French Food

Today I met a friend at the post-office and we walked together to her daughter's school to pick her up. There must have been about 100 parents there, all waiting to pick up their kids from ages 5-11. Mom's and dad's were huddled in little groups talking together. I noticed a lot of the parents had little sandwiches or snacks for the kids to eat. Most looked like they had Nutella, a hazelnut chocolate spread that's very popular here. Normally, French families eat a late supper, around 7-9pm so the after school snack at 4:30 is supposed to fill in that gap. And that is the perfect time to go shopping, because the stores are less busy, as I found out last night.

So, I'll describe my big night out at Auchan, one of the biggest one-stop shopping centers in Marseille. It's like SuperStore and Walmart combined and then multiplied by 2. It's HUGE. 3 floors of madness. One floor of housewares, one of food, and one of clothes and toiletries. I spent an hour just on the food floor. But let's back up and start earlier in the evening. Since I don't have a car, getting groceries is a bit of a problem. So friends of mine offered to take me shopping. I had supper with them and then we went to Auchan. After putting a euro coin in the slot of the shopping cart we proceeded to enter the front doors. Up a slight incline with well waxed floors. (Not too safe, considering the amount of loaded shopping carts that come down that incline.) We split up to get our own things and I was left amazed at the vastness of the store. It's a good thing I had a shopping list or I'd still be there. It seems to take me a bit longer to shop since I have to be careful to read labels (I'm allergic to wheat). So after flipping packages over and squinting at the small print, I can decide whether or not to put it in my cart.

You'll find the eggs in the milk section near the entrance...not in the cooler. The wine section is bigger than the whole cleaning products section. Some wine is cheaper than some bottled water brands. The cheese section takes up 2 whole isles, not including sour cream, yogurt, etc. The you'll smell, rather than see the seafood section. Be sure to stop by the "exotic foods" section. This includes imports from all over the world, exotic foods such as peanut butter, Thai rice, Old El Paso taco mixes, Heinz ketchup, Indian papadums and so much more. And I found wheat-free bread (100% rye), mererangue cookies, and spice bread (made from rye flour) that I could eat. Yay! But you won't find chocolate chips. Nope, you'll have to chop up your own from chocolate bars.

So after finding all I needed plus some things that I just wanted, I proceeded to the checkout. You are encouraged to bring your own bags as they charge you for plastic ones. You load up your cart, pay, and THEN organize your groceries in your bags. You'll annoy the clerk if you putz around trying to sort and pack your groceries. Just put them in your cart and deal with them later. Make it back to the van, after remembering where it's parked. Pack the van and get your euro back from the grocery cart. Drive home, lug the groceries into the elevator (thankfully I have one!) and unpack them. Whew! The marathon is completed. Until next week....

Some of my fave food products in France (so far) are:
1) Licorice mint tea
2) Flavored Syrop to make juice or put on icecream. Comes in all flavors from mint, fruits, violet, rose, etc.
3) Pate
4) Cheese, specifically Gruyere, Savoyard, and Camebert
5) Ice-cream, especially chocolate. It's just creamyer and stronger flavored than Canadian brands.
6) Chocolate. Of course! Especially dark truffle or coffee bean.
7) Spice cake. It's made from rye flour so I can eat it.
8) Mache or Lamb's lettuce. Looks kind of like a mix between clover and spinach but tastes like a mild spinach.
9) Soup in juice boxes. You can buy ready made soup in 1 L juice box containers. Just open, pour and heat.
10) Magnum bars. Icecream bars on sticks that are so rich and delicious! Especially the double chocolate.