It is 7.30am. Let’s drive with Christian Morisset to Cannes Forville market. He is the owner and chef of le Figuier de Saint-Esprit, a renowned Michelin star restaurant in Antibes. The half a day plan is to drink coffee, talk with farmers, buy products at the market for the restaurant, visit the boucherie agricole and end with the chef’s personal shopping at the market bio grocery.
Being the winner of the contest “A market tour with our chef” by Le Figuier Saint-Esprit, let’s start with a story rich of emotions with Christian Morisset and humans of the Forville market in Cannes.
We meet at the corner of Boulevard Wilson to drive with the car full of crates. It is Sunday and the road on the sea side is as calm as a cold stove until Forville market in Cannes. It is the best market according to chef Morisset in the Antibes area in term of price and quality of the products. La Cannoise is the first place to meet Christian’s friends before going under the market roof. They are farmers and talk about Nice-Matin gossips and how the farmer work may be run under better conditions in France. After a coffee and a croissant, we move to the market.
Greetings is a good way to start the trip in the center of the market by saying hello to the farmer and taste vegetables from his garden. Next is short stop to the mushrooms stable to take some and move to another vegetables stand. Like in Antibes provencal market, the real farmers are in the middle of the market and the ones on the borders are resellers. After some stroll around, the restaurant money envelope slim fast. The cheese producer offer a tasting session and we visit the flower shop for the chef’s wife gift. He really is a lover. We then move to the fruits stable to get the remaining crates full of figs. Christian is a rock star and a guest since ages to all that we complete the tour after three hours or so. The time is flying.
Next is a tour at la boucherie agricole. They are well-known in the area to provide the best meat pieces. Meanwhile the chef is talking with the front of house, the visit of the butchery start. From cold chain course to meat chop tables, the guide provides a nice overview of how a butchery works before the exposition of the meats to customers. Thanks to boucherie agricole staff. Finally, we move to the bio market to get some ingredients for the chef to cook at home. He has admit his favorite meal is a cheese plate and a good glass of wine.
On the way back to Antibes it was time to talk about the food industry, difficulties the chefs face in the french riviera, his journey from cooking as a child to become a successful chef. His last advice for the apprentices is that work hard will pay a day.
Visit the Figuier Saint-Esprit website to discover the chef’s cuisine.