VeggieTalk

Last year, my good friend Wendy and I went to Paris at the end of March. We had such a great time that we decided to go again! We’re leaving this Friday and I can’t wait! Last year we hit all the big sights, but this time I am more interested in the details—the neighborhoods, the roving markets, the tiny parks, and specialty food stores. Contrary to popular belief, Paris is a vegetarian/vegan paradise. We went armed with a long list of veg restaurants, but we hit only a couple of them. It seemed that anywhere we were, we could find a place with plenty of veg choices, whether it was a Tibetan, Italian, Indonesian, or Middle Eastern cafe. They all shared a certain French sensibility—fresh food, exquisitely presented.

This photo is from the very large outdoor market on Blvd. Raspail in the Montparnesse district, that I took last year. So many beautiful varieties of olives, so many gorgeous kinds of garlic and asparagus, so many, many kinds of every type of produce. When I returned home and went shopping at my usual (organic) natural food store, I wanted to weep when I saw the tired looking produce. Ah well, I can’t always be in Paris, but I try to tap into the Paris state of mind when I can …