Place Wilson In Toulouse
Just in case you haven't noticed, there has been an unbalanced emphasis in this blog on the food France has to offer, often at the expense of the rich historical heritage of this magnificent country. While we have done our best to visit cultural and historical sites, my eye in particular always gravitates to the little shops and the markets where the abundance of spectacular food stops me in my tracks.
I have decided that France is a very dangerous country for one as addicted to food as me!! There are just far too many displays of delectable delicacies in enticingly colourful and chic layers to ignore.
Early this morning Russ and I drove into Toulouse - a sleepy town at 7.30 on a Sunday morning -possibly because the University town's population of students were still succombing to the effects of Saturday night. Not so the market vendors however, who started at 6am!
The Lonely Planet paints Toulouse as " a lively, friendly city, pink by day and bright by night". We weren't involved in the brightness of night and that is how we found ourselves a perfect parking space in Rue D'Austerlitz, adjacent to Place Victor Hugo where the most brilliant undercover market or marché is housed. Even though we had walked to our local Balma market yesterday and bought all we needed, we wanted to see what Toulouse would offer. And this market is even better than the Deli section of Vic market in Melbourne.... and that is saying something!
Open only in the mornings, Tuesday to Sunday, it is a gourmand's paradise with an enormous variety of foods from clear eyed fish and shiny muscles in their shells
to deep red cuts of meat (apparently the French 'hang' their meat for longer than we do in Australia and thus the colour is unusually deep): from banks of cheeses to varieties of salad foods:
and from lazagnes to the inevitable baguettes, breads and pastries. I drooled over numerous forms of tarte de pommes, mille feuille, croissants, soft and oozy camemberts, goats cheeses and exotic sounding jams.
By comparison the fruit and vegie section outside the main doors pales into insignificance. How could it compete?
All around this area of Toulouse we found speciality shops. There was even a shop specialising in violets (the emblem of Toulouse) and featuring glacé violets, essence of violet, perfume of violet and plates and dolls decorated with an assortment of violets! Another shop had expensive truffle oils, Fois Gras in tins of varying types and cuts of duck meat with crunchy looking pieces of what used to be called "crackling" in my youth - but duck crackling not pork crackling. Fois Gras is a speciality of this area and while I find it offensive because of the cruel method of force feeding the animals, it is certainly a gourmet product that commands a hefty price.
So while Fois Gras will not be on our menu for obvious reasons, there are lots of the other food items that seem to have made my girth a smidge larger. I can no longer fit into my smart black slacks and have had to resort to my yoga pants for comfortable evening wear.Unless I can learn to withstand the lure of foods like the big cake I convinced Russ to buy for me today and the artichokes in oil and the camembert and the blue cheese, I will have to content myself with a rigorous diet and exercise regime when I get home. Either that or buy bigger clothes!!
In the meantime, I am thoroughly enjoying this foodies' paradise. It is right up my alley. And Russ ain't doing it too bad either!!
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