Once upon a time, before large supermarket chains took over most of the developed world, shopping at local markets was a standard feature of daily life. Nowadays, most French fill their shopping cart at Carrefour, Monoprix, Leclerc, Lidl or Super U and going to the market turned into a once-a-week family outing.
In France, most consumers don’t rely on retail markets to meet their fresh produce needs. Markets are no longer particularly cheap or lively—they serve an ethical purpose. You don’t just fill up the fridge, you support local producers, buy GMO-free veggies, backyard-raised chickens, artisan pastas and fresh seafood. Fifty euro later, the sins of the week—meals at McDonalds’s, salads with genetically modified corn and endangered tuna, disposable bottles of Évian—are forgiven. That Sunday, while supermarkets were closed, you rejected intensive agricultural production, globalization, megacorporation and junk food.
I’m being slightly sarcastic because food activism has a price. You need an upper middle-class income to feed a family relying only on farmers’ markets. Merchants know their customers. While some emphasize on genuine, local food is real, there are also many marketing gimmicks. Besides, there are more ready-to-eat meals than basic ingredients our grandparents used to buy. Why spend hours making a stew when you can buy it pre-portioned? Why make your own salad when the deli did the job for you?
For me, market stalls are a great way to reconnect with food. You don’t pick a brand but a product. There are no fancy labels, no multicolour packaging, no health claims in big bold letter. For instance, I don’t eat meat in Canada, yet I find meat and fish stalls mouth watering because it looks fresh and smells good. I like misshapen fruits and veggies and I’m happy to be able to recognize every single ingredient in deli food.
The future of agriculture is one of these topics that worries me. On one hand, as a consumer, I want fresh, tasty and cheap produce. On the other hand, growing food is a tough job and anyone working on a farm needs to be paid fairly. These sci-fi books predicting that by year 2050 we will just swallow a few pills instead of wasting time in the kitchen freak me out.
nowadays, giant retailers are also family-outing place in big cities in my country. Carrefour is also one of them, other popular retailer from South Korea. but still, I bought my fresh products in traditional market on weekend and I love going to these kind of markets if I traveled some where else. the bargaining conversation between sellers and buyers are so much fun.
There is zero bargaining in France, which can be strange to anyone used to foreign markets where it is the rule! It’s funny that you shop at Carrefour as well. What’s the local name for it? I mean, do you say “Carrefour”?
it is Carrefour before it was acquired by local company in 2013. Now the name is Trans Carrefour but the new investor will omit the Carrefour brand gradually…
Interesting! I saw Carrefour stores throughout Argentina, Brazil and China. In China, it translated very well, which is why I was asking.
I don’t eat apples in Canada because most of them look waxed.
For doing one’s own garden, the FarmBot concept is pretty nice. There are probably adaptations to be made for Canadian winters, like using a greenhouse or shutting it down completely. And you still need some room in your yard (the standard model is 3 by 1,5 meters).
https://farmbot.io
I wish I had a green thumb!
I find tomatoes weird in Canada. They are tasteless.
This garden robot seems to remove a lot of the constrains of gardening. Yes, it is pretty expensive, but once set up, it does the job in background, you just have to pick the food when it is ready.
I still don’t agree with you on that matter 🙂
It’s way less expensive for me to buy my food entirely at the farmer’s market rather than the supermarket! 🙂 Plus, of course, it feels great to support local businesses and one of the job I admire the most
Maybe it depends on cities…? In Nantes, most markets are REALLY “bo-bo” and super expensive :-/
(J’ai pensé à toi aujourd’hui, j’ai vu un “bouchon” transplanté à Nantes!)
Ptete bin ! C’est vrai qu’ici on a encore une culture maraîchère hyper vivante (pis capitale de la gastronomie blablabla…)
Ceci dit, y’a énormément de monde dans le monde rural qui va au marché. Encore une fois je pense à ma région, mais c’est vraiment pas cher, dans les villages
Damned, c’est comme une crêperie lyonnaise, ça !!!!