Judith Keys talks to Sue Stockdale about how the ups and downs of emigrating to live and work in France. She explains what prompted her to move, how she initially found it difficult to integrate into the French way of life, and what helped her to adapt. Originally from Ireland, Judith has now lived in Provence for over 10 years. In 2013 she left her corporate job in Scotland, sold her house, and decided I wanted a better dream than the standard 9-5.

Since the birth of her youngest son in 2021, she has created two businesses, My Food in France, and My Best Friend in France, with the aim of helping people to get comfortable and learn about French food - through cookery classes as well as to help them with the social and emotional impact of moving and living in a different country.

Connect with Judith Keys
My Best Friend in France: My Food in France: Website: Linktree: Podcast (My Best Friend in France):

Key Quotes

• I think it took a big commitment to make me realize that I needed to change.
• I think for a lot of people it's a dream life
• The same issues that I had before were still here when I moved to France, but I just was in a more beautiful place to deal with them.
• I thought – I could do this; I could do an online cookery class. I don't have to do it physically here.
• The people who come into my membership are people who love food and inspiration.
• A lot of people are bored with what they're eating all the time. We just get into a habit. So, my idea was to make it accessible, but also inspirational.
• I was extremely excited about this change, but there were so many times that I felt very lonely.
• I just knew in my heart it was the right choice and I needed to do it, and it was going to work out one way or the other.

Highlights

[00:01:22] Leaving corporate life for adventure.
[00:05:42] Moving to France without a plan.
[00:07:55] Online cookery classes.
[00:10:28] Cooking classes and recipes.
[00:15:42] Realities of moving to a different country.
[00:16:50] Making connections as an ex-pat.
[00:23:27] French cooking membership community.

This series is kindly supported by Squadcast –the remote recording platform which empowers podcasters by capturing high-quality audio and video conversations. Find out more at squadcast.fm

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Sound Editor: Matias de Ezcurra (he/him)
Producer: Sue Stockdale (she/her)