Food frenzy at the Salon (by kerouac2)

[Deleted]

The main thing that sticks in the mind of most Parisians who go to the Salon de l'Agriculture is all of the livestock and the pungent aroma of manure in a very unusual place. Lots of people have family in rural areas, so this brings back all sorts of memories of grandparents or distant cousins and holidays when they were 6 years old. However, the whole point of agriculture is to create food, so the food section of the Salon is outstanding. In a way, it can just look like a huge supermarket, but that would not be true at all, because all of the people selling things are the actual producers and they can tell you lovingly every step of the creation of their cheeses or sausages or wines and all of the anecdotes that go with it. And also there is probably no place in the world where you can receive so many free samples of just about everything imaginable.

I have therefore made a little video of the food section to give you an idea of what a visit is like.

[htmb]

I know I mentioned in your other "Salon" thread that the food sections at these types of events typically bore me, but I was surprised by my interest in the video, Kerouac. I found myself thinking, " Wait! Slow down! Go back! I want to read the labels!"

[bjd]

It didn't look very busy -- did you choose a weekday morning?

When I was a kid in Toronto, we used to go to the Exhibition (originally an agricultural fair but by the time I went, it was mostly rides) every summer and always went to the Food Building to get free samples. I don't remember anything there was but I imagine it was nothing like what is served and sold in Paris. And there certainly weren't any samples of alcohol in 1960s Toronto.

[Deleted]

Yes, I was there at 10am during the week. On the weekend or in the afternoon, I would have been unable to walk through those aisles. There were 691,000 visitors this year, which is a bit less than last year but not bad for an event that only lasts 9 days.