Champignons and Groceries

One of the most remarkable (and perhaps predictable?) things I've noticed since living in Paris is how different the basic activity of procuring food is in France versus the U.S.  Parisians seem to go every day to the boulangerie for their daily baguette, which lasts only one, maybe two days before it is hard as a rock.  We cross the street to the small shop when we want any charcuterie or cheese (It's so good from this one shop.  Really).  Essentially, if you want something, it's pretty typical to buy it from a shop that specializes in that one thing.  Not a bad strategy if you want quality food, but certainly different from what is typical in the U.S. these days.  Essentially, I guess, the French don't seem to mind going out of their way a little to find really good food.  If eating well is an art form, then seeking out the best foodstuffs is just part of the fun, right?

Last weekend we visited my husband's grandparents outside of Dreux, and I learned another part of this art.  We went mushroom hunting!  Now, please comment and correct me if I'm wrong, but my experience is that the attitude toward wild mushrooms in the U.S. is widely hands-off.  As in, "Sure!  You should go pick mushrooms and eat them if you feel like poisoning yourself this afternoon."  I don't mean to say that you can pick up any old mushroom in the woods and eat it in France.  Far from it.  But Paul's grandparents knew exactly which mushrooms we could eat, where we could find them, and under what weather conditions we should search for them.  Judging by the other cars parked near ours, other people knew these things, too.

Initially, we didn't find much and it seemed that our search for mushrooms was going to be just a nice walk in the rain.  But, after some searching, we finally found a few that fit the bill.  It's hard to see them, as their colors blend in with the forrest floor.  

We also had to compete with other mushroom hunters.  For example, the first mushroom we found was already being enjoyed by a snail.  (Poor snail... Paul shook him off the mushroom and he was then forced to find something else for lunch.  Terrible luck).  We also found some mushrooms resembling those typical of Disney movies, with big red tops and white polka dots.  Word to the wise: Don't eat those ones.  They're very poisonous and called "Fly Killers" or something along those lines in French.  What was Disney teaching us??

Eventually we found 2-3 types of mushrooms, just enough to make a side dish for a two-person dinner.  I learned that the best time to hunt mushrooms is from early September until mid-October or around July 14th.  It's best to look for them after it's been raining for a day or two, but has been sunny during the morning.  They grow in just a few hours.  Hopefully we can go again this fall or next summer and hone our skills some more.  Here are the spoils of our excursion:

We also brought home a tiny pine tree and a tiny oak tree to plant in our little courtyard.  (Really tiny... maybe about six inches tall each).  All in all, it was a lovely and productive morning.  

If going all the way to the woods to search for mushrooms is one end of the Find Food Spectrum in France, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that there are, of course, grocery stores here.  Now, I will be the first to admit that my assessments of grocery stores are almost always biased because I grew up so close to Wegmans.  (Wegmans is perfect.  Grocery stores don't get any better.  You can ask Mrs. Baldwin).  However, the Monoprixs here are pretty good, though they take a little getting used to.

For example: When I first walked into the Monoprix near us, I went up the escalator.  It's right in front of the door, so this seemed like the logical traffic flow.  At the top of the escalator I was rather surprised to find clothes.  The women's accessories department was right in front of me.  "Why yes, I think that scarf would go fabulously with our minestrone soup tonight. Thank you!"  Some more exploration showed me that it was a mini department store up there, and that all the soaps, body washes, and shave gel-type products could be found upstairs, with separate cashiers, rather than downstairs with all the food.  

I thought it best to quickly exit this zone of temptation (I love shopping) and head back down the escalator, where I found what looked to be a more typical grocery store section.  Most things were the same as in the U.S., with a few exceptions.  For example, there is an employee who weighs your items in the produce section and labels them for you.  I wonder if they don't think the customers can figure out how to use the scales or if they don't trust them to honestly weigh the products.  Ah well.  

I also find it remarkable that the milk is warm.  Yeah... it's kept over near the soda and juices.  Warm.  Apparently (according to Paul's explanation) the milk here is super boiled to sterilize it, so you can keep it in the pantry and only need to refrigerate it after you've opened it.  While it seems strange to me, it's also highly convenient.  We can stock up with about 6 cartons of milk and not have to worry about running out for a while.  I wonder why this hasn't caught on in the U.S... we seem to be okay with tinkering with food products in order to give them a longer shelf life.  Maybe a strong dairy farmer's lobby?  I can't really say if the taste is different.  I had been drinking skim in the U.S., and the milk we've found here has fat in it... so it tastes amaaazing.  

One other fun thing:  You can buy hard liquor in the grocery store.  Like, bottles of vodka and gin, not to mention the beer and wine that is available.  For those readers who are French, this is very different from the U.S.  Depending on in which state you live, the alcohol regulations differ.  In New York, you can buy beer at the grocery store, but not wine or liquor.  In Virginia you can buy beer and wine, but not liquor.  In Pennsylvania, you can't buy any alcohol at all.  You must go to special alcohol stores for that.  But I have never found an American grocery store that sells hard liquor.  I wonder what the U.S. would be like had prohibition never occurred.  Regardless, this didn't have a big effect on my grocery purchase, but I did stop and gape a little bit.  

So there you have it.  You can go hunt your own mushrooms in France, or you can pick up your groceries in a big box store with your new jeans and bottle of Jack if you feel like it.  Something for everyone....

à bientôt