Lyon, France

After a week and a half on the farm, we headed to Lyon, a large city only 20 minutes away.  Two rivers run through Lyon, which divides the city in to three main districts - the old city, the shopping area, and the financial center.  Each district has it's own personality and appeal and no matter where we went, delicious food was easy to find.  We spend the majority of our two days in Lyon walking through the city and exploring the different neighborhoods.  The old city is mainly car-free, so afternoon and evening strolls were true delights.  There was also a plant exposition one day in the main town square, Place Bellecour, which was a traveling art show featuring native plants from around the region.

A view of Lyon, France from Fourviere Hill.

 As the gastronomic capital of France, there are dozens of restaurants and cafes on every block.  Most serve typical Lyonnais specialties, though numerous ethnic restaurants are also present.  In our two days, we sampled all types of local food - crepes, cheeses, breads, ice cream, pastries, olives, and vegetables.  Many of these were found at the daily market along the river, which on Sundays, stretches nearly 1/2 mile.

A relaxing dinner featuring traditional Lyonnais cheese.

A great way to start the morning - Pain au Chocolat and Croissant aux Amandes.

One evening we enjoyed a delicious dinner at a restaurant that features tartines - an open-faced sandwich served on crusty bread.  The restaurant was so good, that we went there twice, ordering the same food both times.  To our surprise and delight, the dishes were made completely differently each night - a true example of a chef working with ingredients on hand and his inspiration for the night.

Our first dinner at the restaurant.

Our second dinner at the restaurant.

Although one of the bigger cities in France, Lyon was a great city to walk through and we felt like we got a great sense of the city even in just two days.  Our next stop is Aix-en-Provence, a small city in the south of France.  We are looking forward to the contrast between these regions and exploring the delicacies of southern France.

One of the public squares in Lyon.

Us in front of the church on Fourviere Hill.

Farming in France

After a three hour train ride, a four hour wait for our bus, and a confusing bus ride that ended with us missing our stop, we finally arrived in the tiny town of Thurins, France.  This small town is home to the organic vegetable farm we connected with through WWOOF.  For those unfamiliar with this organization, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms is a way for anyone interested in learning about organic farming to experience it first hand.  Dozens of countries around the world run their own version of WWOOF, and each allows organic farms to post information about themselves on an internet database.  Interested travelers can then join the country's chapter and connect with the farms.
 

A view from the farm of the Rhone Valley

We decided that we wanted to work on a fairly small farm or vineyard so that we could get to know the owners and learn about the ins and outs of running an organic farm.  This farm is in the Rhone valley, about 20 miles outside of Lyon, and has a countryside similar to that of Tuscany in Italy - rolling hills, small villages, and dotted farms.  The farmers we stayed with are a young couple that started three years ago after taking over some family land.  They decided to become certified organic (EcoCert in France) to respect the environment and those who ate from their farm.  Each season and year bring different produce to the farm and during our stay we have seen lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, radishes, raspberries, cherries, leeks, potatoes, carrots, green beens, peas, and eggplant being grown or harvested as well as eggs from over 200 hens.

A neighboring farm using high tunnels to extend the growing seasons.

While this is an ideal and picturesque setting, the work we have done on the farm is of a true farmhand.  During our week here, we have come to appreciate the difficulties of organic farming and thus why it costs more than conventional methods.  We have pulled out hundreds of weeds by hand (something conventional farms use chemicals for), planted thousands of leeks using traditional methods, pruned hundreds of tomato plants (not necessary when using genetically modified seeds), and preserved fruits for the winter time so the family can eat seasonally and not purchase food from outside the community.  While this certainly has not been easy work, we have learned a lot in the process and learned to appreciate those farmers and workers who spend countless extra hours working in fields to provide the rest of us with safe and healthy food.

Speaking of food, we have loved being able to eat fruits and vegetables literally from farm to table (or sometimes straight from tree to mouth as is the case with the multitude of cherries we have eaten off the trees during our breaks).  Breakfasts consist of bread from local bakeries, preserves from last years harvest, delicious French butter, eggs from the farm, and yogurt.  Lunches begin with fresh cut salad and homemade mustard vinaigrette, local bread and amazing French cheese (normally from local producers or chevre from the farm next door), and seasonal vegetables prepared various ways.

One of our first dinners using produce from our farm.

The farm owners' evenings are often filled with selling at local markets, delivering produce to their 200 plus CSA participants, and getting their two-year-old to bed (in a few months they will have a newborn to add to this mix - we can't begin to imagine what evenings will look like then).  As a result, we are able to enjoy quiet evenings to ourselves to cook dinner with produce from the farm.  Each day we take whatever was freshly harvested and a fresh loaf of bread.  We have greatly enjoyed being able to work with such fresh and flavorful ingredients and made some delicious meals.  One of our most memorable has been an omelette with eggs, zucchini, and potatoes from the farm, French brie, and a salad of lettuce and radishes, also from the farm.  And of course, since we are in France, a crusty baguette round things out.

Our omelette and salad made with farm-fresh produce.

This truly has been a memorable experience and we have learned some important things.  We don't want to be farmers when we grow up, but will forever appreciate those who are and those who are leading the way on sustainable farming methods.  There is no substitute, though, for fresh produce, and we know that when we can we will have a garden of our own to grow some of our daily food.

We have a few more days left on the farm, and then we are off to explore Lyon, southern France, and the northwest Italian coast before arriving at our next farm.  Stay tuned to see where these adventures take us and the food we enjoy along the way.

Another view we will not soon forget.

Our Adventure Begins

We apologize that there has not been a recent post, but it’s been a crazy few weeks.  Since our last post we’ve graduated from college, packed and unpacked four years of college into countless boxes and flown across the world!  We are spending the next six weeks in Europe, two of which will be spent through Switzerland, France and Italy and four of which will be spent farming on two different farms.  While we won’t be cooking much during this time, we will be eating amazing food and seeing amazing sites.  We decided to share our travels with you and hope you will follow our adventures through a new and exciting world of food.  

Sunrise from the airplane.

 

Traveling around Europe can get expensive, especially eating out every meal, and as recent graduates we do not have a huge budget.  However, we know that good food does not necessarily have to be expensive, especially when you get creative.  After an overnight flight we arrived in Zug, Switzerland exhausted and hungry.  As we wandered around the quaint town we found a grocery store and put together a delicious lunch.  Fresh bread is readily available, as is inexpensive local cheeses and vegetables.  We grabbed some nice baguettes, half-round of cheese, apples, tomatoes and carrots, and headed for a park on a lake.  Luckily a friend advised us to pack a knife and with that we were all set for a great lunch.  Between the view, the food, and the company, we certainly didn’t miss the restaurant setting and enjoyed a lovely lunch.  Lunch was so good that we had a similar picnic for dinner and we’re sure this will become a routine during our travels.  

The old part of town in Zug, Switzerland.

Our picnic lunch in Zug.

Our lunch view.

 

After Zug, we traveled to Luasanne, Switzerland.  Lausanne is on Lake Geneva (right across from Evian, France) and about a 30-minute train ride from Geneva.  Lausanne is a pretty small city with great walks along the waterfront and the old part of the city higher up, with great views of the mountains and lake.  We spent Friday exploring Lausanne and Saturday in Geneva. 

The Jet d'Eau in Geneva, Switzerland.

The harbor in Geneva.

 

In Geneva we stumbled on a market and found ourselves a nice picnic consisting of local blue cheese, tomatoes and whole grain bread.  Another spectacular view made this a lunch not to forget.  By evening we were back in Lausanne, which happened to be hosting a Thai festival that we had walked through the day before.  While there was only one vegetarian option, Pad Thai Pak, we gave it a try and were quite pleased.   It came with some great chili sauces and fresh lemons which made the dish.  It was a very interesting environment to have dinner in with a mixture of Swiss culture, French language and Thai cooking (there was even a Lady Gaga impersonator).  After dinner we walked along the water front and couldn’t resist the smells coming from of Lausanne’s oldest creperies, Creperie D’Ouchy.  We got one of the classic combinations, butter and sugar.  Overall, Switzerland was a great country to visit and we are looking forward to our next stop, two weeks on a French farm.  

Trying cheeses at the Geneva market.

Our lunch in Geneva.

Pad Thai being prepared at the Thai festival in Lausanne.

Pad Thai Pak

Crepe with butter and sugar from Creperie D'Ouchy.