A Different Kind of Local Food Movement: how buying groceries in Paris creates a sense of place

 In a world where the food system has become consolidated, industrialized, and globalized, Mark Lapping described how this creates “an acute loss of a sense of the local.” He describes several alternative agro-food models (AAFMs) that have been successful in the United States. I want to focus on how typical food shopping in France can contribute to some similar benefits.

I studied abroad in Paris last fall, where I lived downtown with my host mother. Paris is known for many of its open-air famers markets, one of my personal favorite places to go on Sunday mornings. But even in situations when Parisians aren’t buying directly from the farmer, the considerable smaller percentage of consolidation that in the U.S., definitely adds a community aspect to doing the groceries.   

Large supermarket chains, known as hypermarchés, do exist in France, just as they do here. However, from my experience they’re not used to the same degree. Artisanal culture is still thriving in France, and it is not uncommon for the family shopper to visit several local shops or markets each week to get different food products, instead of going to the supermarket. To get your bread, you go to la boulangerie, but for your sweeter pastries you go to la pâtisserie. La fromagerie is for cheese, la rôtisserie is for chicken, la charcuterie is for pork, and la boucherie is your typical butcher. Finally there is l’épicerie, small general stores that sell produce and dry goods. What’s even more interesting than the collection of small shops, is the fact that many didn’t even have distinct names. The name of my host mother’s favorite bakery was simply la boulangerie. However the fact that a different person or family owns each small shop helps establish them as places that get incorporated to the community.

This style of shopping further enhances the sense of community because repeat patrons are able to create relationships with the small business owners. My host mother would often refer the shop owners by name, and there was a sense of trust between her and her vendors. She counted on them for quality and better service. This kind of shopping may seem to be more time consuming, but the density of small shops means one never has to go farther than a couple blocks. So though it takes more effort than Americans are used to, it is definitely a more personal and social experience. I think that this helps to construct a stronger sense of place in each neighborhood.

As a temporary French citizen, I found this kind of local neighborhood shopping influenced my practice of place. Although I wasn’t there for long enough to create as strong relationships with the vendors, I became a regular at a few small shops in the area, and came to trust the quality there. So while the city is already divided into 20 neighborhoods (arrondissements), my neighborhood was definitely defined in respect to these small shops more that the fact that I lived in the 5^th arrondissement. Instead of shopping at a huge Hannaford’s, that I had to drive to, in Paris, shopping for food in a more local, connected setting contributed to creating my concept of neighborhood, and my ability experience the culture.