[Leica] PESO: food shopping in France

[Nathan Wajsman]

I am still working through a backlog of images from the past couple of weeks, not least from our family reunion in France two weeks ago—those are priority since the rest of the family are waiting :-) But I am making progress and have now reached the last day in Le Mans. I put these three images on Facebook and decided to share them here too because I think they tell a story about life in Le Mans as it relates to food, ecology, etc., in a good way.

On the morning of our last day in Le Mans I accompanied my cousin Francis and his lovely wife Véronique to the local food market on the square in front of the city’s cathedral. It is open six days a week, from about 8 a.m. until lunchtime. Most of the food is grown in the local area, with the obvious exception of bananas and citrus fruits and similar things that do not grow  in northern France.

I always say that the genius of French cooking is not the fancy stuff, but the attention and care lavished on the most basic ingredients. Francis examined several vegetable stalls before he decided where to buy the lettuce:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/belgiangator/misc/20160717-_DSF1440.jpg.html

The deal is about to be concluded:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/belgiangator/misc/20160717-_DSF1442.jpg.html

After some more shopping, Francis and Véronique are waiting for the tram with their purchases. There is very little parking near the market, so most people use the excellent public transport to get there. Also, notice the roll-on bag. Plastic bags for groceries are now banned in France, so it is essential to bring your own. This is sustainable food shopping in every sense of the word:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/belgiangator/misc/20160717-_DSF1448.jpg.html

I cannot claim to be this virtuous in my own food shopping here in Spain, but I have become a big believer in local produce, and since by law the origin of all products must be clearly stated, it is easy for me to do so. So when I am buying, say, a red pepper, I can see not only that it was grown in Spain but often also in which part of the Spain. Many supermarkets have a specific section for produce from our own province of Alicante. And I no longer buy fruit and veg that has been shipped from the southern hemisphere. If something is not in season here, that’s fine—I can wait.

(Much) more to come!

Cheers,
Nathan

Nathan Wajsman
Alicante, Spain
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