So you think that, after long days of work at le bureau, Maman (or Papa) cooks up three-course meals for the family every night? Au contraire, mes amis! Maman heads to le traiteur or le supermarché to get fixings for dinner, just like Americans do.
Traiteurs are fixtures in Paris neighborhoods. You can purchase a main dish and sides for less than a restaurant meal. The food is high quality and very tasty. Although fast food is making inroads, the traiteurs seem to be more popular with the French. Some French supermarkets are trying to muscle in on the takeout meals, as in the US. Depending on the supermarket, the offerings can be as good as the traiteurs.
When we’ve rented apartments in Paris, we’ve made use of traiteurs. It keeps us from buying too many ingredients that we’d have to throw out at the end of our stay. We had excellent Greek and Middle Eastern traiteurs near our apartments on earlier trips. Tonight we got a rabbit stew with carrots and prunes and roasted potatoes. I picked up a fennel bulb and pan-roasted it before I microwaved the rabbit and potatoes. We were impressed.
Traiteurs in France offer locals and tourists alike good food at a reasonable price. They’re worth checking out if you ever visit a French city.
Recent Comments