Last week I told you about MP and the sweet note that she went me about her excitement for The Kale Project as well as her farmer friend that sells his produce at the Vincennes market.
MP and I were scheduled to meet last week at the Vincennes RER stop – which is the regional train system for Paris. Vincennes is outside of Paris to the east. When MP and I scheduled our meeting, she recommended I take the RER instead of the métro as it would be much faster and since I rarely take the RER except to airports, I agreed to try it out. There’s always a good time to learn something new. But as usual, the RER from where I live was shut because well, sometimes in Paris things are just shut. So I had to take Line 1 and ended up late for our meeting. Little did I know that the Vincennes RER station is a good 10 minute walk from the Line 1 Château de Vincennes métro station. And unfortunately because MP just returned from a period of time spent in the states, she does not have a French cell phone. I was stuck.
Was it fate? Was I not meant to meet this new farmer? Or my first French advocate of The Kale Project? Surprisingly for me, I did not stress out too much and sent MP a note explaining the mix-up with trains. As with her first email, she sweetly replied that we could meet later that week.
Take two.
Cut to me on the RER (it was running this time!) and on the correct train as it whizzed by the Vincennes spot at exactly 8:30am – the time I was meant to meet MP. Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of public transportation but it’s times like this one that it just annoys me. Of course the train wouldn’t stop at Vincennes – a very common stop – on the day that I need to stop and be on time for my important farmer meeting! Luckily I was able to get off at the next stop, switch trains (after confirming it would actually stop at Vincennes) and arrived 20 minutes late. But MP was there! Waiting for me! With her Whole Foods market bag just as she said she would be!
And then we met her farmer. An adorable, energetic man with absolutely gorgeous produce. I have not seen produce this perfect since I’ve moved to Paris. The chou pointu (a cousin of chou frisé that has more collard-like greens) was to die for. I just wished I was heading back home so I could buy as much as possible and take it home!
While MP and I did not meet up the day before, she had already spoken to her farmer about kale and The Kale Project. And he was in before he even met me. When she introduced us, he showed his big smile and told me that all I need to do is supply the seeds. And as you all know, I’ve found my seed supplier in Cornwall.
It was obvious that Monsieur Vincennes has a larger operation than Madame Mustard which could be good for volume as I begin to have more meetings with restaurants. One other thing about about Monsieur Vincennes that I liked, is that while he not certified organic yet, he farms organically and is working towards his certification in France – which let’s be honest – can you imagine the paperwork and bureaucracy one has to go through for that?! May the force be with him.
It was short and sweet and I left him with more information about the mission of The Kale Project and my contact information with the promise to have seeds for him very soon.
Needless to say, the journey back was a little less traumatic and I am so excited to have Monsieur Vincennes as The Kale Project’s potential newest farmer!
Anne says
I know him!!! I live in Vincennes and I do have tried chou pointu and it was really really amazingly tasty. I need to buy more.
I didn’t knew he was a local and organic farmer…as he was keeping talking about Rungis for prices so I guess he was dealing at Rungis (a huge market where food (meat, veggies, etc.) flowers and whatsoever is often sold to restaurant in big quantities or to distributors. But products are still really fresh and good it all depends on how much you are ready to pay for quality! Here, even the best chefs are cooking with rungis food).
Great project!!
I have learnt that “Jour”, a salad bar, was offering now kale on their menus…