Fruits & Vegetables in France
I’m currently in France. I’ve been here for almost a week, and the heat wave has kept me inside my parents’ house for… about a week. Luckily, they installed air conditioning a while ago. I had grand plans to blog or journal about my trip to France this summer. However, it turns out that it’s pretty difficult to focus enough to write when you have two kids and their two grandparents around you all day long. (Proof: It took me almost a week to write these lines.)
What about at night? At night, I’m still a bit jet-lagged and catching up on reading when not falling asleep.
I meant to write about many of my observations and feelings about returning to France after some time away. I wrote something similar two years ago; just look through the archives of Liminal Web from March and April of 2023.
I don’t know if I will this year, maybe once I’m back home in Japan.
In the meantime, I thought I could post about a few things I did.
As Tolkien and others have said, “There is no going back.” The longer I live away from France, the more foreign the country becomes to me. I’ll try to write more about this, but the truth is that it’s not always black and white.
On the one hand, French society in 2025 is quite foreign to me now. On the other hand, there are some timeless places, especially in the countryside. The countryside of pretty much any country is an interesting place. Some people may consider it too backwards, not worthy of interest, or too conservative, but the countryside is also where the true soul and identity of a country live. That’s why I’m annoyed by people who reduce countries to cities or, worse, to a country’s main city.
When I’m back in France, I always find the country I know and grew up is in the countryside. That France is long gone in the cities. Not in the countryside.
Also, when foreigners think about France, they often think about the delicious food and name some of the three-starred restaurants in Paris.
Once again, this is a mistake.
True French cuisine, arguably the best in the world, is not found in cities. It’s found locally and seasonally—and last time I checked, there aren’t many fields in cities.
This long introduction brings me to today’s topic.
Fruits and Vegetable in the French Southwest
During one of our rare outings since my plane landed, we drove a dozen kilometers from my hometown to a farm whose owner is friends with my aunt. He has a very interesting “shop.” It’s only open three days a week for two hours each day. It’s located in an empty garage, and it contains some of the fruits and vegetables that the farmer grew that week.
It’s located deep in the countryside and while it’s open to everyone, you can only find out about it through word of mouth. Yet, shortly before 5 p.m., when the shop opens, you’ll see cars arriving from all directions on the narrow country roads leading to the farm.
This is what it looks like:
It’s fresher and cheaper than at a farmers’ market.
And it’s all seasonal.
The key to delicious food anywhere in the world is simple: use unprocessed, local, seasonal ingredients.
Those peaches and nectarines are to die for!
That’s all for now.
Stay tuned for more!