Rungis

Right now I am exhausted. I got to school today at 6:30am to catch the chartered bus for the class trip to Rungis, the biggest market in the world.

We toured 4 huge product pavilions out of so many more that would take too long to see. We went to the Triperies, Meat, Fruit & Vegetable and the Flower Pavilion. It was incredible to see the beginning of Paris' and so many other destinations (including international) food chain. This is where Parisian markets (besides straight from the farms) and restaurants obtain their products so very early in the morning. We unfortunately did not get to see the Fish Pavilion because it opens at 2am and closes at 5am.

Triperies




Meat










Cheese





I love Raclette!

Fruit & Vegetable

















This is a deceiving photo. While these are habanero chilis, no restaurant in Paris serves spicy food, so where these chilis go is a mystery. They must be exported around the country or out of it (okay, to confess, this past weekend I had a meal in the 17th at a Thai restaurant and the food was really, really spicy, but this place was an anomaly in Paris because not only was it spicy, it was good and cheap. very unusual)

Flowers





Colored callalilies are my favorite.


These looked like a cross between artichokes and cauliflower.

Chocolate Sculpture

I've luckily survived the chocolate section of the superior pastry course (well, they don't tell you if you failed til after the end of the course so keep your fingers crossed for me). We were given only 3 practical classes to work with chocolate before our final exam which seems a little crazy but you learn a lot fast when you have to. Below are photos of my first sculpture and then my final exam. It's not easy, so no judging!

My First chocolate piece.

The chef said he did not like the use of color and that it was too modern and a bit bizarre. I really liked it.

My Final exam

While the chef was not supposed to really comment on our pieces since it was an exam, I asked him what he thought and he said, "It's just a little bizarre today".