Le marché de la Bastille

Paris is home to a large number of markets. Some are set up outdoors on certain days of the week, much like an American farmer’s market. Others are housed in a permanent structure and operate several days of the week, like La Boqueria in Barcelona. One of the things we love about our neighborhood is that we are close to some fantastic markets.

Since our refrigerator about the size of a college dorm room refrigerator, it is very helpful to have markets to go to several days a week. I usually plan out our meals for the week in advance, but only buy enough meat and produce for a day or two at a time. Going to the market is also a good way to build my vocabulary. Not only are all of the products are labelled in French, but because the stands are usually not self-service you have to ask for each item by name and specify the desired quantity. “Je voudrais trois pommes de terre s'il vous plaît.” If I shop at the grocery store, I only need to say “Bonjour” and “Merci, au revoir” to the person at the cash register.

The Bastille market is one of the biggest in Paris, and we started shopping there even before we moved to our new apartment. It is an outdoor market that operates every Thursday and Sunday morning, and its vendors sell vegetables, fruits, cheeses, meats, fish, bread, and an variety of non-food items like clothing and housewares. It looks a lot like an American farmer’s market, but most of the vendors are not farmers. The food mostly gets there via a huge wholesale market at the edge of the city, where farmers and other producers bring their products to sell to the market vendors, shops, and restaurants.

We brought the camera on a Thursday morning (it is too crowded on Sunday to take pictures) and snapped a few pictures of the market: