Le marchée

I've decided that in addition to my "peur du jour"s I'm going to mix in some cultural lessons for everyone!

 Cultural Lesson #1: French Markets

Today's lesson is (as the title indicates) about French markets (pronounced mar-SHAY). Since I don't drink coffee and try not to blow my budget on French pastries and wine, going to the market is the thing I do that makes me feel the most French. Every Saturday morning I get up early (for a Saturday in France) to go to le marchée des arceux (the market that is under the arches of the aqueduct). Because I live in centre-ville and the market is just outside of the main part of town, I get to observe the activity in Montpellier during my 15 minute walk.

La place de la comédie

I always see something noteworthy while walking through the place de la comédie (the heart of town). This morning I heard a fanfare (I'll probably do a cultural lesson about this later) playing. Other times there will be protests, street performers, and other colorful manifestations of human activity (like the gypsy petting zoo). While walking through le jardin de Peyrou, I'm usually always harangued by someone trying to get me to sign something or give them money. You'd think that, as a university student, I would be used to this and would be skilled at avoiding interaction with these people. However, I've found that people who want something from you are a lot more aggressive in France. One time a gypsie girl saw me from across the park and made a beeline for me. She was only about 10 or 11, so I wasn't too concerned. But as I said "merci" and stuck my hand out like a stop sign (I learned from my Northern friends that this is a very French thing to do), she latched on to my elbow and would not let go. I literally had to shake her off. I felt bad because she was so young, but at the same time, it's definitely NOT okay to physically interact with someone like that...

Jardin de Peyrou (beware of gypsie girls!)

Now to the fun part! The market! I've already talked about the market in Arles (which is the biggest of it's kind in France, or at least in the South of France). Montpellier's Saturday market may be smaller, but it's of no lesser quality! Every time, I wander to the same stand at the opposite end of the market to buy apples and carrots for the week.

Under these arches, the vendors set up their stands!

During this journey, one thing I love to do is close my eyes and guess which stands I'm passing (I can ALWAYS guess the olives). In my head I'm always drafting detailed descriptions (and sometimes even poetry) of what I'm experiencing, so today I decided to stop to note some of the things that I find the most striking. I always marvel at the seas of olives whose scent I drown in, the chickens whose necks and clawed feet still dangle from their bodies and the rabbits whose eyes watch over the passersby, the piles of fresh, crusty bread, miles of fresh cheese pressed with rosemary and thyme, a rainbow of homemade jams, yards of sausage in curled heaps, burlap sacks brimming with dried herbs and spices, hills of lettuce and radishes, apples in every color, crates upon crates of pears and oranges, row after row of strawberry cartons, pyramids of fresh farm eggs, succulent pastries and cakes heaped with chocolate and fruit, a jungle of fresh-cut and potted flowers, canopies of scarves and cloth, and beaches of jewelry that glitter in the sunlight.

And the people are usually just as interesting. There is always the Arab man with his cart selling mint tea, a man playing the ukulele, puppeteers with marionettes, and a number of people soliciting religious and political causes.

Now, markets are a huge cultural thing for a lot of reasons. The first reason being that food is life in France. Meals are less about "nourishing" as we tend to think of them in America and more about "sharing" and "enjoying." I tend a be a I-eat-what-is-put-in-front-of-me type of person. But my host mother always talks about how you shouldn't eat something unless it really brings you pleasure to eat it (I agree to a certain extent, but I don't think she's ever had to eat dining hall food). But in seeing food differently, I think the French take a lot more pride in buying the best ingredients (which of course come from the markets and not the SUPERmarkets). Of course, I know this exists in the US as well (the best corn in the world is sold at the Grayslake farmer's market... yum!), but it's just such a part of mainstream culture here.

Another reason that markets are culturally significant is that they are such a smorgasbord (had to use spell check for that word) of regionally distinct products. I've tried to buy only local products while in France (I figure that I can eat Brazilian bananas in the United States) which is easy to do at the markets. There are all sorts of French,  Mediterranean, and middle eastern (which really is a part of the culture here) specialties. I like to taste the different olives and cookies and breads; I'll even occasionally buy something for lunch from the market (my eye is on the paella for next time!). Not only is each stand brimming with edible cultural manifestations, but also each vendor is brimming with knowledge. When the market's not very busy (which is not often now that le grand froid is over), I love to talk to the vendors about their food! They're so proud of what they do and are always happy to share knowledge with a bright-eyed bushy-tailed American student.

Markets are one thing I'm really going to miss about France!