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mercredi 13 juin 2012

Absolution: Organic cosmetics made in France

My article on Paris Spas in the Huffington Post introduced me to a ton of great spots to relax and recharge in the city. One of my favorite discoveries was l'Echappée Spa, where weary urbanites can tuck away and enjoy a heated swimming pool and a full-service hammam along with the gamut of traditional spa services.

L'Echappée Spa provided a window into the world of respite that is available to over-worked Parisians, as well as a doorway to a new discovery: the French-made cosmetic brand Absolution.

Absolution is a range of unisex cosmetics that can be customized based on your mood or, more importantly, the whims of your skin. Absolution products are used in all of L'Echappée Spa's facial treatments, which is fitting as one of the brand's goals is to strike "the right balance between an eco-conscious and urban lifestyle" and I can't think of a better place to strike that balance than at L'Echappée.

The concept behind the products is simple: you invest in a base cream- either for the day or night version- and then you choose from a variety of solutions ("Controle", "Eclat", "Energie") that you then mix in to a dab of the base cream, adapting that day's care to your particular caprice.

The containers are constructed so that one can easily dispense a dollop a day and whip up a creative cocktail for your skin care regime.

The coolest bit about Absolution is that the entire line of products is both made in France and made with organic ingredients (59% from organic farming and 99% from natural origin).

While the products come with a price tag typically associated with high-end skin care (prices range from 30-69 euro), they also bare a seal of approval from Ecocert, a trustworthy organic certification authority. So if you're able to spend a little more on beauty supplies, why not support locally made and authentically organic products?

Absolution cosmetics can be bought in Paris at the main office in the 3rd arrondissement (19 rue Béranger) and at L'Echappée Spa (64 rue de la Folie Méricourt, 75011) as well as in a handful of stores scattered around Europe. Products can also be bought online and the company has just launched a new American Online Boutique !

Libellés : 75003, 75011, labels, local, organic

samedi 21 avril 2012

Marché du Mois: Marché Popincourt

After visiting L'échappée Spa (which stocks the amazing Absolution brand of organic, made-in-Paris skin car products) early one Friday morning I was happy to stumble upon the bustling Marché Popincourt.

The market takes up a series of blocks along Boulevard Richard Lenoir in the 11th arrondisement and, in keeping with the general atmosphere of this animated neighborhood, proved to be livliest marché I've visited in quite some time.

The friendly atmoshpere of the market on this particularly sunny morning pulled me in and inspired me to stroll the busy aisles several times. As is my habit, I was in search of local and organic vendors. A scarcity of such stands in part explains the time I spent scouring the market. I dedicated a good deal of time ooking closely at every vendor's wares, trying to find products that were grown in France or of the organic ilk.

Having said that, I also extended my stay because of the warm and welcoming vibe of the market, which brought back to mind my earliest feelings of affection for shopping at Paris' open-air markets, with their intoxicated cries of vendors, mixed with the banter and small talk which is all but extinct at industrial food outlets.

There was not a stand that I stopped by where I didn't overhear shoppers and catching up or chatting with vendors while waiting in line and making purchases.

Another thing I appreciated about Marché Popincourt was the wide selection of flowers and other plants, whose presence coincided with the onset of my Springtime planting fever. I (admittedly prematurely) picked up a basil plant that I eagerly added to my my herb garden, despite the looming threat of cold weather forecasted for Paris.

I stopped myself at the basil purchase, but promised that I'd be back to pick up a few floral additions to plant in my plot at the Jardins du Ruisseau.

There is one organic veggie stand at Marché Popincourt, along with a scattered selection of French-origin goods such as honey and other conserved products as well as the seasonal vegetables we are so familiar with by now including beets, carrots, and an increasing selection of radishes and other undergroung légumes.

If you're headed to the market early, skip your morning dose of café and head straight to the whole bean coffee seller as soon as you arrive at the market. The scent alone of the rows of bags of coffee beans will wake you up, and a to-go cup of the freshly ground coffee will give you the kick you need to hit the market and get to know its jovial vendors!

Marché Popincourt

Bd. Richard Lenoir
(between rue Oberkampf & Jean Pierre Timbaud)
Paris 75011
m° Oberkampf (lines 5 & 9)

Hours:
Tuesday & Friday
7h-14h30

Libellés : 75011, Marché of the Month, open Friday, open Tuesday

mardi 28 février 2012

Marché du Mois: La Maison POS

La Maison POS is more than a shop, it's a metanarrative- both a particpant in the worldwide locavore movement as well as a humble neighborhood corner store that brings locally grown food even closer to home.

Pierre Olivier Savreux, who opened the shop a year and a half ago, was kind enough to show me around the small, economically used space.

He had been busy arranging the crates that were delivered from Normandy that evening and would be sold the next day, "Tomorrow we will have carrots, cabbage, and bunches of laurel. That's it."

Despite his downplaying of the stock- I did spot some crates of kiwi and apples later- the store has a lot to offer.

Maison POS also stocks many other organic non-perishables, such as honey, wine, sausages and olive oils. The goal of this marché remains simple: to sell a few carefully selected, super fresh, products from not too far away and to stock only what can be sold in a day in order to make room for the next day's delivery.

The selective stock is meant for a select clientele. Savreux told me that he aims to serve the locals, people living in the neighborhood who can pop in and pick up a few things on their way home.

The store's hours reflect this mentality- they are open in the morning for a few hours and then close to reopen the doors for the on-the-way-home-from-work crowd, staying open late for those keeping metro,boulot,dodo hours.

Savreux stocks products he likes and is faithful to the items on his shelves. "We have six wines," he explained to me, "if people want to drink another kind of wine, they can buy it somewhere else." This kind of faith in the product inspires a trust in the decisions POS makes when it comes to bringing the farm to your table.

Most of the products available at POS are from the Normandy or Brittany region of France, including some amazing artisinal butters and cheeses that are currently in stock.

Savreux was clearly proud of his dedicqtion to keeping prices low for his neighbors- the wine is sold at cost and he refuses to inflate prices on speciality items like honey and olive oils, which are often quite costly in organic markets. The store also sells their daily soup, homemade and served up for the modest price of 1 euro a bowl.

Maison POS brings a much welcome militantism when it comes to finding quality products at a reasonable price- so much so that it makes one consider moving to the 11th just to have this bonne adresse in their neighborhood! But for inhabitants of quartiers all over France and the world , this corner store serves as an inspiration, proving that local food vendors can be selective and successful at the same time.

Maison POS

90 rue de Charonne

75011

m° Charonne

Hours:

Mon: 17h-21h30

Tues-Fri: 11h-14h30/17h-21h30

Sat: 10h-10h

Libellés : 75011, Marché of the Month, open Friday, open Monday, open Saturday, open Thursday, open Tuesday, open Wednesday

vendredi 20 janvier 2012

Marché du Mois: Marché Bastille

The Marché Bastille is so huge that, once I got there, I couldn't believe I had never stumbled upon it in all my time in Paris. The silver lining of the cloud that was an insanely early rendez-vous with French bureaucrats on the nearby rue de la Roquette, was that it got me up in time to check out this gigantic market that takes up a good bit of Bd. Richard Lenoir.

As I began to wander around the market in what early morning sunlight managed to break through foreboding January clouds, the revellers on their way home from the area's many bars reminded me of former nuits blanches and the fact that I don't spend too much time on this side of the sunrise.*

*Editor's note: I'm totally exagerrating, it was like 9h30 when I got to the market- but to justify my crankiness I had been up since 7 a.m, making the whole day feel like it was way too early for anything to be happening. I am not a morning person.

My uncharacteristic Early-Birdishness was rewarded when I finally got through the stands of tacky clothing and bulk deoderant and shampoo vendors (which are way too-often a part of the market and have no business being in Paris where you can buy clothes and toiletries in a great many locations) and reached the seemingly endless booths overflowing with produce and other foodstuffs.

I did my habitual tour, happy to be back in a marché after the holidays had taken over so much time that I hadn't set foot in an outdoor market almost since my last Marché du Mois adventure.

The Marché Bastille is not lacking in choices, yet it isn't immediately impressive as far as local and ethically produced items go.

Having said that, I would hazard a guess that you can find at least one local and/or organic vendor for any item you may be looking for. It seems to me that a succesful shopping trip at the Bastille market would involve finding, and patronizing, these diamonds in the ruffage.

I was laden down by a bursting dossier of originals + 3 copies of every bit of paperwork relating to my lie that I could find in order to calm les bureaucrates, so wasn't really in the market for marketing, but I managed to take some photos of vendors that I will visit on my next early morning adventure to Marché Bastille.

I hope they will help readers find spot these vendors if they have the chance to go to this market. Frequent visitors of Marché Bastille are also encouraged to share their bonnes adresses!

As far as veggies go, I saw some stands that were very loud and proud of their organic status, waving their Agriculture Biologique flags in the Winter wind, but honestly I'm kind of sick of seeing these organic vendors selling totally inappropriate tomatoes, bell peppers, and zucchinis in the middle of January. If you're dying to break from the season, then I would encourage doing it organically, but I'm not really interested in the possibility of eating an imported tomato when the bounty of the colder months is really quite rich.

That's why this little, unassuming (they didn't even have a sign up of where their farm was located as far as I could see) maraîcher stole my heart. Amid the foreign fruits and flashy vegetables, this vendor clung to agricultural tradition like the dirt on their own vegetables. So reassuring to see on so many levels.

How can anyone ignore the awesomeness of Winter produce? Carrots, brussel sprouts, black radish, spinach, turnips, leeks, the list goes on... I guess you've got to eat it to believe it, and this little vendor would be a good gateway drug to get you going...

Ever since moving to France, my holiday traditions have increasingly included oysters- it's gotten to be kind of an obsession, a pleasure that almost eclipses all the other joys of the season. My fervor for fruits de mer was dampened when my belle mère called me in a panic one day to tell me that she had seen a documentary on Arte which explained that the large majority of oysters are in fact genetically modified. The damage had been done as I had already eaten my fill of oysters from what now seemed to be surely questionable sources, but I vowed that in the future I'd try my best to find sustainable sources of organic oysters.

Enter my new favorite Poissonière at Marché Bastille. Forget pech à la ligne, these guys go after their oysters using the "Pêche à Pied" method, which means they roll up their fisherman pants and wade into the muck looking for wild oysters to bring to the market. I've read up a little on la pêche à pied and it's pretty great (if you don't mind getting dirty). Regulations on the size of the shellfish, as well as the times you can fish and the amount you can take home protect wild shellfish from being over-fished or put in any danger of extinction.

I didn't grab the name of this fishmonger (bad blogger!!) but you will recognize the family's stand because it's the only one that proudly states that they are botht the direct producteur and distributeur of their seafood.

Marché Bastille also has a large selection of bakeries selling specialty breads and butchers that probably count in their company at leqst one local producer (you're on your own for finding that diamond in the rough), but one thing that stood out to me- probably because I haven't seen it in a lot of marchés- was the fresh eggs vendor.

Gathered from free-range animals, this vendor doesn't stop at your run-of-the-mill chicken eggs, but also offers lovely, enormous goose eggs. These eggs looked so perfect in this French market that I wondered why they haven't been incorporated into a national dish of some kind. Also, why have I never tried a goose egg? Also, is there some pun in here about goose eggs that I'm missing?

All in all, the Marché Bastille is a great stop for a shop or a stroll, and I found myself taking just as many pictures of my surroundings as the Japanese tourists who were working the same circuit. The market is, more than anything- and like most things- a treasure hunt, and I hope that you will enjoy exploring it if you have the chance.

Marché Bastille

Bd. Richard Lenoir 75011

m° Bastille (line 1, 5, and 8)

Hours:

Thursday: 7h30-14h30

Sunday: 7h-15h

Libellés : 75011, Marché of the Month, open Sunday, open Thursday

This Page

Paris Paysanne: The Blog

mercredi 13 juin 2012

Absolution: Organic cosmetics made in France

samedi 21 avril 2012

Marché du Mois: Marché Popincourt

mardi 28 février 2012

Marché du Mois: La Maison POS

vendredi 20 janvier 2012

Marché du Mois: Marché Bastille

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