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French Markets are The Best Markets!
Sunday, March 02, 2014I've become numb to this whole grey sky and rain thing in Bordeaux. Today however, there was sun shining through my window. I practically danced my way out of bed and got ready to meet up with Nicole. A perfect day to channel my inner French girl and expand my waistline at the Bordeaux markets.
There's something about nice weather and food shopping that just makes people happy. Fresh produce, some sunshine, and tons of homemade goods is such a breath of fresh air compared to moping around a Walmart under florescent lights.
Both Nicole and I were salivating over just about everything. So instead of a lame story about a market, I'm going to show you the market. You might hate me because it's absolutely certain you will run to the pantry to eat after this. May the odds be ever in your favor.
Carbs, oh carbs, I love you carbs. No bread in the world compares to France, not even Italy. I think it's really why they eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The fish stand is so popular. They'll even chop the heads off and slice it up for ya. Not my cup of tea, but hey Bordeaux is a main port so if I actually liked fish I'm sure it would be good.
Both mine and Nicole's favorite: cheese. The vendor was not fond of my lack of purchase, yet will to take photos of her food. When in France right?
Bordeaux wine..or just a little bit of "cough medicine," as my Pop-pop use to call it.
And sweet Jesus the homemade jelly's here are incredible. I'm completely spoiled now because Smucker's or Welch's is never going to work for me anymore.
More cheese....these ones were like the Picasso of cheese though, because this entire stand had the prettiest looking shapes of curdled milk there ever was.
Ok quick experiment for you. Go to the supermarket and buy some eggs. Now go buy eggs from a farm. Make them both separate and let me know if you'll ever buy them from the supermarket again.
Nicole and I both bought fresh squeezed juices too. They were fab, but even better was this pesto, goat cheese, and tomato crêpe she got.
There are so many stands where you can buy full meals; kebabs, paella, pasta, you name it. Basically any type of international cuisine you can hope for is here, including Jamaican, in which the guys there are friggin' hilarious. Ya mon.
The fruits and veggies are so fresh and not full of pesticides either. It's a big thing I respect about this country is how concerned they are on good quality food. There's just no need for pre-chopped veggies swimming in a plastic bag of chemicals.
You can pick up some pretty flowers here too. I'd really like a few for the apartment, hint, hint, Mat, hint hint ;)
Happy March everybody!
2 comments
I love French markets, but I'm not really a fan of the market along the river. It's too bobo Parisian for me, although I admit that the quality of the food is very good. I like the more "rough and gritty" markets like the Marché des Capucins or the market in Thouars. These markets are lively and the prices are much lower. At these markets if you go close to closing time (1PM) you can get greatly reduced produce (maybe the market along the river does this, but I have this feeling that they don't).
ReplyDeleteI love how you can build up a rapport with the venders at the market. If you keep going they'll start to recognise you and even give you free produce and have a chat with you. I ask my vender all sorts of things: how to cook a certain type of potatoes, which pumpkin type is better in soup, the difference between the types of oranges on offer, etc.
My feeling is that you have to look at the hands of the vender. If I see that their hands are dirty from touching soil or that they have performed manual labour, I am more certain that their produce comes from an authentic source rather than the same place that Carrefour gets their produce. If they are selling a lot of a few products that is a good sign in my books as well.
I'm indeed a sucker for things that are picturesque like the bobo Parisian scene. I'll check out the other markets though. I did stumble upon one by Université Bordeaux 3 I think? For whatever reason I hadn't even thought of trying to bargin with them. When I lived in Rome I did this constantly but I've yet to do so here.
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