Meat Me in Belleville

There are many things that make our neighborhood interesting. We're on a big hill - only one other place in Paris can really boast that (Montmartre). We're in one of the former "quatiers populaires," which means the opposite of what you're probably thinking: Belleville is the traditional home of the "masses," the blue-collar worker-types, so there's little of the fancy, Haussmannian, Belle Époque architecture you find elsewhere in the city, and population density is high.

One more interesting factoid, near and dear to my heart: there are four different types of places where you can get meat in our neighborhood.

1) The supermarket. We have both a Franprix and an Ed on our street, and just like in American supermarkets the meat there is relatively cheap, of fairly low quality, and of dubious origins.

2) Chinese restaurants/markets. There are too many of these to count between our place and the métro, and it's impossible not to be awed by what you see hanging in the windows as you walk by.

From Left to Right: Duck, ??? and Ribs

Inside the Chinese markets, you can get all manner of awesome animal parts, like heart, hoof, tail, ear, and more.

3) Boucheries (literally, butchers). Here's where things get really interesting, because normally the word "Boucherie" is paired with "Charcuterie." But on our street, which caters to a sizable North African community, none of the boucheries offer charcuterie because the latter (sausages, sliced meats, pre-cooked meats, pâté) is pork-based. Instead, the boucheries are halal - no pork, nothing pre-cooked (exception: whole chickens, as per the French tradition described below). And because the word "boucherie" alone sounds awkward, the place closest to our apartment adds "epicerie" to its sign in place of "charcuterie":

Around the corner in two different directions there are also kosher boucheries, which I group with the halal boucheries. Except for the different lettering (Arabic vs. Hebrew) they're basically selling the same things.

4) Finally, we have a few "traditional," "typically French" boucheries/charcuteries. These often entice you in by roasting chickens in outdoor ovens, which emit unbelievably wonderful smells, and which warm you as you walk by.

Disclaimer: this is just around the corner, not technically on our street.

While boucherie/charcuterie establishments are common, I find that boucherie/charcuterie/triperie places are less so. (Triperies sell organs and appendages, like brain, liver, lung, feet, tongue, etc.)

Basically, living in Belleville has forced me to re-classify stores and food products I thought were uniform all around France. This is an activity more and more French will have to engage in as their culture becomes more heterogeneous, welcoming influences from North Africa, China, and beyond! (I'm thinking Mars, around 2030.)