Let’s be honest: one of the best things about France is the food. Especially when you've been used to Spar's finest jars of pasta sauce for a year. Obviously you can still find cheap-and-kind-of-gross food in France, but it's a lot easier to find the good stuff. If you're living in France, especially in Poitiers, there's really no excuse for not eating fresh. On my first day in Poitiers, I ventured out to the best place to find local, fresh food.
I headed to the market.
Lucky for me, every day in Poitiers is market day. Varying from larger markets, where you can find clothes and books as well as food, to those dedicated solely to local organic produce. I visited a more general one, in the Marché des Couronneries, which meant I scooped up a new outfit while stocking my fridge, and the first thing I noticed was that it was seemingly endless. From a distance what seemed to be a few scant stalls quickly revealed themselves as the entrance to a labyrinth. As I wandered through the endless maze, it was easy to distinguish a vague border between food and non-food stalls, the latter being dwarfed by the former. There wasn't just French food on offer - stalls offering delicacies from Russia, Turkey and Portugal could all be found next to them. I bought a kind of Turkish crepe, called a Beurek, and found it just as good as its French counterpart. The fruit and vegetables were fresh, sold by the kilo, and very reasonably priced. We even got half a watermelon as a gift from the shopkeeper.
That was one of the defining features of the market: friendliness. Despite the (debatably well-earned) French reputation of aloofness, almost every stall owner I came across was more than happy to help, humouring my awkward French and advising me on which product might best suit my tastes. I did not go into the market intending to buy a week's worth of food. However, that is exactly what I did. Fresh bread, dried sausage, seafood and cheese and pasta; it made a nice change from the own-brand supermarket stuff that I ate in first year.
Of course, that isn’t to say that there weren’t any supermarkets. In fact, on the border of the market is a large Monoprix which stocks everything that your heart desires and conveniently fills any gaps left in your shopping after you have exhausted the treasures of the market. Lots of people might prefer this more isolated experience from the bustle of the market, where it was sometimes difficult to move from the hordes. Safe to say it’s a little livelier than Lancaster’s Saturday affair.
With that, I’ll leave you with some survival tips that might help if you plan to give traditional market shopping a go:
1. Get there early. And by early, I mean before 10am. Firstly, because you don’t want all the good stock to go, but also because it can get ungodly hot in the summer, especially with crowds. Better to skip the worst of the heat and get up a bit earlier.
2. Bring bags/ a basket. This is shopping advice in general, but just because it’s a pretty rural market doesn’t mean they won’t charge you for bags. Come prepared, or cough up 5 centimes that will start to sting if you plan to stock up on anything.
3. Stand your ground. It’s a very British trait to scurry around mumbling sorry to anybody you accidentally brush against, but just don’t do it. The French don’t give a damn, so why should you?Sure, a quick “pardon” if you totally get in someone’s way, but otherwise just play it cool. You’re French now. Chill.
4. Mumble. Yeah, you heard me. You can go a long way in a conversation with a shopkeeper while avoiding being ID’d as English by just nodding your head and making agreement sounds. Sprinkle in a few ah, oui’s and okay, bien’s, and you can at least avoid embarrassment if you’re less confident in your oral skills.
For more information about the times of different markets in Poitiers, click here.
Happy Shopping!
