Homestay in Tours: My First Trip to the Market
Translated from my original Japanese post (2018). 日本語の原文を読む →
I just found out that a payment settings mistake got my server frozen and the blog was down,
so I've been in a cold sweat. Hi, it's Yoko, good evening!
It's back up safely, so today I want to continue with day 2 of my homestay in Tours, France.
Day 2 was a Sunday, so Madame took me to the marche (outdoor market) first thing in the morning!
The marche, essential to life in France
In France, whether it's Paris or anywhere else, there's a marche somewhere in town!
Most run on Sundays without fail, and some are held on weekdays like Wednesday.
You can get just about all your food here, from vegetables and meat to jam.
There are supermarkets, of course!
Like Monoprix, whose tote bags often show up in guidebooks as Paris souvenirs.
But we didn't go to the supermarket much.
The basic rule is bread from the boulangerie, and everything else from the marche.
So even when it's raining and freezing cold, the marche is packed...
What the marche is like
There's almost always a meat stall, a vegetable stall, and a cheese stall, and the more interesting ones have a deli stall or a mushroom stall.
The cheese stall
The cheese stall is where I most felt, "Ah, this is France!" (lol)
They sell so many kinds!
I always bought chevre (goat cheese) in particular. (It's a specialty of the Loire Valley. It's the gray cylinder in the middle of the photo.)
Together with the other cheeses, we always had about three kinds in the fridge.
We didn't wrap them, so they kept drying out and hardening... but watching the flavor change is part of the fun.
The butcher
The decisive difference between Japanese and French butchers...
is that there's no thinly sliced meat!!
Meat is basically sold in chunks, so you won't find thin slices like at a Japanese supermarket.
They'll cut it for you if you order on the spot, and I once had some cut a bit small for curry.
But the problem is when you want it thin.
Note that it won't be as thin as in Japan!
I guess it's because people there mostly eat meat as steak...
If you want shabu-shabu or asparagus wrapped in meat in France, you may have to buy a slicer.
The fishmonger
There is one, but the selection is small. A big city like Paris, or Marseille where people eat a lot of fish, might have more variety?
Also, because France doesn't have a culture of eating raw fish, you should assume you can't buy fish with the same freshness as in Japan.
Brigitte also said, "I can't eat raw fish," and in general there isn't much demand for raw fish among the French...
That said, in Paris I hear specialty shops selling ikejime fish (fish whose blood is drained right after catching, so there's no fishy smell and it stays fresh for a long time) have recently appeared, so fresh fish may become more available.
If you're going to cook it, it doesn't bother me that much.
The fruit and vegetable stall
You can get familiar vegetables like carrots and potatoes, but since you're there, do buy vegetables that are hard to find in Japan!
For example, this betterave (beet). It's a root vegetable that looks like a turnip at first glance, but it's in the same family as spinach.
Raw, it tastes earthy and needs to be boiled well, so it's sold cuites (cooked). How convenient!
The red pigment in beets, betacyanin, is a kind of polyphenol with strong antioxidant effects, and they're really sweet and delicious!
Also, strangely, you can easily find mikan (mandarin oranges) (lol)
Maybe the French like mandarins!
What to prepare before going to the marche
If you don't normally cook, try to do so beforehand. Otherwise you won't even know what to buy (lol)
Of course, everything is labeled in French, with no English. Translate everything and memorize it.
For meat, it's also best to know the names of the cuts.
In Japan, you can buy meat already cut small for karaage (fried chicken) and so on, but in France everything is sold by the gram.
How many grams should you buy? Again, cook regularly beforehand to get a sense of it.
There are no bags provided, so you must bring a tote bag or a cart!
French you can use at the marche
First, make eye contact with the stall owner (lol)
The owner serves customers one by one, so wait for your turn.
↓
If they're friendly, they'll say
Bonjour Madame/Monsieur!
(Hello, madam/sir.)
Greet them back the same way, and the shopping begins!
↓
Je voudrais ça s’il vous plaît.
(I would like this, please.)
Say this while pointing at what you want.
* If you want to point to several things in place of "ça" (this), you can say celui-ci et celui-là (this one and that one).
Saying "ça et ça" every time is apparently odd. (By my language school teacher in Paris)
Strictly speaking, if the item is a feminine noun, celui should be celle, but if you think "I can't keep track of that!", either is OK.
* If you ask Google, plenty of articles come up on how to order in French by grams and product name, so have a look.
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While taking your order from the display, the owner will ask things like
autre chose?
(Anything else?)
c'est tout?
(Is that all?)
If there's nothing else, answer with a smile:
Ce sera tout
(That will be all.)
Then they'll tell you the price, so do your best to catch the numbers and pay.
↓
As you take your items, say goodbye.
Merci beaucoup au revoir bonne journée!
(Thank you very much, goodbye, have a good day!)
↓
Mission complete!
I think the greeting at the start and end of shopping is super important!
In France you always say Bonjour! and Au revoir! even in department stores and convenience-store-like shops, so it's worth remembering.
At the marche you can't avoid speaking some French, so muster your courage and just go!
...This has turned into a guide to conquering the marche,
but what did I do on day 2 of my stay in France? Brigitte bought vegetables, mushrooms, and more at the marche.
Many of Brigitte's friends were at the marche too, and each time they met they exchanged a bise (the French greeting where you touch cheeks), chatted happily, and finished their shopping.
To be continued
If you want to blend in, a hooded jacket is a must (lol)