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This week France rather quietly announced that visitors from the U.S. and Canada were allowed to come to the country without any restrictions. Things are still moving in the direction of getting back to normal, and while last year is still sort of a haze to me, I believe the markets in Paris remained open the entire time, operating under different conditions. Outdoor markets are extremely important in France and, of course, pre-dated les supermarchés which are now everywhere and have more agreeable hours – some are now even open on Sundays, which was controversial when it happened. But the outdoor markets take place six days a week in Paris, and in a country where holidays and vacations, and Sundays, are sacred, they remain open no matter what, even on Christmas, Easter, and New Year’s Day.

The outdoor markets are an integral part of French life and while in Paris there are over 100 marchés alimentaires (food markets), many of the stands are run by négotiants, or middle-men and women, who get their fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, and fish from Rungis, the wholesale market outside of the city. There are many small farms in France but many stay, and sell, only in their regions due to their size. So I’m always happy when I see signs posted about an upcoming Marché des Producteurs de Pays, where you can buy things directly from the growers and producers, who bring their foods to the city.

With shopping baskets in tow, I hit the marché last weekend with my friend Jane of La Cuisine. While I couldn’t wait to get to the butter, which we remembered from past visits, we strolled around to see what everyone had before getting down to doing our shopping.

Because it’s a producer’s market, there is a more limited selection of items for sale. There’s some produce, that’s not the entire focus of these roving markets. So if you’re looking to make Salade niçoise and need fava beans, eggs, and tomatoes, or celery root for Céleri Remoulade, you might have to change what’s on the menu chez toi, at your place. On the other hand, there are things to eat while roving the market, including buckwheat galettes, oysters in season, Parmentier (a Shepherd’s Pie that’s made in huge batches on griddles, and popular in France), or a sandwich made on the spot with grilled sausage.

Our first stop was determined by where our noses led us. Which was in the direction of les fromages

I once got a scolding for taking a picture of some lovely goat cheeses that were on display at this market, that still smarts. So I’ve learned over the years to 1) Always ask first, and 2) Before you ask, take time to appreciate before asking to take a picture. The upside to this approach is not only can you get a nicer shot to share on your blog with your awesome readers, which you always want to do, to put the foods and producers in their best light, but it gives you a chance to get to know the vendors and the makers of what you’re buying.

Not everyone is focused on the shoppers, though. There was a couple at one booth who were showing a lot more interest in getting amorous with each other than what they were selling. Although to be honest, if I looked like that fellow, I’d spend more time searching out amorous exploits than I would trying to sell jars of jam. When I returned the next morning, they were powering down shots of strong, black café express and chain-smoking, looking like they just rolled out of le sac before the market started and didn’t have time for any personal grooming after what was likely was a very charged, but satisfying, evening. I didn’t disturb them that day either.

Much to the chagrin of friends and family (i.e.; Romain), my greatest pleasure in life is being in a horizontal position, and while your mind might be in the gutter hearing that, my mind is always on something else: Butter. These days, that’s where much of satisfaction comes from, specifically salted French butter, which fortunately is a passion that Romain shares with me.

While talking to the cheese vendor, while at the same time discreetly surveying the beautiful cheeses and deciding which ones I wanted to share pictures of with you, the gentleman actually remembered us from last year. Fortunately, it wasn’t the guy who terrorized me for taking a picture, who I did make up with by buying a few rounds of his goat cheeses, which were very delicious and I told him so, which (mostly) resolved the situation, although obvs. I’m still scarred by it.

As this fellow lopped off a slab of salted butter from the big mound he was selling from, I picked out a few goat and sheeps’ milk cheeses that would indeed be coming home with me, along with the butter.

Often when I share pictures of cheese on social media, people ask, “What’s the name of that cheese?”

At markets like this, you don’t usually shop by name, but by the cheese. The name of the Brebimou, shown above, is seemingly a mash-up of brebis (sheep) and mou (soft). So if you ask for a Brebimou elsewhere, they likely won’t know what the heck you’re talking about. So while one can shop for Comté, Roquefort, Cantal, St. Nectaire, and Brie de Meaux by name, from small producers the way to go is to go with what looks good, or to ask and let them know what you’re looking for in a cheese; soft, firm, semi-dry, moist, forte or pas trop forte (stong or not-too strong), goat or sheeps’ milk, and perhaps whether you plan to eat the cheese that day or later on.

You can really get some of the best cheeses in France if you have access to a small producer, as their cheeses are made in limited quantities in small batches, and they personally nurture them along until they’re ripe and ready. (Although the big-name cheeses like Comté, Beaufort, and Brie de Meaux are also made by hand, but just in larger batches since they’re feeding a larger audience.) Another bonus is the small-scale cheeses are sold at reasonable prices. Last summer at the market in Olonzac, in the south of France, a man was selling dewy little goat cheeses that he’d just made from his wooden cart for €2-3 each. Yes, I stocked up. And boy, were those good – at any price.

And speaking of knowing where the food comes from, the cheesemaker also had veal for sale, with a sign on it: “Veal raised on the prairie (meadow) under its mother” which was good intel if you were planning to buy veal.

We also perused the olive stand, while a woman hovering behind me seemed attracted by my fancy DSLR camera…and probably the wallet in my shoulder bag. She appeared to be shopping, and browsing, but wasn’t buying anything and didn’t have a market bag with her. So it seems like the vendors aren’t the only ones to be back in business. So just a head’s up that when you’re out and about to keep an eye on your things. I stared her down until she left, and alerted the vendeuse at the stand, who was equally vexed. No need to be paranoid but I’m alert, especially when I pull out my camera as it’s pretty much a calling card for any bad apples hovering in the vicinity.

But there were no bad olives at the stand selling olives from Nyons, which are some of my favorites types of olives. The kindly matriarch from this 4-generational farm gave us tastes and we each bought a bag. I didn’t buy any organic olive oil, since I get mine from a family in Sicily (who can only ship within Europe) but olive oil from Nyons is usually excellent.

Another regional French specialty is Pain d’épices. Made with honey, it’s the French equivalent of gingerbread, with a mix of spices that has remarkable staying power. This one boasts 55% honey and the package says it’ll keep until next October. I bought a mini-pack of three slices for €2,5 for an upcoming train trip, and I hope it lasts long enough in my apartment until we take the trip!

Another yet regional specialty are galettes from Brittany, made with buckwheat, which are sometimes mistakenly called “buckwheat crêpes” by visitors, which confuses locals since galettes are made with buckwheat flour and crêpes are made with white flour. Although in some parts of Brittany, buckwheat galettes are called “crêpes au blé noir.” (“Dark flour.”)

Confused? Don’t worry about it. Just follow the signs and order what sounds and looks good to you. To be honest, these galettes (below) didn’t look all that spectacular, so we just ordered a galette beurre for the fun of it to share, which simply had a swipe of salted butter smeared inside, but wow, was that good! So much so that I bought a pack of 6 galettes nature (plain) for Romain…who, if I didn’t put the brakes on, would eat them all in one go. Jane said the same thing about her #frenchman 

Even though the same stand was selling freshly milled buckwheat flour (farine de sarrasin), and I could make my own, I’ve got my hands full of projects and was happy to support the galette-makers, who make me happy. And when I make them at home, Romain tends to gobble them down as soon as they’re warm off the griddle and it’s hard to keep up. #happyfrenchman

One thing I like to pick up at these markets is cold-pressed oils. While I have my olive oil source down, these oils are good for cooking, although people use them for making vinaigrettes in France, often in place of olive oil as some people find the flavor of olive oil a bit “trop” (too much.) There’s a lot of back-and-forth about what oil is good for you and what isn’t. I’m generally of the mind that the more natural, the better. And since I’ve seen everything from eggs to butter demonized over the years, my take is that people have been eating foods closest to the earth for a very long time, so I tend to focus on less-processed things, rather than the information that seems to change from year to year about which oil you should be eating or whatever. And I’ve done my best to remove the word “should” from my vocabulary, and have a filter on my computer that filters out “You should…” messages from arriving into my Inbox.

(A reader also noted a few years ago during a brouhaha about an ingredient in a recipe on my blog, “Probably the stress of worrying about it all the time is worse for you than actually eating it.” I forget who that was, but when I return to using the word “should,” I should find her and give her an honorable mention certificate.)

Jane and I were initially excited when we arrived at the market to see a grouping of tables and chairs all set up for lunch adjacent to the market. We both had the same thought: What a great idea to have a little restaurant attached to the market! But the tables and chairs were for a local pizzeria, and there were a few high tables here and there (sans chairs) for the few stands that were offering up something to eat because…it’s France, and it’s everybody’s favorite activity. But there were only about two or three tables, which aren’t very large, so you have to not mind sharing one.

Meat is popular, especially out in the countryside. But at street fairs and so forth in Paris, there are invariably sausages grilling up that even city folks can’t resist. Several hipsters were wolfing down grilled sausage sandwiches while the sandwich maker was working on a lamb brochette sandwich for an older gentleman who was waiting patiently while the fellow assembled his lunch.

To reiterate the point, producer’s markets are usually very good places to get meat and poultry because the producers themselves are selling them, hence the sign below that notes La Ferme de Mayrinhac, below, the farm where the animals are raised, not a random butcher, so you know where the meat is coming from and you can talk to the folks about how they raise their it, and they often have bucolic pictures of where they do it too. Of course, there may also be a bit of cinéma, or a gauzy appearance of things from the pastoral images, but generally speaking, I’ve found that the people standing behind counters selling their own products have an admirable sense of pride about what they sell and are happy to talk to you about it. As long as you ask before taking any pictures, that is.

Another thing that’s nice to buy “from the source” is berries. Good French strawberries, unlike the ones sold in supermarkets, are very delicate and only last a day or two, at most. Garguettes, developed in the 1970s, are popular due to an extensive (and successful) marketing campaign (you can ever get Gariguette-flavored vaping liquid in France) by the same company that heavily markets tomates à l’ancienne (heirloom-style) hothouse tomatoes, that look nice but have zero flavor. For my money, I go for the alpine Mara des Bois strawberries.

But last summer at the market in Olonzac, I discovered Mariguettes grown by a woman who is a potagère (gardener), that she and her charming daughter were selling, amongst their other eye-poppingly beautiful fruits and vegetables. Mariguettes a newer variety that’s a cross between Gariguettes and Mara des Bois and I’ve tasted some great strawberries in Northern California and in Plougastel, Brittany, but those were right up there with the best of the best. The impressive berry stand at this Marché des Producteurs in Paris was also selling small baskets of blackcurrants, raspberries, and gooseberries, not in quantities (or prices) that would let you make a standard-size dessert from, but enough to make a nice compote to go on your yogurt or running over a dish of ice cream.

(When I was writing Drinking French, a friend gave me her mother’s recipe for blackcurrant liqueur. It called for 2 kilos, or 4 1/2 pounds, of blackcurrants, which I was sure few could tackle. You’re welcome.)

A few years back I wrote a post about Crème de Marrons, the delectable French chestnut spread that’s sold in tins and tubes. It racked up 127 comments which is a tribute to its popularity (or my fawning over it…it’s very popular in France for a reason.) One stand had organic chestnut flour fondants, above, an all-purpose word for soft cakes that fond dans la bouche, or melt in your mouth. They also had a lot of different types of chestnut confiture or “jam.” It’s a little different than the tinned crème de Marrons, which has candied chestnuts blended into it.

These homespun confitures tend to be more rustic, and less sweet. And for the low-sugar people (who are trying to put me out of business!) you can sometimes find low-sugar (allégée) varieties, too. But I did buy a jar of allégée myself, so if I was seeing a psychaitre, they’d tell me that I was engaging in self-destructive behavior.

Because…it’s France, there are invariably a few booths selling wine, and at least one selling Champagne. This market also had a brewer, since beer is quickly catching up to wine in terms of sales in France. In my neighborhood, however, a quick glance at café tables on any given afternoon would seem that beer has surpassed it. And when a neighbor invited us for dinner the other night, he only had beer.

We didn’t stop for a glass of beer as we were heading to the corner café for a glass of rosé, but since the producteurs at these markets come from the countryside, they’re very good at producing conserved foods that you can bring home and save for a later date. I admire DIYers and I make my own cassoulet when the mood hits, but there’s no shame in buying a well-made cassoulet or confit de canard in a jar. Before the recent advent of food delivery services, which mostly feature burgers, pizza and les sushis, these were French versions of foods “to go.”

Most aren’t exactly summertime dishes, and you’ll find things like choucroute (cuts of cured pork, served with sauerkraut) in jars, as well as cassoulet (below, middle), civet of duck with prunes (thickened with duck blood), and other interesting things to keep in your pantry until you’ve got a hankering.

The next morning I was up early and decided to go back and get some nice cherries but they were completely sold out. All they had were dinged up cerises à cuir (cooking cherries) and I was dismayed that all the nice baskets of cherries were gone and left. Halfway home, however, I turned around, and ran back to buy the rest of the cherries they did have, as well as a basket of those marvelous Mariguette strawberries, just for good measure. As they say, when life gives you cooking cherries…buy ’em. Which I did.

The Marchés des Producteurs de Pays take place several times a year in Paris, and in other cities in France. The next market in Paris is planned for July 10 and 11, at 33 blvd de Reuilly in the 12th arrondissement. You can search for others on their website and they’re announced on their Facebook page.

Another organization that runs Producer’s Markets is Pari Fermier. They are also on Facebook.

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Other things to look out for at the Marchés des Producteurs de Pays are Pruneaux d’Agen, the wonderful prunes from Agen. Mi-cuit (partially-dried) prunes are the best, most luscious, although they don’t last very long and should be refrigerated, although some are well-sealed so they can travel. Just ask the vendor which are the best for your situation. When in season, there is usually an oyster stand that’s a worthwhile stop. This year due to pandemic restrictions this winter you couldn’t eat the oysters at the market (but they were happy to open them for you if you wanted to take them home), nor could you have a little plastic cup of cold white Muscadet wine with them. But next oyster season, they’ll likely be back in business.

French honey is another treat that’s sold at these markets. I didn’t buy any this time because I’ve got a half-dozen jars in my cabinet, but if you like bitter honey (as I do), chestnut honey in France is wonderful and much more affordable than it is in the U.S. In France honey is considered a delicacy and is sold by variety and they have jars open to taste with disposable utensils. One rarely finds buckwheat honey in France nowadays, for some reason, so when I do find jars of dark miel de sarrasin, I snatch up a few.

 

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59 comments

    • Jennifer

    I absolutely love these markets! Pari Fermier comes to the 15ème twice a year and I have it noted on my calendar to make sure I don’t miss it.

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      I used to shop from La Ruche qui dit oui! as it was nice to get stuff from small producers delivered in Paris, but I missed picking out my own stuff, so these markets are nice when they are in town :)

    • Fiona

    Lovely post!

    • Pepper

    I’m drooling just reading this, David. What a fun and informative blog! We’re heading to France this weekend after a yearlong absence. I’ll be looking out for the Marché des Producteurs de Pays in every town we visit and now have an even better idea what to buy, thanks to you.

    • Ruth Kraus

    Love these delicious love reports from France. Please keep them coming!
    Ruth

    • Krystyna Kraska Llenza

    Loved the article…..very well written, I could almost feel as if I were there walking along seeing , smelling & enjoying the market.

    • Cathy Barrow

    Dear David, Thank you for this virtual stroll through the market. I’m missing France and the strawberries and cheeses and butter and, well, everything, and I could very nearly taste everything you wrote about. Nearly. We’re looking at the calendar and planning a visit, but not soon enough. Until then, I’ll be savoring every word you write. xoCathy

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      Having been closed for so long, it’s short of whiplash to have the borders (mostly) wide open again. Visitors have been missed but it’s sort of slow-going as things return to normal!

    • Shanne

    I loved this. I spent a few weeks with a friend visiting the country markets outside Lyon several years ago. Having only visited large cities for holidays, it was a cultural experience. I love the fresh cheeses with fruit in the morning. We stayed in a small village (Chaffailles) that summer. Great memories of the markets and their produce.

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      Lyon has a very good market within the city but yes, outside of the cities are often where the best markets are. And fresh cheese really is lovely…

    • Cyndy

    I so enjoy your market blogs, David. Blvd Richard-Lenoir was our stomping grounds in Paris, and I remember this occasional market plus the Thursday/Sunday Bastille market. (There was one meat vendor at Bastille who made everyone form a line. He was my favorite. Must not have been a native!)

    I wish I had had this post to go by ten years ago. I would have tried some of those “to-go” jars, especially the cassoulet. Having been raised in the States, I tend to take a dim view of dinner in a jar (especially if it came from Monoprix). I should have known better.

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      Some vendors are pretty strict about insisting people form a line (one fishmonger at my market now has a rope to “corral” people into a line) but it’s easier for them to wait on each person when it’s their turn, rather than having to deal with a mob of people coming at them all at once, and them having to figure out who is next.

    • Patricia Chapman

    A delightful way to start the day by dreaming of French markets as we look forward to visiting again. Hopefully soon

    • Linda Hollander

    Some people dream of eating in Paris in five star restaurants, Tour d’Argent etc.
    My dream is butter and chestnut honey on a baguette! Not to mention the street vendors roasted chicken with the little potatoes. And Berthillon hot fudge on pear sorbet and vanilla…or apricot sorbet, or the raspberry and rosewater. I could go on but I’m drooling on my shirt. MAYBE I can get there in 2021, but I have to be extremely cautious.

    Oh, and the strawberries. I was in the Loire in 2019 and the vendors were out by the sides of the roads. Just as we finished a punnet, voila! Another vendor!I

    As always, thank you for your insight, knowledge and enthusiasm for Paris, France and food!

      • Margaret

      Lovely post, David, thank you? Are the buckwheat galettes made the same way as white flour crepes?

        • David
        David Lebovitz

        Sort of. True buckwheat galettes don’t have any eggs, so they’re a lot harder to make. (Many places add some white flour to the mix and/or eggs.) I tried making them at home without a lot of success so I went to learn how to make them in the kitchen at Breizh Café in Paris, where they make true buckwheat galettes on griddles and didn’t have much success there either. They told me it takes at least a week to get them right. But a lot depends on the buckwheat flour they told me. It needs to be very freshly, which makes it somewhat sticky. Also the buckwheat flour in France is partially refined whereas in the U.S. most of it is “whole grain” so it’s a lot darker.

          • Margaret

          Interesting… thanks!

    • stuart itter

    Great newsletter. Right at the very heart of the Paris/French DNA and the vicarious rewards it provides. Why your raison d’etra.

    • Jane Sherwin

    Oh this is your best one ever, I adore market descriptions. Elizabeth David (or was it MFK Fisher) had one years ago (Provence) that I still remember. Thank you David!

    • Sandra H.

    Thank you for such a wonderfully written and visual tour and explanation of the Marchés des Producteurs de Pays! I hope you can get to the next one too, and tell us about it.

    • Linda Amstutz

    This may be my favorite of all the newsletters of yours I have read…however, if you ever plan to be back at the market in Olonzac I will be bereft if you dont give me a heads-up so that we might meet. I live about a kilometer from the middle of Olonzac (in Homps) and I am a truly steadfast fan (of both yours and the market’s).

    • Dee

    Wow what great pix and story! I miss those markets.

    • S

    I always look forward to your blog posts. They are wonderfully written, informative and bring me right along with you. Thank you for giving me something to look forward to reading!

    • Molly F. C.

    Loved reading this, David. Appreciated the photographs too so thanks for taking them for your readers. ;)

    • witloof

    Thank you so much for this super delicious post! My last day in Paris two summers ago, I was staying in Vincennes and wandered into town to buy something for the plane. I stumbled onto the weekly outdoor market and bought so many lovely things, but passed up so many more. My favorite moment was fending off a vendor who could not have possibly thought I was a local who vigorously tried to sell me a flat of framboises pour faire la confiture.

    • Susan Renee Hennings

    Thanks for the tour of the open air market. I only wish the “growers’ markets here had such variety. Does produce and other items seem expensive? Were those battered cherries a bargain? Those cherries looked better than most that are available here.

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      I think the items are a bit more expensive than at the regular outdoor markets, but on the other hand, these are growers so they’re not buying their produce from other countries where labor and costs are cheaper. The strawberries were €5,50 a basket (or two baskets for €10) and the cherries were originally €14/kg but I paid half that, so they ended up being roughly $8 per pound.

    • Karen

    What a feast this post is! And it brought back fond memories of Perigord and a meal at a small restaurant where we were the only customers. The elderly chef/owner (who was reluctantly retiring from his business and I suspect was really closed when we walked in) made a fire in the huge fireplace and cooked local pork chops for us. Accompanying them were frites that were cooked in huile de noisettes (he was so proud of them that he brought the bottle out to show us), salad that was fresh picked and dessert was still warm applesauce from the trees in the back. His joy in cooking for us, his warmth and welcoming personality and his surprise at two Americaines who spoke French are forever in my heart. As are those unforgettable frites!

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      I didn’t know you could deep-fry in nut oil but nice that you got a taste of them! Often in the countryside the pace is slower and it’s nice to come across people and places like that.

      • rose

      God imagine if there were little country restaurants in the US where chef/owners served actual homemade delights made from stuff growing ‘out back’. I wonder how they are able to make a living in France doing this.

      Not to ask too much, ha, but would LOVE an interview with one of these places that answers this question and highlights the goods!

        • Matt

        There are…

    • Joan Garneau

    Wonderful tour of the market…you had my senses charged!
    Thank You!

    • Mark Steele

    Thanks David. A kind of vicarious living is nice…look forward to my next trip to
    France.

    • Cynthia

    Swoon *sigh* while reading…

    • Susan

    After a depressing week of medical news your wonderful blog transported us to another place, a day brightener and a reminder of delicious French fare we once enjoyed. Thank you.

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      Glad it helped and hope the week ahead is better for you : )

    • Susan

    Oh David, I just gained 15 lbs reading this! Here in SE MA. things have certainly gotten better with regard to farmers markets and local producers of nice cheese and more. We will not be on par with France for the foreseeable future however!! Thank you for sharing.

    • Linn

    So I guess we’ll see a wonderful recipe using cooking cherries on your blog soon :)

    • Monicak

    I visited Paris for the first time in my early 20s. Went to one of the popular markets that was recommended by a guidebook and stopped by one of the little shops selling cheeses and pâté. I had heard of pâté before so I asked the owner, can I have some pate de campagne…pronouncing it, champagne. The owner made an opening sound of champagne with his finger and mouth and said Happy New Year! I was pretty embarrassed but boy, that pâté was so, so delicious smeared on bread.

    Another time, I was at a market in Chalat de Canada (or something like that) in the Dordogne area and was purchasing olives from a vendor. The vendor kept telling me to wait until he was done with selling olives to others. I finally bought olives at the end and when I got back to my hotel later it hit me. He had ripped me off.

    Ah, fun memories.

    • patty

    What a fabulous farmer’s market! There are a few around here (NE Ohio) but the sheer variety of items is amazing! I do have a question; please don’t laugh! I don’t know much about cheese, so do you eat the rhine or do you cut it off?

    • Taste of France

    Being in the country, we have plenty of producteurs at our regular market. My favorite strawberries are the ciflorettes, which are less red but oh so flavorful. The fancy ladies of Carcassonne go to two farms on the edge of town to buy their produce directly–the dirt road is lined with Minis and Mercedes.
    If readers see “Ferme en Ferme,” that’s always fun. You visit the actual farm, get to see how things are made sometimes, can buy items and sometimes there are meals served (almost always have to reserve ahead for the meal at the farm you want because they sell out). There’s a circuit of farms in a particular area, and you drive through the beautiful French countryside, sampling the goodies.

    • Jann

    Thank you , David, for the wonderful tour and informative post!! What an exciting adventure you had!!! And, you had wonderful company…Jane!! She is a very special lady!!!

    • Susan Riggs

    David, read this with equal parts sadness and joy. Wish I were there. But still, enjoyed every word and photo. Merci beaucoup for sharing!

    • Amanda

    Wow. Your words and pics really filled me with a sense of longing for France that I haven’t felt in a long time. Thanks for the stroll down Nostalgia Lane.

    • Kathleen Taggart

    Wonderful photos and great “feel” of the markets.

    • E E Deere

    David, I was scolded at the Rodin Museum in 1968 and I am still not completely over it. The French are very effective yellers. My sympathies.

    What a wonderful market report. I have a very little market near me on Saturdays, but it has local produce, fish from Chesapeake Bay, and local meat too. My life is so much richer because of it.

    • susan fiden

    I would like to buy a nylon rolling pin like Dorie Greenspan uses. I think it is made by Mattfer Bourgeat. Where in Paris could I find it when I’m there in July? E.Dehillerin? or someplace else.Thank you,David.

    • Nancy

    We are going to be in Paris July 7th – 18th do you know of any marche-des-producteurs de pays during these dates?

    • Christine

    What a lovely post, we weren’t lucky enough to visit any markets when we visited Paris a few years ago and I hope to when we’re able to return.

    I’m incredibly intrigued by the different confitures de chataigne: what were the different types? I tried zooming in on the image but couldn’t read the labels!

    • Kari

    What a beautiful post, both the photos and descriptions. I actually longed for those strawberries. Many pandemic months of holing up and assorted broken bones, including hip, have had me not so mobile and not able to visit my usual Maryland farmers’ markets so far this summer. They pale in comparison to this, though. I’d be so incredibly delighted to be able to get fresh oysters at the markets!

    • Agneta

    How I envy you!

    • Melissa

    So lovely to read; browsing markets is one of my favorite things ever, and you made me feel like I was at one!
    A random Q: I love your round market basket your cherries are in, but I never saw one like it on my last trip to France (and I was at numerous markets…). Is there a special place to get them or is it luck? (I even chased down a lady to ask where she got hers—thankfully she took it as a compliment , lol, but she had bought it long ago.)

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      They used to sell them at the markets back in the early 2000s but I think they fell out of favor. I believe they may be from North Africa and there are probably shops that sell them but I don’t see them at the markets anymore.

    • Stephanie

    I’ve been to France dozens of times but rarely go to Paris. I did however go there to celebrate my 30th birthday quite a few years ago. We brought a great book with us called Paris in a Basket which describes all the food markets in Paris. A great resource for anyone interested in Paris markets. We visited quite a few & stayed near the Richard Lenoir market, the location on the banner in your first photo.

    Luckily for us my birthday coincided with the Beaujolais Nouveau arriving into Paris, something I never knew about. We had an added bonus of drinking lots of it in all the restaurants we went to. Fond memories indeed!

    • JenniferC

    The chestnut crepes – creme de marron – delicious! This post was so lovely – makes me yearn for when I can return, most likely next year!

    • Lisa RR

    Such an evocative post! Truly enjoyable. Thanks for walking your readers through the amazing market.

    • Linn

    Congrats on IACP Drinking French nomination!

    • Simone

    Oh la la David. Alléger (deux petits L) psychiatre. Je peux vous corriger ou vous allez vous fâcher ? Professeure de français à LA ma classe vous adore. Vous nous faites vivre Paris à travers vos newsletters.

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