Strawberry, honey, truffles, you name it, they’ve got a festival for it!
April 17th, 2007 | 
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With start of April starts the onslaught of the festivals for just about every fruit, vegetable or drink you could name.The one problem with them is that you’ve really no idea in advance whether or not a given festival will be a popular one or just a few stalls trying to sell some obscure vegetable.
One of the best we’ve been to lately was the strawberry festival at Bellesta which is a village quite close to us but one we’d not been to before. They were lucky enough to hold the festival on a particularly sunny day following some of the last of the Winter rain. Combine that with the Vide Grenier (car boot sale or flea market) and the village was seriously struggling under the weight of traffic and people looking for parking spots on the day.
In fact, there were only two small stalls selling strawberries but the other stalls gave a very good representation of the local produce ranging from excellent honey as you can see, through the spicy sausages that you find everywhere here, and olives. Strangely, the wine makers didn’t have a big presence but then there are numerous wine festivals from now through to harvest time.
The majority of the festivals are only publicised locally so it’s potluck as to whether or not you’ll see the sign for one as you travel along the road. Larger villages are generally a better bet than small ones but really you can get a wonderful experience from even the tiniest village which is, of course, as happens in what we’d call church fetes.
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Posted in Culture
That sounds like a lot of fun, I can imagine how beautiful the countryside must be in the Spring, especially after a nice rain.
In the US, I always find it interesting when traveling in the countryside in Michigan and other rural areas, you will often see a roadside stand that sells vegetables or fruit that are in season. Oftentimes, no one is there and the produce is kept out or in a refrigerated cabinet. A scale to measure the weight and a container for your money is left with a note that depicts how much to pay for the produce. It’s all on an honor system! Usually we will leave a little extra money for them and a nice note of thank you for the wonderful produce. It’s so comforting to feel that we still live in a world where we can trust our neighbors to be honest.
Yeah, it is nice to know that such places still exist. To be honest, it’s even nicer to know that places like it exist in Michican as I would have thought that such things would never happen there.
Arnold,
Actually, things like that happen all over rural America! Unfortunately, it isn’t something you hear about very often in Europe. The United States is usually discussed in the political context or only the bad. Good deeds in the United States and honesty aren’t very newsworthy in Europe. I think in France, especially, hey prefer to think of us as barbarians.
You would be surprised at the wonderful fairs and markets they have in the US. It’s not all that difficult to leave a big city and drive for an hour or two and find a wonderful farmers market, complete with homemade jams, and freshly baked pies and fruit pastries. There is often local wine sold at these markets, too. Michigan, believe it or not, has some lovely vineyards that produce wonderful wine! You can’t beat the Georgia peaches or the Washington apples, not to mention the blueberries and strawberries in Michigan!
I would say the only difference between the rural Midwest America and rural France, is that our cows moo in English. 🙂
You’d think that I’d have seen markets like that in that I’ve travelled a total of something like six months in America over the years but, no, I haven’t really. I think you really need to be living in an area for a little while to pick up on such things, even if it’s in a rented villa or whatever (funnily enough, something that I’ve never done in America!).
For me, the most European area of America is New England (see http://www.foreignperspectives.com/trips-and-holidays-new-england/2007/04/16/opinion.htm), though most of the original colonies have a similar feel about them. West of those and you’re into “proper” America with places like Dodge City (which I’m sure is a “bit” different from the days of the gun fighting cowboys) and Tombstone (which, oddly, still retains the feel of a wild west town).
Don’t laugh – it really does matter what language you speak to the animals in. Try saying “sit” to a French dog and it won’t work.
Arnold
You are so right about New England! I’m a huge fan of the East Coast, especially Boston and Maine. That’s the one thing I do love about the U.S. , the differences between the regions is amazing. The language (accents), food, homes, and climate are so different and there is so much more that I haven’t even seen yet! I can’t wait to retire, I plan on doing a lot of traveling, in the U.S. and Europe. Of course, staying at the Bed and Breakfasts are the way to go, of course. On a trip up East, my husband and I traveled up the coast and stayed at a different B&B in each town. Every one of them were unique and we had the opportunity to meet so many more people than if we stayed at a hotel. Lots of wonderful memories! I can’t wait to do it again.
If you ever have a chance to be in Maine, and if you like lobster, go to a lobster pounds. They are restaurants (outdoor) that are directly on the pier where they put down their lobster traps. They go directly from the traps to a huge boiling pot and right to your plate as you sit at a picnic table area that is covered with a roof. If you want steamed clams (steamers), they throw the lobster, clams, an ear of corn, all in the same bag that goes into the boiling water. That, added with a large slice of blueberry cake, and you’re in heaven! It’s quite an experience!
Regarding the speech of different animals, I believe you on that!