I recently spent a long weekend in Toulouse, in southwest France visiting a good friend. Besides making stuff, creativity, traveling and cooking, one of my obsessions is France. I used to live in Paris and have never gotten enough of the French lifestyle – especially it’s emphasis on real, whole, good foods.
I love the availability of markets throughout France, even in small villages. Markets where you buy seasonal, local produce, just because that’s how it’s done, not because you’re posh or fancy or a hippie. It’s just what people do. It’s normal.
In this little village we even found an organic produce vending machine! What a brilliant idea. I want to bring these to England.
And the cheese. Oh the cheese. Such diversity!
This one in particular is a cheese only a French person could love:
Toulouse and the southwest of France are known for their duck. This was my big treasure for the weekend. Duck fat. For one euro ($1.41)! They also had extra big containers for 2 euros, but I was running out of room in my suitcase. What to do with duck fat? I’m planning to roast potatoes in it. But that probably merits its own post.
What’s your favorite food destination?
Those are some beautiful tomatoes! The emphasis on whole, fresh, seasonal food is probably one of the reasons French cuisine is so famously delicious. My favorite meal in recent memory was in Plsen in the Czech Republic.
I agree, it’s so easy to eat well when there’s so much good food in every market!! (Then again, you could say the French demand that type of food to be available – so it is. It’s a big cycle I guess!)
I love the fresh produce vending machines!! Great find!