Cultural Differences Part Two....................Spending a lot of time in south-west France the different attitudes to food to that in the UK become apparent very quickly. France is still very much an agricultural society ; most of the food is regionally biased and you get the feeling that pretty much most things, particularly the salad and vegetable sections , don't travel far to market...............
.......and there is a much greater acceptance of the odd, the miss-shapen - none of this visual conformity to an arbitrary ' perfect ' standardisation - it just needs to taste good. Even our local fish counter , in Orthez, wouldn't disgrace Harrods and the fish market down at St-Jean-de-Luz, on the coast is a visual delight.
Charcuterie , both in France and Spain , is elevated to a fine art - the Pata Negra , the jambon Iberico - is to die for. Pretty much all of the pig is used , and whilst you won't get every cut you get in the UK, such as belly-pork , the sheer variety makes up for any loss ; terrines , pates', rillettes, saucisson , brawn all feature regularly on a cold plate at lunchtime. Pigs trotters appear regularly on menus , both at our local restaurant in Bayonne and up in the brasseries in Paris, so being an enthusiastic - if weekend - cook this got me thinking , and in the run up to Christmas I asked our local butcher Rob out at Chelford, who is excellent , if he could get me some pigs trotters and ears...........................
" Oh ", he said, " No problem , we usually throw all those away - do you want a head as well ? "
Vive la Difference.
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