Scenes from Farmer's Markets in the Lubéron

For a week straight, my college friend Robin and I did nothing but shop and eat and talk to her husband Jim.  Jim, as a wine maker and a long-time restauranteur, was always the cooking showman in the family.  Now as he recovered from his brain surgery, Robin was the family chef, and Jim reveled in her skills.

Robin and I loved to go to the Farmer's Markets in the Lubéron and see what was on offer.  While the Loumartin market was possibly the most showy, the one in Cadenet was charming, accessible, and not too crowded. The people-watching was just as wonderful.

Beautifully-displayed zucchinis

  Equally Pretty Melons

A lovely French shopper

shows off

the sculptural quality

of the lettuce

This handsome couple

spends two months in Provence

each year and 10 months in Spain.

They showed me their French car.

It's called a 2CV.

They told me the design of the car

resulted when the French Government 
asked Citroën for a vehicle that could carry four people,

50 pounds of potatoes,

and a dozen eggs,

without breaking the eggs.

That is such a French thought, n'est pas?

It is an iconic vehicle

and much loved

in France.

Not every shopper

was full-grown.

The Cadenet Farmer's Market was set up on the Municipal Boules Court (the French game of lawn bowling). 

In nearby Cuceron, I had the chance to see another municipal place that French people had created for themselves: the breathtaking grove of plantain trees in Cucuron surrounding a city pond. I found it calming.

 There were restorative sidewalk spots to

enjoy the view of the Plantain grove

and the water.

A French woman sustaining their

worldwide reputation for chic.

When you see a pork leg
with the hoof still on it,
you're very aware it came
from a real live animal, aren't you?

Ack! I've written before
how American food writers say
Americans have the reality
that they're eating actual animals
kept far from them
by styrofoam and plastic film.
I know this ham is a delicacy.
I love this ham!
I have no desire to be vegetarian!
Facing this pork leg being sliced
made me so uncomfortable.
 It's so *real* served this way.

I love to eat rabbit,
at least fresh rabbit from
styrofoam and plastic film.
But...when it looked like
it had a pet name of Bunny
only yesterday?
Culture shock!

 The French version of a
lemonade stand.
This little boy was selling
packaged herbs.

Does your mail carrier look like this
back home?
Mine neither.
The Cucuron village mail carrier.
Everything is more glamorous in France,
even the mail.