Sunday, January 02, 2011

Le poissonnier

The fish monger. Our Saturday market in Saint-Aignan is not big, but it has most of the essentials. A couple of charcutiers, a few green grocers, a woman who sells mushrooms (and only mushrooms), a baker, a guy who sells prepared Asian food, two poultry vendors, a horse butcher, someone who sells snails, a great cheese vendor, and a darned good fish monger.

The fish stand at the St.-Aignan market, New Year's eve 2010. Click to ichthyolate.

The fish people come all the way from the west coast of France every weekend for our market. That's got to be a four hour trip each way. Apparently, the woman who owns the business with her husband is from our region. They have a good long line here every Saturday morning and they sell just about everything from the sea. It's all fresh and gorgeous. Mackerel, cod, herring, salmon, tuna, sea bass, squid, shrimp, prawns, lobsters, crabs, sea snails, mussels, several varieties of clams, and other fish I've never heard of.

And this time of year, they sell oysters for the holidays.
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9 comments:

  1. Susan02 January, 2011 10:55

    clicking to ichthyolate just made everything go slimy - I guess that's good proof of how fresh the fish are though.

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  2. Anonymous02 January, 2011 12:59

    Ichthyolate? There's something "fishy" about this word,
    but it's not in the dictionary!!

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  3. Cubby02 January, 2011 14:25

    You're very fortunate someone brings the fish to your town. We used to have great fish availability when we lived in Florida, but now here in Ohio it's poor.

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  4. Rick Bettencourt02 January, 2011 15:14

    It must be nice having fresh markets so readily at your disposal. We have a farmer's market or two in the spring but nothing like what you have.

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  5. Seine Judeet (Judith)02 January, 2011 16:10

    How fortunate you are to have such fresh food available. Ahhhhh.... France :)

    Judy

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  6. Mark02 January, 2011 20:43

    Listen, I don't know when I'll ever make it there again but can I send in my Dinner order now?
    In the meantime, I'll have to make due with some Mrs. Paul's.
    Just joking, Fred won't touch that stuff. France spoiled him that way.
    Your Friend, m.
    Happy New Year!

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  7. Ur-spo03 January, 2011 04:13

    lucky men, to have a fishmonger: I would kill for such.

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  8. wcs03 January, 2011 08:24

    susan, hehehe.

    anon, nope. I made it up. I'm clever like that.

    cubby, there's decent fish in the supermarkets, but the best stuff comes from the market vendors.

    rick, it's a great tradition here that's slowing giving ground to the big supermarkets. But we still have access to several very good markets within a 30 minute drive, all on different days of the week, and our local of course which is in town on Saturdays.

    judy, yes!

    mark, sounds like Fred is NOT spoiled at all. ;)

    michael, well, you do live in a desert...

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  9. Starman03 January, 2011 22:49

    I wonder how oysters became the "official" dish for Christmas?

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