Marche Belleville; and The Original Mr. Potato Guru

I thought about combining this post with the preceding one, from the gourmet epicierie at Galeries Lafayette, and calling it "A Tale of Two Markets." But I didn't. The contrast is extreme, in any case. The Marche Belleville is way further out, technically in the 11th but stretching into the 19th (I think), a neighborhood with perhaps more emigres and refugees than native French. Accordingly, you won't find much foie gras or fine wine at Belleville, though halal is big, and there are many ethnic groceries and epiceries in addition to the Tuesday and Friday street market. (Alas, the Chinese grocery we so liked on previous visits no longer does those Peking ducks that used to hang in the window.) At Belleville you can have a genuine market experience, that is, the experience of a market reflecting its neighborhood. After the rather sparse Bastille market clientele a few weeks ago, it was almost good to again be pushed and shoved, elbowed, and run over by carts and baby carriages. It's a huge market, and nearly exotic, as one would expect. On this and previous visits we have not taken many pix; people here, some of them, don't like being photographed. We actually bought a few things, household and veggies and fruit. It was not our first visit to Belleville, nor, hopefully our last. 

But first: Many Metro stations in Paris have cultural displays,
usually focusing on something in the area...the Opera Garnier,
the Louvre, whatever; we happened to change lines at the
Parmentier station and thus ran into one of the more interesting
displays so far...

Antoine-Auguste Parmentier was an 18th century French pharmacist
and agronomist who agitated for adoption of the potato as an alternative
food source (if only Louis XVI and his ministers had listened
more carefully...); also presided over France's mandatory smallpox
vaccination program under Napoleon (morons of Idaho, are you
reading this?!)

"Let them eat potatoes!"

Did you know that properly fried frites require a special kind of
potato?

Intriguing recipes also part of the display

Unsurprisingly, the display was supported by, among
others, the ambassador from Peru, land of 3,000
(or was it 4,000?) potato varieties

Moving along and peering into a Belleville butcher's shop;
Monsieur Guillotine works here...

A very ethnic neighborhood...burqa dolls are, of
course, interdicted in France

Happy fish at the market

Part of the backside of the huge market