France Week at Isetan, 2019

Bonjour! It's Yoko, the French-obsessed food blogger.

Do you know "France Week," the event held every spring at Isetan, my favorite department store?

This year was the 14th edition of Isetan's popular annual event.

It was held in two parts this time,

Part 1 ran Wednesday, April 10 to Monday, April 15, 2019, ending at 6 p.m. on the last day,
and Part 2 ran Wednesday, April 17 to Sunday, April 21, 2019, ending at 7 p.m. on the last day.

As a French-obsessed blogger, I couldn't possibly miss it, so off I went.

It was so much fun that if you love France, you'll really regret skipping it.

The Theme of France Week 2019

This year's theme was "Food Artisans,"

and chefs, pastry chefs, craftspeople and creators working in France came to Japan for France Week.

French chefs working in Japan also took part.

During the event, the main building and the men's building also spotlighted all things French.

Highlights

First, you get to discover lots of new French brands, from food to wine.

And there are so many samples! There's even a food court serving authentic flavors, so you could make France Week your lunch, too (lol).

There are also seminars where you can learn about the worldview and products of French brands in depth.

What I Recommend and What I Bought at France Week

Here are some recommendations for anyone interested in France or planning a trip there.

French Mushrooms (Morels and Trompettes de la Mort)

First, French mushrooms!

I bought the two mushrooms at the bottom right of the photo: morels and trompettes de la mort (black trumpet mushrooms).

In Japanese, morels are called amigasa-take, and trompettes de la mort are kuro-rappa-take.

Both are prized mushrooms in France.

Shop staff: "They were flown in from France!"

Me: "Wow!"

What a luxury to buy fresh mushrooms that were flown in by air.

You can't buy fresh French mushrooms at a Tokyo supermarket, so I grabbed them.

The morels were ¥1,100 for 50 g and the trumpet mushrooms ¥500 for 50 g. Yikes!

But the aroma and texture were absolutely delicious!

The shop is called TOKYO468 Shokuzai and also sells online (in Japan).

Mei Narusawa's Baguette

The French staple is the baguette! The baguettes I ate when I studied in France were really good, so I got nostalgic and bought one.

Mei Narusawa, a boulangère (woman baker), has a brilliant record:

she won the 2017 French national Baguette de Tradition competition.

At the time she was working at Boulangerie Durrenberger, a shop founded in 1882 in Alsace, France,

and, amazingly, a Japanese woman colleague had been the runner-up in 2016. It was a kind of revenge win.

It was a truly remarkable feat: she was the first woman, and the first foreigner, to win the French national Baguette de Tradition competition.

She has kept up the pace since, winning the Alsace galette des rois competition in 2018.

Her baguette had a crisp crust and you could taste the flavor of the flour!

She seems to have come to France Week last year as well, so you might be able to buy it in 2020, too.

Bordier Butter

Bordier is a cultured butter made by traditional methods and used at three-star restaurants in France and top restaurants around the world!

It's made with milk from cows raised in Brittany, France, and carefully crafted over three days.

I love butter so much that I did a French butter taste test,

and Bordier has become so famous that many of you probably know it.

I love its rich flavor and have bought it many times.

Honestly, it's cheaper in France... (lol)

When I left France last year, I'd missed out on Bordier's butter blended with several kinds of seaweed, and I remembered that, so I got it this time.

I used it right away in a seafood pilaf and in a cream sauce, and it was delicious as ever!

The result is rich even compared with other French makers.

KURÉDORÉ

Source: https://www.chez-melin.com/kuredore

The timing didn't work out, so I didn't buy this, but I'm very curious about it.

Kurédoré is short for "crayon" plus "dressing," and it's a solid dressing shaped like a crayon!

A crayon shape is so French! Its theme is being healthy, fun, delicious and beautiful.

It was developed in September 2017 by a startup called OCNI Factory in Alès, in the south of France.

To use it, you just shave it like a real crayon.

It is free of synthetic colorings and chemical additives, and is vegan-friendly.

I often pour on too much dressing and think "oh no...", so I'm really intrigued.

Liquid dressing makes leaves go limp, but with a solid you can apply it ahead of time,

and it looks pretty like shaved cheese, and it's handy for carrying outdoors, too.

France Week Is Held Every Spring

Isetan's France Week has been held every spring since 2006.

Looking at the past five years, it's generally six days starting on the third Wednesday of April.

This year it spanned two weekends and ran nearly twice as many days as usual, so it must have been well received.

It will almost certainly be held again next year.

It's a super fun event where you can discover new charms of France every year,

so if you absolutely love France, or want to feel like you're in France, why not stop by?

See you next time!

Merci, au revoir!