Jour du Marché

I usually set aside a couple of days a week (if I can afford the time) to Market Day or Jour du Marché. Going to a marché is as local a thing to do when in France as is having bread with every meal. While more and more people are likely doing their shopping for food at the large super stores where everything is under one roof "a la Super U" where you can shop for tires,  diapers, pick up a frigo for madame and then some great cheeses and work your way through the wine section.  It's economical and efficient but unlikely to ever completly replace the markets. Allow me one side note. It seems to me that as often as  Americans are impressed with the wine or cheese variety in France or the fresh fish and smoke meats selections etc., just as many people, French included I guarantee, will gaze in wonderment at an entire aisle in our supermarkets devoted just to dry cereal, with over 2000 different brands claming to be sugar free (no really I'm more sugar free, I promise). OK it's a bit strange but the US is viewed as the land of plenty. That's something to ponder but not today as I make my way to the market. Those open air markets are not going to disappear overnight. At least not for now. As long as there are farmers and a French government there will be markets.



My goal is to try and visit as many different markets as I can over a period of time. This gives me an opportunity to see what's on the market in terms of fresh vegetables, fish, cuts of meat, charcuterie, fruit etc. I call this gastronomic intelligence and I find each market has a different gastronomic intelligence quotient (GIQ) as it's more commonly known in the culinary industry research business. It's not easy work but somebody has to do it. You have to be on your toes every second lest you miss some nuanced comments on a particular cheese or cut of beef from one of the stall managers. Usually it's madame. So when madame at the charcuterie counter suggests a particular Pâté de Campagne, I usually heed the advice.  

So I try to do this research on a weekly basis and last week, for example, I was at the Marché Alésia in the 13ème arrondissement. Overall I thought it was quite a good market, plenty of interesting selections so I gave it good marks and will most likely return.  Try it and tell me what you think. Today my trip  takes me a little longer because I'm going to the Marché la Tourelle in Saint-Mandé  aka the market in Saint-Mandé. Don't rush to look for it in your Paris arrondissement or Paris City guide because you won't find it. Though not terribly far from Paris, the town Saint-Mandé is situated just to the east of Paris and is in the Département du Val de Marne, Ile-de-France. It's right over the 12th Arrondissement (past Bastille where you can stop a see a few friends) and just over the Paris city line. If your curious and you do decide to go then just when you exit the Saint-Mandé métro stop, the market is literally right there at the Place Gallieni and the Avenue de Paris. Check out the town while you there as well. There is a boulangerie just down the street from the market thats worth a look-see and a few choice purchases.



True to form, this market like many others always has a wonderful selection of fresh foods, cheeses, rotisserie, olives and more. In fact, I purchased a nice variety of olives to have with my Apéro later in the not too distant future, like this evening. 

I made a special stop at the cheese counter and marveled at the selection mentally jotting down a few cheeses that I did not immediately recognize such as the Pélardon which is a round soft-ripened cheese covered in a white mold from the Languedoc-Roussillon region.  It turns out to be a wonderful creamy goat cheese. That's something that might show up on a future menu. 

Another great market day experience! Back to the Auberge.