Paris street markets in winter
 

Hello, all --

We'll be in Paris over the New Year's holiday and want to go do some food shopping at the Saxe-Breteuil marche, among others. Having never been there in winter before, I'm wondering what sort of things will be on offer.

I'm guessing that the fruits and vegetables available at that time of year are all from North Africa, etc., oui ou non? Not interested in any seasonal game meat, not that I mind eating it, just don't know how to cook it.

Will there be the ususal selection of fromages, or anything special to the season?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

We were in Paris last January. In one street market (no idea where- just found it by serendipity) there was a stall selling cooked choucroute, sauerkraut and all kind of fixings. Lots of people were stopping by to get an entire family dinner to take home. It was a trip to see a few dozen giant pork shoulders all merrily sizzling away.

ttt

I have no first hand experience of that time of year but market shopping is a fact of Parisian life and I'm sure it is a year round endeavor. The chicken rotisseries will surely be turning.

I've also seen whole suckling pig on the market rotisseries.

We always seem to go to Paris in the winter. There is a great street market on Richard Lenoir over near the Bastille on Sundays and I think also on Wednesdays. If you go on Sunday you can then head over to Place des Vosges and marais where everybody seems to be on sundays.

We usually see fairly full markets. There's lots of fruit, but I'm not sure where it's from--no. africa is a good guess. I recall seeing the usual cheese, meats (rabbit seemed plentiful), and flowers at the markets on moufettard and daguerre. Not sure about anything special, though.

Obviously you do get game (which is no more difficult to cook than any other kind of poultry).

Brassicas and root vegetables (not just the obvious swedes and turnips but Jerusalem artichokes, celeriac and the like) are mostly local, or at any rate from wherever in Europe offers best value at the time (most of the stuff in Paris street markets comes through Rungis anyway, unlike some of the provincial markets where you're buying from the producer).

So are orchard fruits. Citrus can come from virtually anywhere in the Mediterranean, and Israel and Turkey are normally bigger suppliers than North Africa. An awful lot of fruit and veg is grown in Spanish polytunnels these days, and anything else is made up from the usual Eastern Hemisphere suspects - Zimbabwe, Kenya, Thailand and so on. You'll probably find Californian strawberries if you look hard enough.

The French are just as capable of selling forced, tasteless, out of season exotica as anyone else. They're just better than most affluent countries at selling decent stuff in season as well.