On 10/05/2010 03:23 PM, David Rance wrote:
Incidentally, David, for the first time a week ago I saw parsnips for
sale in a French supermarket (Leclerc, I think it was). They were not as
large as those we can buy in Britain but nevertheless they *were* parsnips.

Don't think I've ever seen them before in the shops in France and my
neighbour certainly didn't know what they were.


FWIW parsnips (panais) are considered an "old folks" vegetable in
France, and indeed they went out of fashion and weren't widely
available. Most people who grew their own food during the war would
know them, though.

We saw them appearing in open markets about 10 years ago, now they're
pretty widely available from better veg vendors, even as you point out
showing up at the big chains like Leclerc now and again. (In their
defense Leclerc has a "buy local" policy that means your parsnips are
likely to come from a local grower. In fact they may well come from a
farmer in our village, who's carrots and parsnips are seen at Leclercs
as far north as Falaise.)

Certainly true they're a bit exotic still, which is a laugh: exotic
parsnips!

-E