Foire d'Automne

The weekend we spent in Madrid was also the weekend of the celebrated Foire d'Automne, a huge collection of trade shows and festivals in an exhibition hall in the 15th arrondisement of Paris. One major hall was hosting the annual Salon du Chocolat, which may or may not be exactly what you'd imagine. If you're picturing an ENORMOUS room filled from wall to wall with chocolate vendors, you're right.

If you're imagining chocolate sculptures, chocolate cooking demonstrations, chocolate fashion, you're also right.

Now, I know you're not picturing salons with chocolate hair products, chocolate foot massages and Peruvian dance shows celebrating the cacao seed that gives us the dark, bitter goodness we call chocolate. But these things were all present at the Salon du Chocolat, too.
Even a few chocolate-free treats were there, like these "fruits confits", or candied fruits, and the scrumptious eclairs above.

Luckily, we came back from Madrid on a Sunday evening of a three-day weekend, so Monday I had free to visit this spectacular event. Peter had to study (I guess being in business school means having to forgo chocolate festivals, sometimes, in order to study for midterms), but I got to attend with my friend Adeline, and her friend Charlotte. Not only did we sample as much chocolate as possible, we spoke French (their native language) the whole day, which was a lot of fun and great practice for me!

After Charlotte left us, Adeline and I continued into the next exhibition hall, not knowing what we'd find. We knew that the Foire d'Autumn would contain exhibits on housing materials, such as green-energy heating systems (heat is VERY expensive in Paris!) and furniture. What we didn't know we'd find was...well...everything you can possibly imagine. New-wave weight-loss machines, hot tubs, REALLY ugly lamps, clothing and accessories, space-saving beds that can be pulled down from the ceiling, and a host of infomercial products. Adeline had to give this window-washing device a try. She was very impressed!

Moving through the exhibition, we just happened to stumble upon....yes, you guessed it...a huge food market! Bars serving Caribbean drinks and jerk chicken sandwiches, saucisson and thousands of cheeses, raclette cooking on iron pans,and specialties from all over France, and even other parts of the world! There were cooking lessons to sign up for, wine-tasting lessons, and we were just blown away.

We had a great time and recommend this event to anyone in Paris next fall!