France has some of the best food markets in the world. They are full of fresh and local produce and it seems to be pretty hard to get through without spending a fortune and still eating your weight in cheese, meat, wine and delicious goods!
Whilst down in Aubusson we went to a few different markets, all were fantastic. The first was a fresh food market that seem to focus on sausages, fresh (as in live) poultry, lots of beautiful deserts and yummy things to eat.
I am not a fan of caged animals, so it will come as no surprise that I wasn’t to keen on all the ducks and chickens waiting for us at the entrance! However I am pretty sure they were all heading towards large, open chicken yards and ponds and only needed for eggs and they all looked very calm and happy so it wasn’t so bad!
The boys had a ball walking around and checking everything out. The first we did at most of the markets was purchase a large punnet of blueberries or strawberries so they had something to eat and stopped bugging us for everything they saw! All markets seem to have massive confectionary stalls, if you have young kids, look ahead and walk quickly! They weren’t to happy about it, but once we stopped for some in Paris – A small bag of lollies and 10 euro later we had learnt our lesson!
My favourite were the olives, cheeses, sausages and fresh vegetables! We could taste everything and bought way too much on our first go (rookie mistake) I think after the first lot we came home with 7 different cheeses, 2 large sausages, 5 different types of olives, some macaroons and a large crate of fruit and veggies, plus beer, cider, wine and bread. It took massive dedication to get through it all. However I was up for the challenge!
Note: Be careful with the Macaroons, we met a lovely man who very patiently and slowly let us pick out what we wanted. We chose 8 very normal looking macaroons, and 17 euros later we walked away in complete shock at the price!!
The smell of all the local food is amazing, however one of my favourite things in the world is a cooked chook! OMG they smelt amazing. The smell wafted through the markets and found me, we had to have one. It is one of my boy’s favourite foods so it was a bit of a no brainer! I love travelling but sometimes I really miss an easy cooked chicken from the Australian supermarkets.
Local musicians and buskers are usually scattered around and often very entertaining! Most of them are lovely if you get to chat for a bit.
We found what I would call a bric-a-brac market (similar to a car-boot-sale) one afternoon which was a lovely surprise. We met the owners of a local winery and sampled most of their wines. I am sure we must have had 2 full glasses each after all the samples. We came home with 8 bottles (obviously they have learnt that liquoring up Ausssies works well for sales LOL) They were so lovely and hilarious to chat to as they spoke no English and my French is beyond abysmal. However when it comes to purchasing wine …. I am an expert. So didn’t seem to be a problem!
I also managed to get the boys some ski clothes as after we leave Aubusson we are heading to the Alps to try and find some snow. I managed to get them all long pants and tops and ski gloves for 6 euros! Bargain!
The market style of shopping and eating is one of my favourite things about France. It is always so lovely to meet the local people (which you don’t always get to do in a supermarket) and try different foods. The cheeses were my favourite. They are always delicious and I adore smelly French cheese!
One of the negative sides to travel is we are limited for space, so everything we purchase needs to be eaten or disposed of as soon as possible. While we were at a few markets there were some fabulous antique stalls with the best bargains I have ever seen when if comes to turn of the century (the last one) furniture. Beautiful, large dining tables for a few hundred euro, side tables for 60 euro, Antique chairs for under 100 euro. Almost made me cry to walk away. Not to worry. When the time comes to deck out a house in fabulous old French Furniture … I now know where to come!
Daily Costs For me and anyone else who cares. All prices are in Euros
Macaroons; 8 for 17€ (only made that mistake once!)
Wine: between 6€ and 8€, although you can get it a lot cheaper in the supermarket. However we had previously bought a few bottles that weren’t good so we were happy to pay more and then know it was good!
Cheese; Fresh cheese is usually only a few euros a kilo. I was constantly amazed at what we would walk away with for something silly like 75cents.
Fruits and Veggies; all local prices and reasonable. The blueberries were 2€ per punnet, same for the raspberries.
Loaf of bread; a French stick as we call them in Australia (long thin bread loaf around 50 cm) is usually under a euro. The lowest I saw was 30cents in the market and the most was probably 1€50.
wow, what expensive macaroons, i would rather buy some of the better priced cheese and wine you mentioned above.
I know right? It didn’t make sense to us either, but they were delicious! However, I didn’t go back for seconds LOL
Sounds wonderful! Love the sound if all that cheese. And raspberries for 2 euro a punnet. In Perth they are currently $12.99!!!
Stock up guys! Xxx
The berries were one of my favourites! So good and the boys just loved them! $12.99 is insane!!!
Love the picture of the olives! And yes, the macaron craze fascinates me. I enjoy them – but am not sure I understand the cost.
I know right? I have made them a few times and the only difference I can see is they use a little bit of Almond flour which is a little more expensive than regular flour! Still super yummy though
Love the picture of the variety of olives! And yes, the macaron craze fascinates me. I enjoy them – but am not sure I understand the cost.
Bring on the cheese and fruit! Yum. This looks wonderful.
The cheese was the best part. I think I might have overdosed after this market though. We bought about 7 different types!
LOVE a good market, especially ones that involve ridiculous amounts of cheese!
I LOVE a good market!!!!!! We had been to so many throughout Europe and France had some of the best. Not the cheapest, but definitely delicious!