Don’t read this on an empty stomach…- cb

If Paris was Hemingway’s moveable feast then I’ve decided Biarritz is going to be my stationary one for as long as I’m lucky enough to be parked here. And I’m already asking myself how I’ll ever go back to shopping at Safeway again.

Just back from my first visit to the weekend market down the street, and the offerings blew me away. This is why I’m here. This is what I love about living in Europe. And I’m not just talking about the fabulous French food. I’m talking about doing my morning chores and feeling like it’s a lesson in learning. And in France, more often than not, that lesson is bound to be a crash course in good living, too.

The grannies were out with their pull-behind trolleys, overflowing with veggies and the requisite baguette antenna. Inside Les Halles, young families posted up at the tapas bars, where you can take a break from your shopping with a noisette coffee and a bocadillo sandwich (Spanish influence is strong in the Basque Country).

Is this their Starbucks? I do believe.

How is it that the thinnest slice of Serrano ham on a crispy white baguette can fill your mouth with such flavor? When I first saw a bocadillo, the American in me was tempted to fret, “But where are the fixins!?” Then I took my first bite. Just meat and grains. Simple is best.

The options are tantalizing. It’s like stumbling upon free sample day at Whole Foods when you’re used to slumming it at Winn-Dixie – but the prices are fair, and most everything is sourced from nearby. The platters of freshly shucked oysters, glistening over ice in the seafood hall, come from up the coast near Bordeaux. There are perfectly poised langoustines, looking like no crustacean I’ve seen before – a cross between a shrimp and lobster, curled into perfect pink question marks awaiting a sure fate in the pot. And vendors who drive in from the countryside bring their fois gras, canned confit du canard and Basque cheese.

In the end the choices overwhelmed me. I wanted it all. So I sat for a coffee to mull things over, and ended up leaving with two frilly heads of lettuce, a bunch of those oddly cylindrical French radishes and a bundle of dark green spinach.

Bizarre picks considering all the options – that adage about shopping on an empty stomach must apply here as much as it does at home.

– by Terry Ward