This week we’ve got culinary news with a French flair…
Le Grande Epicerie
With over 30,000 gourmet products artfully displayed across 35,000 square feet of space, the Bon Marche’s lavish food hall, Le Grande Epicerie is the gastronomic equivalent of Le Louvre. It’s a unmissable stop for food lovers, and for some, stepping inside for the first time is like waking up on the other side of the rainbow. In contrast to the harshly lit, soulless, big box stores so common in North America, Le Grande Epicerie is a sumptuous, magical, Technicolor world that delights all the senses. *
You’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy.
As if the over-the-top shopping experience wasn’t enough to draw locals and culinary travelers alike, Le Grande Epicerie now offers master classes in cuisine, baking, pastry, and oenology. Cuisine workshops take place in the La Table de La Grande Epicerie de Paris restaurant kitchen while pastry and baking workshops are held in the production labs on the main floor of the emporium. Small class sizes guarantee plenty of personal attention (max of 4 people for cuisine, baking and pastry, and 10 – 12 for oenology). Classes are hands-on, last about 2 hours, and are in French, as is their website, but don’t let that stop you if you don’t speak the language. You’ll recognize plenty of French culinary terms (sauté, gratiné, flambé, brûlée, mince, julienne, crêpe – you get the idea) but if you’re shy about putting on the apron, you can opt for one of their demonstration-style cooking shows instead. Cost is €25 – €30.
Information on cooking classes HERE and on cooking shows HERE.
*Lest you think I’m exaggerating, read about Dina’s (oliveoilandlemons.com) first impression of Le Grande Epicerie HERE. She was so overwhelmed she thought she might have to be resuscitated!
La Grande Epicerie de Paris
38, rue de Sèvres
75 007 Paris
FRANCE
Laura Calder
A talented writer, cookbook author, and award-winning television personality Laura Calder has just finished filming a new web series, aptly titled A Gourmet Minute from Paris. In each short episode, Laura offers the viewer an intimate look at some of her favorite places in the City of Light. She is releasing one video per week for 10 weeks, with the first three already available on YouTube.
In the premiere, Laura takes us inside the aforementioned Le Grande Epicerie. See for yourself why we’re obsessed with the most glamorous grocery store in the city – and the vivacious Ms. Calder.
Watch more of Laura Calder’s Paris videos HERE.
Les Anis de Flavigny
Les Anis de Flavigny were first produced by monks in 1591 in the Flavigny village of France. They’ve been enjoyed by the likes of Louis XIV, Madame de Sevigne (1626-1696), Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764) and La Comtesse de Segur (1799-1874).
Each candy has a real aniseed at its center, which holds a warm, spicy flavor and an aromatic scent. The aniseed is gradually enrobed in delicately flavored liquid sugar over the course of two weeks to produce the smooth pearl-like candy – a process called dragée. They come in seven subtle all-natural flavors, spiced or floral, including anise, orange blossom, mint, licorice, rose and violet.
Clearly, these sweet little white pearls aren’t new, but they are newsworthy. Pocket-boxes of Les Anis de Flavigny in a variety of flavors are available in Canada effective September 2014. The new packaging pays homage to the old-fashioned rectangular boxes that they were originally packaged in hundreds of years ago.
Un bien bon bonbon
Laura Goyer is a world traveler and culinary travel professional, on a mission to help busy prime-time women find the best local food when they travel.
Laura, Paris is definitely a foodie heaven and the other Laura (Calder) knows it well. I know you spent time there at the cordon Bleu and lived like a Parisian for a while, how fun that must have been. As you said, my trip to La Grande Epicerie left me hyperventilating, what a place, and to think that people shop there daily for their groceries. There is no fairness in the foodie world. It’s all about where you happen to live.
We have it so good here in the Okanagan Valley, possibly as good as it gets in Canada, but it’s just not Paris, is it? I’d like to go back again and take part in a few of the classes at Le Grande Epicerie. We’ll have to put it on our ‘list’ 🙂
Love Laura Calder. Love Paris. And I especially love the fact that she’s doing videos! I do miss her shows on the Food Network.
I missed the Le Grand Epicerie stop, unwillingly I might add, while in Paris. But I’ll add it to the laundry list of places to go back for!
So I’m not the only one keeping a list for my next visit! I wonder if anyone has ever left Paris without one. 🙂