Little Piggies Went to Market...and General Thoughts on French Culture

Today was market day for Cordon Bleu Basic Section D students. We met at the school at 8:30 and then walked to the market where we spent the next 3 hours shopping for food. The chef talked us through some of the interesting points of French markets (the places where each booth owner must display where the food was grown/raised, the symbol for organic food, how to tell the freshness of fish and some vegetables). We also ate some of the pre-made food (apple fritters and crepes!!) available at the market. But the best part of market day was that we purchased several different things, went back to the school, the chef cooked them for us, and we had a "picnic."

We had: 6 different types of cheese, 2 different breads, 1 rabbit pâté, a fish (don't remember which one), a skirt steak, oysters, a piece of cow's liver, red wine...and the the brains of 4 lambs. Thankfully, our class narrowly escaped eating testicles (not sure of which animal)... Even though the consistency of the brain really bothered me, and the oysters weren't really my thing either, the "picnic" was still very, very good.

The second "best" part about going to the marche with a chef is that we were lucky enough to go into a charcuterie kitchen and see what they were preparing. There were 3 men working and were making (simultaneously) some sort of meat dish, Coq au Vin, blood sausage, and a stuffed pig. It was amazing to see the kitchen (looked pretty similar to what we have at Cordon Bleu, but slightly more specialized) to see real blood being poured into the mixture for blood sausage, and then how the liquid was poured into its encasing. The stuffed pig was also pretty crazy (it was a piglet...probably only 2 months old) and it almost looked alive...there is no way to describe it but with a picture. It looked something like this:

But they hadn't yet "decorated" the pig with veggies or anything else like that. I did not bring my camera, but one of my group members did and I hope to get a picture of it from him.

When we were talking to the chef in the charcuterie, he noted that the employees in the kitchen were all ~50 years old and that there are very few "apprentices" because no one seems to want to go into charcuterie. We asked why and the chef replied that he thought that younger people don't want to work the hours necessary in a charcuterie (in at 6am, out at 5pm, 6 days a week). Officially, one is not allowed to work more than 40 hours a week....but11 hours x 6 days = 66 so the chefs lie and say that they are only there 40 hours a week. This is not a rant about how 66 hours is a lot...its more a rant that there is a LAW saying how much you can work!

Not only is there a law on maximum hours...but there is also a law that states that if you own a shop (and its not a special time of year, like right before xmas) you are not allowed to open it on Sundays! And there was an article a few days ago (today on Slashdot) about how the French law "forbids booksellers from offering discounts of more than 5 percent off the list price" (See This Article). To an American...these laws seem outright crazy! But, to the French, they are a necessity to save their relaxed way of life. Which brings me to my next (and final) point (for today).

Mr. Michael Moore idolized French socialized medicine. But I know have proof that its not what its cracked up to be. The father-in-law of one of the girls in my basic cuisine class had a heart issue a few days ago. The doctors are treating him for what they think it is (a pulmonary embolism), but they can't say for certain since the wait for the CT scan is 4 months. 4 MONTHS for an EMERGENCY CT SCAN! This is a fairly basic scan and would be done within hours (worst case scenario, days) in an American hospital.

My experience in France, so far, has pushed my political opinions a bit to the right....

Voila!
Daria

P.S.
Here are some pictures my classmate took of the pig and the blood sausage: