COLUMN
Decisions. Decisions. Ruth Wood is spoilt for choice in French food aisles
Have you ever found yourself sniffing mustard as if it’s perfume? I have. One sizzling summer, unable to bear the 40°C heat of our campsite in the Ardèche, we decamped to a hotel in Dijon, 400km north in Burgundy. There’s more to this beautiful city than la moutarde, but a visit to a mustard shop is a must.
We chose the Edmond Fallot boutique in Rue de la Chouette and it was like walking into a perfumerie. We were greeted by wall-to-wall mustard, over a thousand jars all laid out in neat rows. But it wasn’t an onslaught of yellow. There were shades of pink and cream, deep browns and sage greens. At one end was a tasting bar where you could pump different flavours of the condiment onto strips of card just like the ones you find in perfume shops. Blackcurrant. Basil. Gingerbread. Honey. Tarragon. White wine. Walnut. The variety was mind-boggling.
VARIETY SHOW
Then again, my mind has always been boggled by the variety of food on offer in France. Whenever I walk into a French supermarket, I still feel like I’m visiting Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. It’s not just the diversity of products. It’s the diversity of high-quality products. Of fresh produce. Of regional produce. Of seasonal produce. Of unpackaged produce. Of interesting stuff.
Not just icebergs and sad salad mixes suffocating in plastic wrap, but vivid bouquets of batavia, lollo rosso and feuille de chêne lettuces, all open to the elements. Not just anaemic melons and rock-hard mangos, but baskets heaving with dragonfruit, papayas, coconuts and plantains in tip-top ripeness. Not just unseasonably pale peaches in plastic trays but mounds of yellow and white nectarines barely containing their juices, fat purple plums and perky little greengages. Not just organic produce but boxes of ‘ugly fruit and veg’ packaged up in recycled cardboard boxes to prevent food waste.
And that’s just the fruit and veg section. It can take me 10 minutes to choose a jar of olives with ‘zéro residu de pesticides’ or a box of eggs that combines organic, free range and local. Let’s not even discuss the cheese refrigerators – royal brides have walked down shorter aisles. How about honey? In UK supermarkets, you’ll get a decent selection of runny, set or manuka, maybe even a Scottish heather or Oxfordshire wildflower blend. But in France you can pretty much specify the region and habitat you’d like your honey to come from if not the diet of the bees. Provence, Massif Central, Jura, Burgundy, mountain, forest, linden, lavender, acacia, thyme, sweet chestnut, Breton brambles – the list goes on.
Of course, when it comes to Asian cuisine, the Breton supermarkets are still way behind the UK. Even if you manage to find a jar of Patak’s curry sauce and pack of naan bread, you’ll probably have to par
