Today is my last, full day in Paris. I booked myself a tour of the Bastille Market offered by a local Parisian through AirBNB Experiences. It’s advertised as 2.5 hours of meeting local stall owners, tasting local food and wine, and hearing about theirs and our host, Natasha’s passion for food. I’ll meet her at 11 am.
I’ve decided to leave my DSLR camera behind today, instead swapping it for a mostly empty carry bag in which I’ll put all the goodies I intend to buy and take through to London tomorrow. I’ve also swapped my walking shoes for boots and my polar fleece for my fancier winter coat and Calvin Klein scarf from Italy (thanks Mum!). It’s nice to dress up a little!
I’ve arrived in the neighbour an hour ahead of our appointed meeting time. I find a cafe right across the road and order a Chocolat Viennois and a croissant – a light breakfast, I think. The coffee is ridiculous looking but delicious, as is the croissant. With some time to kill I decide to explore the neighbourhood a little and do a little more Christmas shopping.
I arrive back at the meeting point just before 11 am to meet our host, Natasha, and the only other participant, Kay, a young woman from Taiwan who only arrived yesterday. Before we head off, Natasha gives us a run down of the neighbourhood and what we will be doing today.
With our first steps into the market, she points out that all fresh food sold in Paris must be transparent about where’s its come from. Parisians are particular about buying local, so you’ll always see on the signs an indication of the produce’s origin. Some things, of course, can’t be grown in France such as bananas, pineapples, and mangoes, but you’ll see on the price signs an indicate of what country they were grown in. She also points out the letters “AB” on some stalls: this indicates that the produce is organically grown. If you see “Avion” it means the produce has been flown in, something the eco-conscious would want to know. With all of this, Parisians tend to eat very seasonally.
Our first stop is a cheese shop where she explains that in France all locally made cheeses are unpasteurised. This makes them fat free and living organisms, which means they will change and harden over time. We taste a very soft goats cheese, a more mature sheep cheese, and then a sheep cheese with fenugreek grain in it which gives it a nutty flavour. The French have no problem with eating cheese not from cows and goat/sheep cheese is more popular.
It’s here that she introduces us to her theory of always tasting something twice. The first time to wake up your brain, and the second time to discern the different flavours. She also talks about how, if you eat something you don’t like, then you should try it on at least 8 other occasions before completing rejecting it. She has one personal exception to that rule: she doesn’t think she could eat brain 8 times to see if she could ever like it. Before leaving the shop, I buy some soft goat’s cheese to take through to London that’s “Perfect for a platter,” Natasha tells me.
As we pass through the market, we briefly stop at a fish mongers. Natasha points out where it all comes from. The scollops are impressions. She then banters with the shop owner about the badge he has above his door. “Does that indicate where he’s from?” Kay asks. “No,” Natasha laughs, “thats the football team he supports.”
The next stop is a small deli that sells exclusively products made or sourced from the Alsace, a historical region in northeastern France on the Rhine River plain. Bordering Germany and Switzerland, Natasha tells us that it’s alternated between German and French control over the centuries and thats reflected in it’s produce and cooking styles.
Here we taste a Alsace white wine, which is dry and sweet. This area produces a lot of Reisling and Pinot Gris. We also taste the owner’s traditional sweet onion tart. The cabinets and walls are lined with foie gras, wine, olive oil, and baked goods made using traditional recipes from the Alsace region.
Next we visit one of Natasha’s favourite butchers. At the door she points to all the medals he’s won for his meat’s in local butchery competitions. On the counter, she shows use little cards with photos of the farms where the animals are raised. She explains that not only can you be confident that the butchers knows where the meat is from, its quality, and has butchered and prepared it himself, he will also tell you how to cook it, what vegetables and condiments to put with it, and what wine to pair with it. Over time, he gets to know what your preferences are and will recommend cuts whenever you visit.
Here we taste three different meat products: a garlic salami, a dry prosciutto, and the butcher’s “house pate” which all good butchers in Paris make. They’re all uniquely delicious!
Along the way to the next stop, Natasha points out many varieties of pumpkin, citris fruit, artichokes, and cabbages. She says the uglier the produce, the better the flavour. She doesn’t trust good looking produce, as in most cases the flavour has been breed out of it.
She also explains that the French are obsessed with potatoes. We find a dozen varieties in just in this market. We also find truffles worth $1000/kg.
The next stop is a bakery displaying traditional French Christmas logs in it’s window. Here we try one of their cream pastries. I try the white chocolate flavour, which Kay tries the coffee version. Its at this point I ask whether there’s an elegant way to eat them. No, she says. Just bite into it! What about croissants, I ask. How do you eat one of those without wearing half the flakes. You can’t, she says. But if it was flakey then it was a well-made croissant.
Two doors down is the last Grain Shop in Paris, previously owned by several generations of one family spanning back over a century. When the latest child to inherit decided they wanted to do something else, a local man and his Japanese wife bought the shop and agreed to maintain it exactly as the family had. Famous Michelin Star chefs endorsed the establishment, there by ensuring it’s on-going custom from everyday Parisians and chefs alike.
it’s now time to enter the market proper, an old building protected by the local historical trust. Here you’ll find specialist shops, producers who specialise in one particular type of product. For example, that butcher over there, she says, specialises in suckling pigs whereas the one on the left specialises in game fowl.
We move deeper into the building and she points to a cheese make, apparently the most famous in all of Paris. They make AOP cheeses which are bought exclusively by the best Michelin Star chefs. What is unique about an AOP cheese is that the milk used comes from a clearly defined region and is made into cheese in the same region, and the cheese is aged there until it is mature. It’s the purest process of cheese production and marketing.
Natasha states this cheese maker also makes the best butter and yogurt in Paris, and sells the best milk.
Here we taste the King, the Queen, and the Knight of cheese. We start with the King, a Brie from the Brie region. Then we try the Queen, a drier cheese that if aged further tastes almost like parmesan cheese. Finally we try the Knight, the Roquefort cheese – a rich blue cheese that goes well with a Shiraz.
Just as the market begins to shut at 1 pm, we arrive at Natasha’s favourite butcher. He hunts all his own wild meat, she said. He has won many, many medals for his boar, rabbit, and deer. He makes a shredded pork pate that is to die for!
Now that the market is shut for lunch, our final stop is Le Baron Rouge (The Red Baron) wine bar. In winter you can order a carafe of any of their selected wines with a side of a dozen oysters. Today we are enjoying a local Merlot and quiz Natasha about the French way of life.
We finally say good-bye to each other just before 2 pm. My feet are sore but my tummy is full. I now have a brain full of knowledge about buying produce in a French market, that I hope to use again when I’m back in June. Just before I head back to my hotel, I go back to a bakery she’s recommended which we walked past at the end of our tour and buy some final of treats for my journey to London tomorrow.
Postscript: Today’s post includes only a sample of the photos I took during the tour. To see the rest of the album, go here.
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