Living in Paris seems like living in a village because of the street markets.

There are almost a hundred markets across Paris that are setup and taken away several times a week and shopping there is a huge part of the essential life of a Parisian. People know the oyster guy and that his oysters were still in the sea yesterday and that they cost half what they’d cost at Monoprix. They come back to the same butcher and form long lines to get their vegetables from a trusted source. They bump into their neighbours and enter into long discussions about the best goat cheese and the best way to cook rabbit.

This was Christmas Eve and everyone was loading up on the good stuff for La Fete de Reveillon de Noel – here you can see huge langouste, rabbit, fresh octopus, coquille St. Jacques, and cheeses from every corner of the land.

I also noticed that the fish merchant explaining his lobster recipe is also selling “Dos de Colin” – I share my name with a fish in France – which is hake or coley in English.

Finally, we came across the cheese merchant shown here who Rosine met on a hike in Morrocco a few weeks ago – very small world. He gave up his career in marketing to look after his kids and work three days a week selling cheese and fois gras from farms near his family home in l’Aveyron near Toulouse.

Everyone has a different plan.

Markets in Paris
http://marches.equipements.paris.fr/