Cuisine Couture

Last week, Andrew and I went on one of our exploratory adventures to (drum roll, please....) the Fashion District of Paris! Suffice it to say, we had an interesting time there. You must understand that this area of Paris does not suggest merely pret a porter fashions, but rather is its own culture. Certainly the clothing and general look is a huge part of this subculture of Paris, but that's only the beginning. The fever of fashion has taken over everything in this area, from people, shops, and wares to architecture, presentation, and (you guessed it!) FOOD!!

This street (great name, huh?) is one of the most fashionable in the city, and is home to shops such as Gucci and Hermes.

Today's discourse will be on the food of the fashion district. And before we go any further will you just allow me to gape and drool for a moment as I recall the food...

Thank you.

Andrew and I walked into the beautiful Galleries Lafayette, as I wanted to show him around this famous Paris department store. I had been to visit in high school, and weather or not you're into fashion, you sort of just have to see this place in order to believe it...

Only in Paris can a DEPARTMENT STORE look like this!! Unbelievable, isn't it?

This place is like some monumental shrine where patrons come to pay homage (and LOTS of money!) to the art of shopping.

You may recognize a couple of these designers from the "immaculate" ground-floor cosmetology department.

So we came to the Galleries Lafayette because I just wanted to show Andrew this craziness. We walked in via the underground metro entrance, and I wasn't really sure of the way. We followed the signs that were leading to the "main store," which I supposed to be the aforementioned shopping shrine. But no, we suddenly found ourselves in the market of all markets!! We literally walked around dumb-founded and dazed for at least a half-hour while we just marvelled at the marvels around us.

A small portion of the amazing cheeses at the large and diverse cheese counter!

Look at the intricate details...don't you just want to eat these cheeses?? Except that they're almost too pretty to eat.

If you've been following the blog previously, you will have read my post about Auchan, the mega-super-uber-market of Paris. We hated it. The market in Galleries Lafayette was nothing like that though, but rather was classy, incredible, and beautifully organized. The market specializes in gourmet foods from around the world, and there were many and various sections within the market that carried these foods. For example...

Everything edible that you see in this photo is foie gras...everything. SO French!

We didn't get any foie gras, but we did love looking through the chocolate section which was unbelievably huge!! And the chocolates all looked delicious and contained every imaginable flavor. There was an enormous rack for honey, and as Andrew said, you could probably make up a flavor/type of honey completely ridiculous, but it would exist here in France! There were all sorts of jams and speads as well, and coffees and teas from all corners of the earth. And speaking of diverse flavors, try the incredible spice-mania...all kinds of spices packed in perfect pyramids! This area smelled so divine, and there were also flowering loose teas...


CHOCOLATE!!!! Check out these goodies...

These delectable delicacies are were only about the size of a finger, but were priced at about 6 Euros EACH! But you would not believe how perfectly uniform they were. I think if I bought one I would just put it in a glass case and sell it on e-bay later...

Yes, these are gold-flecked chocolate truffles. I know...WOW.

The market also had a deli and sandwich section, where you could order food ready-made. This was one of my favorite things in the whole store:

Individual (and adorable!) baby-sized bottles of olive oil so you can get that perfect dressing just the way you want it on your salad.

So after our treck to the fashion district, we stepped back into reality (i.e. our own life). What a day! There is such a different and (for us) rather mind-boggling understanding of food here. The photos that you see are from just one shop out of the many many shops in Paris that sell this sort of food. We've seen honey shops, a mustard and vinegar shop, chocolatiers, an organic cookie shop...pretty much anything you can think of. We're interested to learn more about it, but really we want to learn to cook and utilize delectable ingredients in true French style, just maybe without the price tag.