As a home exchanger I am not forced to eat every meal at a restaurant. Our exchange chateau has a kitchen the size of our living room at home. But who wants to cook while on vacation? Not us. Thankfully, the exchange home's kitchen is easily used for reheating or preparing very simple meals. And French |nature markets" make those tasty, fresh, simple meals easy to find.
FARMERS' MARKETS
In many parts of rural France, much of Europe, most of the developing world and even the United States, stalls are set up for outdoor markets in towns of any size at least once per week. In the US, these "farmers' markets" allow food growers to bypass the distributors who buy from the farmer at a low cost and sell to shops at a higher cost. The farmer makes more money by selling directly to the consumer.
WHERE THE LOCALS SHOP
Here in France, this sort of market is a lively affair that rotates from town to town. We have visited each town on market day. The smaller villages had fewer than a dozen stalls, the larger communities have up to a hundred. We liked the small town markets better, however, because they tended to have stalls staffed by farmers and artisinal food producers. The markets in small cities featured green-grocers' stalls which seemed to me to be identical to fruit/vegetable shops open every day in each of these towns.
The produce is very fresh, so we have been picking up supplies every day or two. It is easy to boil or steam fresh artichokes, string beans and/or potatoes. Freshly picked, and with local sea salt and sweet butter on top, these are the best veggies we have ever had.
WHAT THE LOCALS BUY
Most of the markets we have seen here in Brittany had the essential cheese stall, a butcher, a rotisserie, several green-grocers and even more clothing stalls. We saw one market where a woman was selling nice hand-made quilts for 200 Euros each.
WHAT THE LOCALS SPEND
Clothing and shoes are extremely expensive here, and the quality is equivalent to the US. The main difference we found is that sales occur only twice a year in France. This week, the start of summer vacation here, is one of the sale periods. We had to buy our children sweaters and closed-toe shoes because Europe has cold and rainy weather this summer. Because of the sale we found kids' sweaters knocked down to $7 each which had cost $70. The big surprise was shoes, which, even on sale, cost $100 to over $200 per pair, even for children's shoes.
CAN YOU SHOP?
I am the only member of my family who is fluent in French. But even in small towns, someone speaks English where ever we go. When it comes to taking your money, most sellers will find a way to communicate. Home exchange lets you jump in to the local culture. Get out there and mingle in the market near your swap home!
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