Beaune has a large Saturday market day with about 150 stalls that fills many streets of the town and a smaller Wednesday market that is mainly fruits and vegetables and a few regional specialties, centered around the Place de la Halle. Beaune market day brings in loads of locals from the surrounding towns. There are smaller market days throughout the Cote d’Or, but the Beaune Saturday market probably has the most diverse selection of goods and is a social highlight.
Picturesque Place de les Halles is the main center of activity for the Saturday and Wednesday markets. Most of what you see are regional specialities, but imported produce is common as well, like that seen here on this cold November day.
Sadly, we already had plans for lunch or we would not have passed this by without bringing some rotisserie home. Suckling pig anyone?
Poulet de Bresse and Poulet “Le Picorette” are regional chicken breeds. Bresse chicken is famous for it’s tender meat and depth of flavor. Named for the area it comes from, Bourg en Bresse is found in the Rhone-Alpes region, just south east of Burgundy. The product was named A.O.C. in 1957 and named specifics on how much green land per bird and what it can be fed at what time in it’s lifespan. Immensely popular in France, very little gets exported and as you can see from the photo above, the chickens are high priced. The chickens would go for more like $20 per kilo at a higher end market in a larger city.
Lovely champignons and truffles are sold in the Place de les Halles as well.
Inside Les Halles, a mix of vendors is found including this one selling “BonBons.”
We stocked up here before a drive to Paris. The olive medley was something special.
Local made saucisson is truly delicious. Careful with trying to smuggle these into the states, we learned the hard way that these are not allowed. We were taken into secondary inspection after the authorities sniffed one of these out in our bag. Disappointed, we could imagine the custom agents, licking their fingers in the back room enjoying our costly saucisson.
Lovely dried and candied fruits.
Antiques are found in nearby Place Carnot.