricaume Café/Brú Pub. Together we discuss Mark's family history and connection to France, his arrival in Poitiers, how he came to be co-owner of the most authentic Irish pub in Poitiers (if not France!), brewing beer in the country of wine, beer-food pairing, and many other non-beer related topics too! French music and ..read more

Welcome to episode 12 of Forked Tongues: Conversations with Foreigners Living in France! In this episode I'm joined by Jim (and Janet) Neve, an English couple who live in the Pyrenees Orientales where I spent two weeks during this year's French summer holidays. When I visited them at their home they were busy looking after their grandson but kindly took time to speak to me about their life in a beautiful corner of France - at the foot of Mount Canigou! We discussed many aspects of French daily life: invitations to apéros, dealing with tradesmen, getting a French driver's licence, bringing pu ..read more

Welcome back to Forked Tongues: Conversations with Foreigners Living in France! This is Episode 11! The French summer holidays are over, and the French rentrée (back to school) is too. A new (French) year begins... the second year of existence for this podcast!  For this first episode following the summer break I spoke with Michael Strutt, an Englishman living in Vernet-les-Bains in the Pyrénées Orientales where I spent two weeks this summer. Affable, insightful, and incredibly knowledgeable, Michael is also a real Francophile, coming to France countless times since his first visit at ..read more

Hello all, Just to let you know that Forked Tongues is taking a short French summer break before returning with new episodes - new conversations! - from September. There's also a new email address for any comments, questions, or anything else you might like to share : ForkedTonguesPodcast [at] gmail.com Don't hesitate to send me a message! Thanks for listening. A bientôt! Derek Rawson ..read more