By Adrian Leeds
Jean
(I never learned a last name) at Butet Import/Export happily sold me
a 500 gram package of dried cêpes for what I thought was a ridiculously
low price of 20 euro. Since most recipes I have call for under one ounce
of dried mushrooms, this package should last me through more than 17
pasta sauces.
Butet is a mushroom and specialty vegetable wholesaler at Rungis International, France's central wholesale food market, one of the more than 1400 wholesale merchants that occupy the large stretch of flat land on the road to Orly Airport. Before Rungis, you may remember Les Halles as Paris' wholesale market.
According to Elizabeth Reichert's updated version of Paris Confidential, about the year 1110, the first food markets at Les Halles in Paris were built and by 1553, King Henri II reconstructed it, primarily as a wholesale food market. This is when French onion soup was born -- an economical dish of onion, bread, and cheese eaten in the early morning hours after the farmers, butchers, and fisherman had set up their stalls for the day. More than 200 years later, in 1788, a vegetable hall was built on land taken from the nearby cemetery of the Church of the Innocents and during this time the quarter became the major commodities market and banking center of the city. By the 19th century, Les Halles was so established that even Napoleon III's Prefect of Paris, Haussmann, allowed it to remain. Typically, he could not refrain from improving the area and had glass and cast-iron umbrellas, designed by Baltard, erected to house the stalls.
Les Halles, however, could not survive the 20th century. In March 1969, in a single night, almost the entire market was closed and merchants moved to Rungis. The butchers, originally scheduled to go to La Villette, remained at Les Halles for a few months before moving to Rungis.
It took me years to find the time and wherewithal to make an excursion to Rungis -- for the sheer pleasure and curiosity. If you have in your mind stalls of produce like you might find at a Parisian open-air market, think again. Instead, you'll find everything packaged in crates and boxes, ready for delivery to the markets all over France.
This
doesn't make it any less fascinating! In fact, even more so. There you
will find absolutely every variety, shape and size of everything possible
that the French produce and eat. The large warehouses consist of rows
of wholesale merchants, each with its own specialty. They are swarming
with men (a flash of a female smile gets lots of attention), dollies
piled high with crates and bicycles used as a mode of transportation
in and around the warehouses.
The fragrance of the fruits and vegetables is better than a stop at an Occitane shop, and the array of colors in the flower market is tough to beat for a visual high. The seafood market is smelly, naturally, and if you have a weak stomach for fresh flesh, skip the meat market.
No matter, expect your senses to come alive as you wander the grand
halls.
To arrange such a visit wasn't as simple as one might imagine. There is a site (in French, of course) for Rungis International at http://www.rungisinternational.com/ which is designed to be a plethora of information, but in fact, leads to more confusion than expected.
As an individual, you can go to Rungis and wander around, but it's best to have a tour. Three different types of guided visits are offered only to groups of 15 or more, in French, English or Italian:
1) Exclusive to students specializing in the hotel trade and professionals
starting at 7 a.m. Tuesday through Friday to visit the areas for meats,
dairy, fruits and vegetables lasting two hours.
2) Exclusive to students of general study or specializing in commerce
and professionals starting at 8:30 a.m. Monday through Friday to visit
the areas of dairy, fruits and vegetables and flowers lasting up to
two hours
3) Exclusive to tourists starting at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Thursday and
Friday to visit the areas of fruits and vegetables and flowers lasting
up to two hours.
To reserve a group, contact the office at +33 (0) 1.41.80.80.81.
We were
on our own, so if you choose to do that, there are a myriad of ways
to arrive there. I found the best way to determine a good route (without
a car) is to go to the RATP site at http://www.ratp.fr and click on
"Itineraires." on the left. It takes you to http://www.citefutee.com/orienter/itineraire.php.
Enter your origination ("Paris" for example) and your destination
("Rungis International" or a street inside Rungis), then validate
your entries. It will give you recommended routes.
We chose to take the 216 bus from Denfert-Rochereau and that was simple and easy. The bus circles the entire Rungis area, so you can get off and then get back on at any point. The ride from Paris was about 30 minutes. If you exit at the "terminus" you'll find the welcome office not far from the station. There you can obtain maps of the layout of Rungis, a book listing all the merchants and T-shirts and mugs to purchase sporting the Rungis International logo. Someone at the desk is there to answer your questions - whom we found very friendly and helpful.
Rungis is enormous! Wear comfortable shoes and allow a few hours to roam the warehouses. Watch out for the semi-trailers barreling through the broad streets. Be prepared to go in the earliest hours of the morning. By 6 a.m., the seafood market is shut down, so if the smell of fish is as fragrant for you as it is for me, plan to arrive there long before the crack of dawn. The flower market closes last, about 11 a.m., so this might be one of the last stops you'd want to take in. That way, you can head home with a big bouquet of roses at a wholesale price.
There are 25 restaurants at the Marché International de Rungis, so be sure to plan on a breakfast at any one of them. You'll find the list in the official map.
About the Author
Adrian Leeds has been living in Paris more than eight years. She is
the director of the International
Living Paris office and president of Adrian Leeds Group, LLC, her Internet U.S. based company. She is the author
of the "Insider Paris Guide for Good Value Restaurants" published by International
Living, the result of her insatiable desire for great food at bargain
prices, writes the Parler Paris
email newsletter, and co-hosts her own brainchild, the popular Parler
Parlor French/English Conversation Group in Paris where members
from almost 50 different countries meet to practice speaking French
and English. Email : Info@AdrianLeeds.com
