MARKETS

Markets are an integral part of French life; and how we love them! They are the best place to buy fresh local produce and, just as importantly, a place to meet, to chat with stall-holders and catch up with all the week's gossip. It matters that the lettuce we can buy from a local small-holder was picked that morning, wasn't grown without earth under a plastic cloche and then dipped into a chemical bath; that the chicken or guinea fowl has been raised outside and fed naturally, and actually tastes of something. We agree with Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall: it is worth paying more and eating chicken less often, which is what the French do. Everyone has their favourite stall holder, but we have learnt to avoid the larger stalls, who buy in the produce from wholesalers selling produce from all over Europe, as well as the cheese stalls with large rounds who induce you to taste, and then sell you cheese for 40 Euros a kilo ( twice the farm price). Better to look up the local goat farmer and take home that little Cabecou if you're in the South West, Ste-Maure in the Loire , or Broussin from the Var, all the regional delights of France.