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| Entrance to one of the many food halls at Rungis |
Rungis is not a food market where you can just go and pick up some cheeses, meat and salad leaves. In fact, you cannot even get in unless you are taken on a tour of the complex that covers an enormous area of over 200 hectares. Just a 20 mins drive from Paris, Rungis is the world's biggest wholesale market for fresh produce and that is where Parisian chefs buy what they cook. Traders from all over Europe also come to buy and sell their produce in Rungis. This place is much more than a wholesale market for Parisian restaurateurs.
I was lucky enough to visit the market on a school trip organised by Le Cordon Bleu and upon arrival, we had to put on a set of disposable outfit before entering the food halls. Our tour began with the Pavillon de la vollaile and for the next three hours, we were in and out of different compounds in a freezing cold temperature, posing in front of animal carcasses, oversized cheese meules and rare, exotic plants.
Some poultry comes pre-packaged, like duck breast and foie gras, or as individual birds in cartons. Meat, apparently, is sold only by the carcass.
There was practically nothing in the Fruits and Vegetables Hall that I had not seen elsewhere, but to encounter such quantities under one roof was nevertheless an eye-opening experience. Most stalls are highly specialised in their product offerings; there are ones who sell mushrooms exclusively while others carry only garlic heads and onions.
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| The Fruits and Vegetables Hall at Rungis is the largest of its kind in the world |
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| Girolle is one of the most popular French champignons |
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| Summer is the season for berries |
My favourite place in Rungis was the Cheese Hall. As I walked through its entrance, the aroma of cheese was immediately noticeable. There were commercially produced cheeses as well as a whole range of artisanal ones from smaller producers. The most impressive cheeses were the big meules of Emmental, Comte, Beaufort and Gruyere, some of which weighed as much as 120 kg each.
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| A large Emmental AOC cheese meule typically weighs from 70 to120 kg |
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These Comte cheeses weigh about 35 kg each
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I was lucky enough to visit the market on a school trip organised by Le Cordon Bleu and upon arrival, we had to put on a set of disposable outfit before entering the food halls. Our tour began with the Pavillon de la vollaile and for the next three hours, we were in and out of different compounds in a freezing cold temperature, posing in front of animal carcasses, oversized cheese meules and rare, exotic plants.
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