Parisienne Market Food

As part of our French cooking class, we visited Le Marche which is an interesting place indeed. To understand French cuisine, history assists us. For example, it is a French tradition to have fresh food and open markets. Everyday of the week, there are markets open that have fresh meats, vegtables, fruits, etc. In the distant past, Paris was ruled by a king and the royals so good cuts of meat were not readily available. Therefore, the French generally utilize and eat most parts of an animal.

I was shocked to learn they ate horse meat. Apparently, Paris was under seige during the Franco-Prussian war and Parisennes ate all the horses in Paris as well as all the cats and dogs. There still some 50-60 horse butchers in Paris. I did not try horse meat but it is still a delicacy in France.

The good aspect of the markets was that Paris has an excellent selection of fresh foods see the pictures below of the beautiful tomatoes and bananas. The strength of French cuisine is in the use of superior ingredients. In the USA, restaurants use whatever vegtables their suppliers bring. In Paris, it is not uncommon for a mid-tier restaurant to buy everything fresh daily to be cooked for lunch and dinner. During our cooking class, we were introduced to 4 different types of salt and 3-4 different types of pepper which are used for different aspects of cooking.

My personal favorite was the boulangeries which are bakeries.....we found a baker with a 200+ yr old oven and bought some fabulous bread. I was less happy with the meat situation as I am not big on seafood or duck but that seemed to be the majority of dishes available.

	Horse Meat Butcher
	Another Shot of the Horse Butcher
	Ducks in a regular butcher shop
	Skinned Rabbits with head (per French Law)
	Crustaceans & Seafood
	Fresh Tomatoes & Bananas
	Fresh Fruits