26 April: French Frozen Food
Much is made about the love affair the French have with their open air food markets and corner grocery stores so they can get the freshest ingredients for cooking a meal. Well, we ran across a rather peculiar store today: the all frozen food Picard. Unlike the frozen food aisle in your typical American grocery store, the cooly modern Picard creates an Ikea-like maze of low-profile, top-lifting freezers (which look like the Mercedes Benz of freezers) that run the gamut from individual ingredients (artichoke hearts, couscous, mushrooms, individual chops of meat, steak tartare, fish filets) to prepared meals (meat on skewers, quiches, curries, etc.) to a wide range of desserts (including creme brulee). I guess it's not so weird to see all this frozen food, but it's fascinating to see all of it in a single store devoted solely to the freezer.