Taking a one-week break from For The Love of Kale but will have a new Kale Monday recipe. Heading into the weekend, I thought I’d share a personal thought I have about Paris grocery stores. They are pretty crappy. The photo above consists of the entire produce section at Monoprix. Some Monoprix stores may be better than others but give me a break… the produce was well, just sad looking. And I won’t blame it on the one day of humid, hot, finally summer weather.
While I have other thoughts about the French grocery stores in general… that’s not the main reason I took and shared this photo.
We all know the French outdoor markets gorgeous. They’re full of energy and excitement unlike any American farmer’s market. Yet they are almost completely shut down by 7pm so unless you go on the weekend and stock up or work from home or are a stay-at-home parent, it’s hard to get daily market produce. This all makes it difficult for the average Parisian to actually get to the market after the work day and why entering any grocery store between the hours of 6:30pm – 8:30pm just creates to much stress. They are packed with people buying what they need for dinner that evening – including the crappy produce. Everyone deserves market quality produce!
I don’t understand why the French grocery stores can’t take a better look at their market counterparts and treat vegetables the same way. Give them a spritz of water, provide some variety, don’t leave them out if they’re ancient, molded and wilted. If they aren’t appealing to look at no one is going to want to actually eat them.
I hope that wherever The Kale Project’s kale ends up in the next months, years and beyond it always looks it’s best.