There are three types of venues at which to get groceries: grocery stores, open air markets, and specialty stores.
Grocery stores are for everyday, packaged and/or processed items. They aren't even close to as big as American grocery stores and are much more limited. Usually they don't have much other than food items - though some will have a limited selection of toiletries and cleaning supplies - and you have many fewer options. For example, in a medium sized grocery store here you would find probably two shelves maybe 5 or 6 feet wide of dry cereal selections, which is like nothing compared to most medium-sized American grocery stores. So you have a much smaller choice in most things like that, simply because the French aren't big on food like that - but you have a very wide array of things like jams/preserves, yogurt, cheese, pork products, and "biscuits" (which are not American style biscuits but British style - simple cookies, more like "digestives"). Also any French grocery will have a large selection of wine and possibly beer and liquor. Finally, the produce section is very, very small because most people buy produce at markets.
Here are two grocery trips for me, two weeks apart. The first was a BIG trip for me! Usually my week's groceries come to around 25 euros but this one was almost 40.
Going from top left: delicious little snacks that are basically thin crackers dipped in dark chocolate; eggplant cooked in tomato sauce (I often use this on pasta); two jars of lentils (I LOVE lentils and can eat one of these in one sitting); yogurt (I think); pesto sauce; tomato sauce with pancetta; apple juice (I'm obsessed with this store's brand bio apple juice, it's the most delicious ever! But unfortunately they run out of it a lot so I had to get an inferior one); banana, pineapple, and coconut smoothie; vegetable tortellini; pasta; 4 cheese ravioli; dark chocolate mousse; shredded cheese; chicken soup mix.
Second, from today!
Two types of pasta; two jars of lentils; yogurt; strawberries in syrup (it goes very well with the almond cake below); caramel rice pudding (OMG wasn't meaning to get this but how could I resist?); vegetable tortellini; those same dark chocolate dipped crackers; sandwich bread (first time I've ever bought packaged bread here but last week I got peanut butter so...); plain rice cakes.
So as you can see, I get some basic staples, snacks, and beverages from these stores, mostly.
Second type of place, open air markets. Most of the markets in Paris are open three days a week (they alternate usually with another one in the area), and there are a lot of them. I live within less than ten minutes walking from two, and about twenty minutes walking from four.
These markets have all kinds of things. I know I've talked about them before, because I love them, but I took some pictures today (and felt extremely stupid doing so!). Although my current market is bigger than the one near where I lived over the summer I don't like the vendors as much.
All markets start with little metal stalls that are built each market day and taken down in the late afternoon. Then they spray down the squares, getting rid of any produce left on the ground.
My pictures represent only a small part of the market, as it's difficult to get everything in a few shots. I would estimate that there are 2 florists, 2 carpet/cloth people, 2 seafood people, 2-3 butchers, 4-6 fruit/fruit and vegetable sellers, 2 only-vegetable sellers, 2 bakers, 2 laitiers (eggs, milk, yogurt, creme fraiche), 2 cheese sellers, 1 Lebanese/Middle Eastern seller, 1 dried fruit, nuts, olive person, 1 herb/spice person, 1 foie gras/pate person, 3-5 jewelry people, 2-3 clothing people, 1 scarf-only person per larger weekend market. On weekdays not as many food vendors come and there are generally more clothing/jewelry people.
Here is a carpet/tablecloth/general cloth seller, on the left, and flower seller on the right.
Two vendors that sell fruit and vegetables.
The dried fruit, olives, and nuts guy.
One of the seafood sellers - this one had a HUGE line today.
This one in the foreground is an odd mix - they sell dried herbs, olives and olive products, various traditional southern French spreads, and specialty savory breads ("pain" means bread). Across from them is a butcher.
One of the florists, and some fruit in the background.
This fruit and vegetable seller's stall is the whole length of this shot - from the leeks in the foreground to the corner of that other produce seller in the back. Generally the produce people get stalls like this and everyone else gets like half of this space.
I tried to get a shot from one end of the square to show how big the market is but this was a fail. It covers one big square block.
Inspired to make myself a Thanksgiving feast, I got some extra desserts at the market today. :) I already had some salad stuff and couldn't find any green beans without a long line so no vegetables today. Here's what I got:
Bananas, clementines, apples, hummus and pita, dried apricots, an almond bread/cake thing, and a chocolate fondant. Normally at this time of year I've been getting grapefruit as well but it didn't look great this week. If I were at my other market this weekend I would have also gotten some stuffed grape leaves, tabbouleh, and moussaka from my favorite Lebanese food guy.
This was a pretty small market trip for me, because as I said I didn't get any vegetables. I usually get one head of lettuce, one or two carrots, one or two cucumbers, some green beans, and anything else that catches my eye.
Third place to buy food: specialty stores. I wanted to get some pictures of some of these storefronts but haven't been able to/haven't had my camera on me when I passed.
Types of specialty stores here - at least one in every neighborhood: boulangeries (bakers - all types of bread, sandwiches, quiches, tartines, breakfast pastries)/patisseries (pastries) - often the same but not always; poissoneries (seafood); fromageries (cheese); laitiers (eggs/milk/yogurt/milk products but not always cheese); boucheries (butchers - often, but not always having poultry in addition to other stuff); volailles (just poultry); vignerons (wine). Foie gras/pate stores are not quite as frequent but I see them all over as well.
I mostly frequent the boulangeries, fromageries, and vignerons because I basically never buy meat and get my eggs and yogurt from the grocery store. But many French people, especially smaller households, will go to each of these stores pretty often. The couple I lived with a few years ago would go to every single one of those places probably about once a week, a grocery store about once a week, and the markets twice a week. For two (three including me) people. This is pretty much unthinkable in most of the US because it seems inconvenient - but really, you get such better quality foods and often at better prices than a grocery store.
Also you get to know the vendors/proprietors and that's always nice. They can get a feel for the things you buy frequently and will often give you free samples or lower prices a bit. I've talked about my friend the Lebanese food guy before, but I'm also recognized by two produce sellers at my old market, one of the bakers at my new market, and the wine store guy around the corner from me. For example, the baker guy (from whom I bought the almond and chocolate cakes above) knows that I want to try the pain d'epices, a traditional type of French bread, but I've never really wanted to buy the whole thing - so today he told me that next week he'll be giving out samples of a special orange pain d'epices and he'll give me half of one for free if I get there before noon.
I actually really enjoy food shopping here because it's a much more interesting and personal experience than it often is at home. And, I'm not sure whether I think this just because I like the experience better or because it's true, feel like the products are better than what I would generally get in the United States, or even if I got everything just from grocery stores here.
1 comment:
When you walk in a neighborhood with food stores that open onto the sidewalks, it seems very old-fashioned, very homey, in a good way. You see the chicken cooking on spits, you smell it too. They ask you which one you want. The boulangeries (bakeries) have a divine smell too, just calling you like a siren song. Compared to the US, it is a much more intimate experience, and much more enjoyable. You don't wind up with all the packaging, and you know just what you've bought. You know it's fresh too.
She has described the sellers at the open air market quite well also, both here and in previous posts. They greet her with happy smiles and samples of their wares. That Lebanese guy was thrilled to meet me, and gave me enough samples to qualify as my lunch. (Just for being her mom!) Then he tucks some freebies into her bag. And when we chose a box of berries at the fresh produce booth, the man picked through the berries in it, removing those that were less than perfect and adding more to make sure we only had the best berries. I've never seen that done here! And when I saw some fruit I wasn't familiar with, and asked Angie what it was, he gave me some to try it.
I think the sellers most appreciate that she, an American, makes the effort to do as the French do. And they go out of their way in return.
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