A recent poll found that Parisians are happiest when they are eating. This is not news to pleasure-seeing tourists who frequent the city’s many excellent restaurants. But that’s not how the residents live. I’m always on the lookout for signs of how my neighbors, the Montmartrois, find happiness in day to day dining. In this part of Paris, where small businesses pop up all the time, I don’t need to look very far.
Just the other day we walked two doors south from our building to have lunch at Petit Pois, a tarterie that has opened since we left last October. You can take in this little place at a glance: seating for twenty at small evenly spaced tables and an open kitchen in one corner. Its spare yet inviting decor consists of a lively red and white polka dot print fabric that covers the chairs and three large ceiling-hung lamp shades.
In the other direction, just two doors north of our front door is Montmartre’s only organic bakery Au Pain Complet de Paris. I’ve taken you there before. It occupies our building’s ground floor, and light from its basement ovens shining through translucent floor tiles in the courtyard create a luminous presence. The bakery also serves as a delivery site for Le Campanier, one of two organic cooperatives that distribute produce throughout Paris each week. Baskets in various sizes can be ordered a few days in advance; pick-up days are Monday and Thursday.
Here is this week's eight Euro ($10.40) selection for two people. The impeccable quality and freshness of these ingredients make Le Campanier a rare Paris food bargain. For cooks who aren’t sure what to do with the beautiful head of cauliflower shown above, there are printed recipe suggestions tucked into the bag. I adapted the recipe for the Cauliflower Gratin you see below.
Another important reason why food equals happiness in Paris can be found in the preschool two blocks south. Every day this Ecole Maternelle serves a hot, three course lunch. The students are three to six years old! I always check the menu posted outside the door on my way to the Metro and wish I could reserve a seat. I’ve read, however, that parents are not entirely welcome at mealtimes much less hungry neighbors.
What’s on the menu? This past Wednesday’ it was beef sautéed with spring vegetables and organic spinach in a cream sauce followed by a course of organically produced Camembert cheese. Dessert was organic raised exotique fruit.
School meals in Paris are prepared at a central commissary and delivered throughout the city’s twenty arrondissments on a daily basis. The children sit at tables and are served each course. Some schools go so far as to send home recommended menus for evening meals that complement what the children have eaten at school.
It’s not the monuments and museums that make Paris the most visited city in Europe. Visitors pick up on the happiness they experience at the French table. Eating well may begin at home but it’s also a national policy.
