Pictures from a French Supermarket

Today I have a very simple post to share with you, and that is pictures from my grocery run. I mean, grocery shopping is not the most exciting thing in the world, but for those of you who follow me for the posts on France (admittedly there are not as many of those as there are of faith or recipes) you might be curious to see what’s inside a French supermarket.

I’m editing this post to say that it seems I’m having a glitch with photos, and I need to get help for it. If the photos don’t appear in the emails for those of you who are subscribers, go ahead and click on the link to see the original post and I’ll make sure it’s fixed before my next post goes out. Sorry about that.

And when I say supermarket, I mean the big kind.

When I first walk in, there’s the bakery section on my left. Here are the pain au chocolats and croissants – not as good as at the boulangerie, but still not bad.

The baguettes.

And today they have a special Breton station where they’re making galettes (buckwheat crepes). There’s always a station that makes fresh Japanese food, and sometimes there’s sauerkraut or food from the islands. (I’m not sure which island).

If I go to the far end of the store, I’ll find the butcher. There are also rows of pre-packaged meats if you want quick.

And if I turn right, I get to the cheese selection. I know that’s what you’ve all been waiting for.

Many of these shots are cropped to avoid including people’s faces. So most of the aisles are much longer than what’s shown, and this is no exception. There are aisles of pre-packaged cheese all around the cheese counter, in addition to the grated and pre-packaged cheese next to the yoghurt. Next to the cheese counter is the traiteur with hams or pre-made appetisers and meals made with puff pastries (like bouchée à la reine, for instance).

Next to the fresh cheese are the vegetables and fruits (i.e. vegetables to make ratatouille).

And next to that is the fish. There is also pre-packaged fish and seafood next to the fishmonger, again if you prefer just to pick something up quickly.

On the other side of all this fresh food is the wine selection.

I don’t know … about four aisles of this, maybe? There’s the expensive stuff, located in what they name “la cave” – the wine cellar.

A sample of prices.

And this is where I find my humble alcohol-free wine selection. They distinguish between wines that are protected by region. For instance, a true “champagne” has to come from the Champagne region. Anything else needs to be called sparkling wine.

Next to the wine is the frozen section, then the milk (not refrigerated – it’s pasteurised and sealed).

And the eggs – almost always brown.  The milk takes up a whole aisle and the eggs share the aisle with butter and cream.

Now – once we get past the yoghurt and a few other perishables shown below – we’re heading into the grocery section. First yoghurt.

There are two sides to this aisle of yoghurt (and fromage blanc and petit-suisse), in addition to a second double aisle of cream desserts, such as this.

And they’re good too – they taste rich and not commercially made.

There are also more cheeses – grated, parmesan, camembert, and Swiss, blues, goat or sheep – all pre-packaged.

Next to that are the hams. It’s not like any of the pictures are all that great with the poor lighting, but sorry for this particularly blurry one below. It was to show the … ham thighs (blerk)

and the sausages (next to which are the pizzas, crèpes, tartes and quiches).

Now on to the groceries. Bottled water and sparkling water (there are other aisles for beer, soda and non-refrigerated juice).

The coffee, which is next to the tea.

The chocolate – only half an aisle shown.

When it comes to coffee and chocolate, this is what I always buy. Carte Noire coffee (pur Arabica, and the best taste) and Lindt dark chocolate.

Now we’re over next to the cereals in the jam aisle

which shares space with the honey (there’s more than what’s shown).

Then there are some uninteresting aisles like cleaning products or rice, pasta, couscous and an aisle of foreign foods (where you find peanut butter and maple syrup). After that, we get to the beauty and hygiene products, including shampoos.

Well, first there’s the parapharmacie, which is the part of the pharmacy that doesn’t require prescriptions and has things like anti-ageing solutions.

And then the make-up, shaving cream, soaps …

Yes, there is Dove and Nivea but I like these artisanal soaps.

And then there are a bunch of aisles of baby stuff, clothing for the family, household things, small electronics – this really is a huge supermarket and tends to take a bite out of your wallet. The stationery section can be interesting. Those cool notebooks with the graph paper that are standard for French schools.

And the fountain pens, which are also standard for French schools.

I won’t show you the Christmas decorations (you’ve had enough, right? I haven’t heard carols yet, though). I’ll just bring you to the check out lines. You can use this little scanner (do you have that where you are?) to scan all your groceries, then you just have to pay. That’s handy.

Following that energetic venture, you just bring your groceries home! Here are the cheeses I bought, which are wrapped in paper and plastic.

And that’s it for grocery news. I’m sure you’ve had more than your fill of garish lighting and industrial food sourcing so let me leave you with this pretty picture of Paris from my last trip in.

There. That’s better, isn’t it?

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