The Grocery Stores of France...

    Food has always been a very important part of my life whether it's food at home or eating out. Grocery shopping was always a favourite day for me because I loved wandering through the isles of food discovering new ideas. This is why whenever I travel I tend to visit the grocery stores. For most a trip to the supermarket during holidays seems unthinkable but if you really want to get a feel for a new place the grocery store is where to find it. Here you will see actual local people going about their day and if you peek into their carts you can even see what local people eat rather than what is portrayed in Americanized restaurants. Here you can observe how people interact with one another and the similarities and differences of how children behave while shopping with their mother. It's fun to watch what treats the child in the cart will reach for in a foreign country...sometimes the same as back home...sometimes different. Aside from people watching, wandering through the isles and seeing the different products is exciting on its own!
    Here in France, we have visited many grocery stores as we do most of our eating at hostels because eating out daily is the number one activity to break your budget. There are different styles of grocery stores here...

• Petite Supermarche- Usually contains the minimal products such as cereal, milk, fruit and of course cheese. Not somewhere you would want to do a complete shopping trip at. More of a 'You forgot eggs' type of market. Most common name is Petite Casino.

• City Supermarche- Urban grocery stores located in the core of the city offering everything you could need from produce to meat. For days that you want to have a picnic or an easy dinner they offer many pre-made salads. My favourite is the crab and pasta salad! The common stores you find are Carrefour City.

• Supermarche- Regular sized markets that offer everything with reasonable prices. Expect to find around three isles dedicated to wine! Common products back home that are not easily found here (perhaps in specialty shops) includes Cheddar cheese, ketchup, brown sugar, baking soda/powder and out of season produce. Common stores are Carrefour, Casino, and Monoprix. My personal favourite is Carrefour as the produce is always fresh and there is great selection.

• Hypermarche- These are surprisingly found everywhere in France and are very popular for convenience and cost. They are usually located on the outskirts of the city due to the large size. Here you will find everything from food, clothing, housewares and electronics. Surprisingly the meat and fish departments are excellent with some even having awards! Unfortunately, here you will find out of season produce imported from Spain and Africa. I say unfortunately because I really admire how many French people and restaurants try to stay seasonal and accept the fact that strawberries are not available in December. Common stores are Intermarche and E.Leclerc. I like shopping at Intermarche because the produce is fresh and the meat and seafood is great. I do not like to shop at E.Leclerc because I find these stores to be huge, expansive buildings with poor quality and consistently bad produce.

• Markets- My favourite place to shop of course with local vendors offering beautiful produce, cut to order meat and seafood, nuts and delicious cheeses. Markets are only held usually once a week in both small villages and cities and is a highlight for each community. There is nothing better than admiring the healthy produce on a Sunday afternoon or eating samples of cheese from an old French man in suspenders.

   So that is my small rundown on where to buy food in France. There is of course many more supermarkets in France that I haven't listed but these are the common stores you will find everywhere. There has been so many new products I've become attached to over the past three months such as Lion Cereal (chocolate caramel flavour), Papillon Roquefort cheese, Smarties yogurt snack, and baguette.

The milk is sold differently here as well and it took us quite awhile to figure out how exactly it works. Instead of all the milk being in coolers, the milk is sold in plastic bottles and on the dry shelf! It turns out the majority of the milk is UHT treated (Ultra High Temperature) so it can sit on the shelf for months! You can find some milk sold in the cooler but it is sparse and much more expensive. I actually really love the UHT milk as I find it has a sweet taste to it and the price is great ( 0.55 cents/liter). Also, speaking of great prices...as you'd imagine being in France there is a fantastic selection of wine in every store...sometimes taking up much of the store. You can purchase a decent bottle of wine for as low as $3.00! Cheese is also plentiful and affordable with wheels of Camembert costing between $3-$6.00. I will most definitely be writing another blog about the wines and cheeses I have tasted here in France and other local specialties but for now I hope this blog has perhaps encouraged you to take a tour of the local grocery store next time you travel.