Les Halles s Belly Of Paris - 1153 Words

One of the busiest marketplaces in Paris, Les Halles, is a global location where everyone came to sell their goods. In Emile Zola’s Belly of Paris, the abundance of food at Les Halles is described, through the eyes of Florent, â€Å"At the intersection of rue Halles were mountains of cabbages. At the other end, where pointe Saint-Eustache intersects rue Rambuteau, the route was blocked by swollen-bellied orange pumpkins crawling across the ground in two lines. The varnished brown of onions shone here and there in baskets and the blood red heaps of tomatoes, the muted yellow of cucumbers, and the deep purple of eggplants† (Zola 29). The low class, middle class, and the high class bought and sold different foods in Les Halles and had a†¦show more content†¦It’s a hard life, but what can you do?† (Zola 6), indicating that she is associated with the low class. When Florent went to the fish market, where many of the vendors are a mixture of low and midd le class, he smelt the unbearable stench of â€Å"magnificent salmon†¦.some turbots of creamy whiteness, a few conger eels pierced with black pins to mark their divisions, several pairs of soles, and some bass and red mullet† (Zola 125). These seafood products are more expensive than those sold by lower class merchants, but are not as great of a quality compared to those being sold by higher class merchants. An example of high class shop owners was Quenu and his wife Lisa. Through their shop window, one can see that they sold an eclectic assortment of products: â€Å"pork chops, garlands of sausages, rows of crocks filled with rillettes alternating with jars of mustard†¦.preserved truffles, terrines of foie gras, and tins of tuna and sardines† (Zola 38). Most of these products are expensive because of the quality of food and fat content, costing up to twenty sous. From the variety of products that they sell, we discovered what kinds of foods contrasting socia l classes bought and ate. One particular part of the novel that played a huge role in Parisian diet is the olfactory description of Madame Lecoeur’s cheese shop or the â€Å"Cheese Symphony†. From the detailed depiction of the cheese shop, the French ate an assortment of cheese that had a rancid