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Whether to buy foie gras or other dishes that will garnish the New Year’s Eve table, the aisles of French markets are packed with people. Report from Antony, in Hauts-de-Seine, where the stalls were very lively, Tuesday December 23.
This text corresponds to part of the transcription of the report above. Click on the video to watch it in full.
Home stretch on the Antony market, in Hauts-de-Seine. From eight o’clock in the morning at a fishmonger, customers are already waiting. Among them, this retired woman is ready: “I have my list. Smoked salmon, gray shrimp, pink shrimp. I’ll have langoustines, crab claws, oysters and seaweed”she explains. And like every year, it doesn’t count: 189 euros this morning.
If she came early, it’s because the boss doesn’t take orders here. Even December 23, for one of the biggest days of the year. “The goal is not to pack anything. The goal is really to say that I have cleared my table and that I am leaving with new and fresh products”explains Mounir Grissa, from the Mechet fishmonger.
And for customers, you have to choose your merchant carefully. Because from one stand to another, prices vary: 49 euros per kilo of monkfish in one, 52 opposite. This fishmonger has planned between 20 and 35,000 euros worth of goods for the entire holiday period. A crucial period for him: “We have a 13th month of turnover, possibly”says Jimmy Barberon, of the Barberon Vikings fish store.
Fresh fish, and of course, impossible to ignore the poultry. For the occasion, Julien Lejeune calls on his daughter, Charline, 15 years old. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s very important to be able to satisfy customers. In fact, we build customer loyalty with Christmas. But after that, it only represents one day, three weeks of work”points out Julien Lejeune, Hurissé Volailles. Satisfy customers at all costs, who remain attentive to the invoice. “I look at a minimum, but then there is a question of quality-price ratio”admits a man.
And to accompany chicken, nothing better than a chanterelle stuffing. Isabelle Guegan, of Maison Guegan, has doubled the quantity of her merchandise and intends to sell everything: “It will go away, there is no problem”she assures us.
A festive table once a year, and above all, don’t forget one of the favorite ingredients of the French and of Gabriel, 3 years old: chocolate.
