TRAVEL REPORT: FRANCE IN FEBRUARY

February is the perfect time to escape the winter doldrums. Why then would I choose to visit to a cold, rainy Paris, presently under construction for the summer Olympics?  The end of the month just happens to bookend two fascinating culinary events not listed in tourist guides. They are the annual Salon de l'Agriculture in Paris and the final foire de foie gras in Brive-la-Gaillarde.  Eight intrepid food lovers couldn't resist this opportunity to experience french cuisine before it reaches the table. What follows is the first of a two part report of our discoveries.

The tour began with a visit to the exposition center at the Porte de Versailles, the country’s largest convention center and a mere 15 minute taxi ride from the Eiffel Tower. This annual Salon’s opening weekend had been disrupted by protesting farmers during President Macron’s scheduled visit. Their outburst exposed frustrations farmers face as they try to make a living wage under the EU’s current environmental regulations.  French presidents are adept at calming protesters, but we visitors were put on notice that the rich culinary heritage we were about to experience was under stress.  

The Salon had returned to normal by Monday morning when we arrived and made our way past exhibits of well-groomed farm animals to the building at the far end of the expo center. Our destination was  devoted to the regional foods and wines of France. Much to our surprise, we were virtually alone, free to wander from booth to booth, tasting samples of sausage, cheese, foie gras and truffle specialities. We chatted with workers manning the booths and purchased small, easy to pack treats such as nougat, pâte de fruit and honey..  At 1pm, like clockwork, the French visitors arrived en masse for lunch. They purchased plates of the food we had tasted and made themselves comfortable in the dining areas set up near the building’s walls. The noise level rose and competing smells of fried food filled the air. That was our cue to leave having seen a world of French specialty foods and tasted our fill.

At 3:30am the next morning we traveled the dark streets of Paris to suburban Rungis, the region’s wholesale market that covers an area the size of Monaco. We donned white coats and hairnets before stepping into this brightly lit, impeccably clean and frigid world. We would spend the next four hours walking through pavilions filled with fresh seafood, meat, dairy products and flowers.  Our first stop in the seafood pavilion came at the end of their selling day. We peered into the remaining crates of fish carefully packed in ice, many we barely recognized having seen them only as fillets at the supermarket. Boxes of fish from the North Atlantic were displayed next to exotic sea urchins and whole sharks, heads rising menacingly above the rim of their containers. They all glistened as if they had just been pulled from the water into the cold unscented air. Our highly informative guide estimated that 80% percent of the fish that arrives here from all over the world would be delivered to markets and restaurants in the Paris region.

We followed our guide through the meat pavilion past rows of hanging animal carcasses, boxes filled with the severed animal heads and packaged viscera. Every part of an animal is sold here. In the dairy pavilion, stacked rounds of cheeses the size of truck tires lay next to boxes filled with delicate rounds of goat cheese. Our view of the produce pavilion from a second story balcony gave us the most awesome sight of the morning. We had a panoramic view of seemingly endless stacks of crated fruits and vegetables, both local and tropical.  Rungis is reportedly the world's largest produce market.  At 9am, cold but exhilarated, we sat down to a multi-course breakfast served with wine and coffee in one of Rungis many restaurants. Then it was time to return to the hotel for a nap.

On our third day we experienced the Parisian food supply at the consumer level as we strolled the an outdoor market in a fashionable Paris neighborhood. Here was produce that had been purchased at Rungis during the night. Whole fish lay spread out on beds of ice ready to be filleted. Butchers had broken down the hanging carcasses into primal cuts then into steaks and roasts for customers. Street food vendors were mixed in among those selling fresh ingredients as were merchants displaying attractive table linen and scarves.

After a short taxi ride from the market across town, we entered a small private apartment equipped with a luxurious kitchen, donned aprons and prepared a multi-course lunch with purchases we had made at the market. Our starter course was a simply delicious mix of vegetables, braised in water, then lightly dressed in crème fraîche. Our instructor led us through the process of searing duck breasts that she had purchased from a farm near her Normandy residence. These were sliced and served with a refreshing beet and shallot condiment. A green salad, cheese board and succulent chocolate mousse completed a  meal in traditional French fashion.

After a stop at our hotel to pick up luggage, we boarded the train to Brive-la-Gaillarde. The four hour train ride south gave us time to digest and anticipate the second half of our journey in the Perigord. To be continued.

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