Salon International de l'Agriculture

One of the reasons we love coming to Paris in the winter is being able to attend the annual Salon International de L'Agriculture at the end of February. It is like a state fair (minus the rides) on steroids. There are four sectors at the Salon: Livestock; Crops and Gardening; Agricultural Services and Trades; and Products and Flavors from France, Overseas Territories and the World.

Farmers come from all over France with their cows, sheep, goats and pigs. Another building has cats and dogs and another horses. Other buildings have food and products grouped by the various regions of France, France's territories, or other countries.

Kelly and James with Oupette

We were excited that James Mayo would be visiting the week of the Salon. He had never been before in all his travels to France. And the Salon is the quintessential real French experience.

Every year a cow is chosen as the mascot of the Salon. This year it was Oupette, a six-year-old Limousin cow from Vienne, the birthplace of Limousin cattle. Vienne is just south of the Loire Valley near Poitiers.

Oupette

The daily newspaper at the Salon is named after Oupette.

La Gazette d'Oupette

Oupette is enthusiastically described on the Salon's website as follows:

"Always well-groomed, Oupette is a brilliant example of the Limousin breed: a vibrant wheat-colored coat, bright mucous membranes, and strong maternal qualities. At six years old, she is expecting her fourth calf by the end of the year, which will also make the trip to the Paris International Agricultural Show 2025. Attentive to her young, she is destined for a promising career as a breeder—and much more!"

I'm not really sure what "bright mucous membranes" means? I think something got lost in the translation from French to English.

View of the Pigs

Butchering Competition

We arrived at the Salon first thing in the morning on a Monday, knowing that afternoons and weekends get very crowded. We found our way to the building containing the food and products of the regions of France since this area gets very crowded by lunchtime.

Eiffel Tower of Veggies

Soldier made of 
Salted Butter Caramel Fondant

Kelly loved the salted butter caramel fondant at the stand where they also sold nougat. Boulangers from the Paris region set up their ovens and were baking baguettes, croissants, pains au chocolat and more.

Preparing Baguettes for the oven

The ovens use steam to
get the right texture and
density

Cutting Croissant Dough

It is always interesting to see vendors representing different regions wandering through the fair along with musical performers.

Les Joyeux Vendéens
from the Vendée Region
on the Atlantic Coast

We tried too many samples at the booth with chocolates from southwestern France where Kelly and James served their missions. The woman was surprised that they knew her small city of Rodez. She was a good saleswoman-we walked out with over 100 euros of her excellent chocolate! Kelly took some of the chocolate to work at Sciences Po to share. His colleagues were surprised and impressed that he had been to the Salon and they loved the chocolate.

Kelly at the Chocolate Booth

Kelly and Southwest France

Kelly at the Agen Booth

The small town of Agen was Kelly's first area on his mission. It is famous for its prunes. Note the sign on the booth with a bit of semi-English thrown in-"Prunes of Agen Veri-Good!" The Pyrenées were also in their mission and well represented at the Salon.

James and Kelly Pyrenées Region

More of the Pyrenées

The Normandy region included women spinning and knitting wool.

Spinning wool with her feet

Knitters

Leeks in Boots

We loved the Alsace booth with women in traditional Alsation dress. Their hats look like big black bows.

Alsace

Alsace

Restaurants are set up around the edges of this pavilion serving good regional food.

Big Batch of
Cheesy Potatoes

Beer and Iced Tea Bar

We really enjoyed visiting the tourist bureau for the area of the Aude in southern France that is partially on the Mediterranean coast. The old walled city, Carcassonne, is the capital of the Aude. A man with a microphone was trying to engage people walking by so they would stop and see what the Aude has to offer. He stuck a microphone in my face and all I could think to say in French was that I was American! He quickly moved on to Kelly and James, who could speak French much better. 

He offered us apple, grape and pear fruit juices to sample but not buy-he said we would have to visit the Aude to purchase those. Then he talked James into posing on the windsurf board and suddenly jumped on behind him! As we left, we could hear him saying, "There go two Americans and I think a Canadian." James has such a good French accent, the man thought he must be French Canadian. In his mind, an American could not speak French as well as James does.

Surfing on the Mediterannean

We walked to another building to find the products from the overseas islands that are part of France. This area had a distinctly different breezy island vibe. James spent part of his mission on the island of Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea.

Corsica

Corsican Coastline

James found some Corsican honey to sample and buy.

Corsica Honey

It was time to go to see the cows and other animals.  We also saw pigs, sheep and goats.

White Goats

Brown Goats

Sheep

Sow with her Piglets

We headed to the cow ring to watch the judging of the mahogany colored Rouge Flamande cows from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy regions in northern France. The breed is bred mainly for its milk that is used to make mimolette and other cheeses. As we approached they were showing off the winner in the younger age category. We took a seat in the bleachers and watched the competition in progress. 

Winner of the Younger Division

Winner of the Older Division

We watched the judges choose the winner in the older division. It was interesting to see the range of color of the Rouge Flamande cows. The older cow was almost black and the younger more red. Then it was time for a face-off to choose the grand champion.

Choosing the Grand Champion

The younger cow on the left was chosen as the grand champion. They were both beautiful cows. The announcer said the winner was chosen because she had the perfect form for the breed and because she was younger and had a better future ahead of her. I was rooting for the older cow on the right. I thought her deep color was beautiful and she had more heft to her. 

There was still much more to see at the Salon. We didn't make it to see the dogs and cats, the horses and donkeys. And we missed the building with the International food and products. There is so much to see and do you could spend several days at the Salon de l'Agriculture. It is truly a slice of real France.