Bechamel in Marseille

If one thinks about what a Provencal market looks like, it would consists of french farmers offering their wares and old french women with poodles haggling over prices. It would be an outdoor market with the warm sun and people lounging in cafes, drinking bitter french expresso…… An idyllic scene…

OR…..

We can have the scene I witnessed in the biggest indoor market in Marseille. Because of it’s close proximity to North African, and a large influx of immigrants from Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco,  this market gives me a hint on what can be expected when visiting the markets of those countries.

With sounds of Arabic filling my ears and the smell of cumin in my nose, I attempted to brave the Marche aux Puces  .

While I missed the non-food related part of the marche, I did get to buy some products that were probably the cheapest I had seen anywhere. And the BIGGEST head of garlic EVER.

If you can see in this badly taken picture, towards the end of the day it turns into a mini auction as grocers start auctioning off produce at cheap prices. It was a common sight to see people hauling away boxes of lettuce and apples. Why boxes, I don’t know.

There were also the largest display of spices I have ever seen.

And if anything can help me, what the heck is this? It was SO delicious, some kind of flat  crepe/pita bread type of thing. When I asked the lady what it was she said “Je n’ai pas le temps pour expliquer” (I do not have the time to explain, or get out of my face dumb American).

And what came out of this market trip?

One successful roast chicken

Some very good sauteed japanese-like zucchini ( I was told it was some sort of Moroccan zucchini)

And some crappy gravy which I attempted to make, but had to throw out.

On a totally UNRELATED point, here is some successful kimchi I made!  I wish I had some real Korean fish sauce instead of the thin thai fish sauce I used, but after 3 months of no kimchi, anything is good….