Le Marché
Community in (rural) France must equate—even loosely—to the weekly marché or market. Markets in France are a special delight, and they can be filled with sellers’ displays of household items, clothing, fruit and vegetables, breads, cheeses (bien sur), meats, and prepared foods. The weekly market in our town has all of these things with additional items such as locally-produced soaps and spices. My favorite is the egg seller, whose fresh chicken eggs sell out fairly quickly each week. La gastronomie in France is an important part of French society and community, with each region known for its food production. Our weekly food market is on Friday mornings until about 1 pm. It’s located right next to the Café des Arts, where people linger over a glass of rosé wine or café creme for an hour or two.
Over time, I’ve noticed that the same vendors s’installent in the same place each week, right behind the Lady Liberty statue in the town parking lot. The first fruit and vegetable stand located immediately behind the statue is the largest. At least six varieties of tomatoes were available last week when I visited, and the tomatoes were bright red-orange and irregular in shape. What I love about the vegetables is that they don’t need to look perfect. This is in stark contrast to what I read several decades ago when small farm tomato growers in Central America were forced out of business due to international mass producers standardizing production for US consumers.
Since we’ve been in this village, I understand how the market as a place where people greet one another and come together to visit and share stories of their families, events in town, and politics. The elder ladies (and many of their little dogs) know the scene well. They salut each other with an air of formality and kindness. People frequently smile at each other and wish each other a bonne journée. Vendors are also part of the exchanges, and it’s clear that over time they have come to know their customers personally. Community grows through human interaction, care for one another, and shared knowledge about how society around them functions.