Le Radis Fanatique

 

The French have a long history of deep attachment to le radis

It begins early, in the crib before they have teeth 🦷 

As a teething toy called ‘Ramona, le radis’ 😂

I became deeply attached, when I moved to Paris. I would fall out of bed into Marché Grenelle. I lived on French radishes the 1st 8 months. They were cheap, delicious and crunchy like potato chips but much healthier. I still eat radishes daily.

The benefits of eating radishes are many:

Radishes are packed with roughage & fiber, they keep our blood sugars level, are a good source for anthocyanins. These flavonoids not only give radishes their red color. 

They keep our hearts pumping. Radishes are high in potassium, which help lower your blood pressure. They also support the generation of collagen, which helps keep blood vessels healthy. Radishes are members of the Brassicas family so like eating cauliflower or broccoli 👏🤸‍♂️

The first recorded documentation of the radish dates to 300 BC. (Looks like a radish to me on the far right non?)

Herodotus, the Greek historian, who had something to say about everything, claimed to see hieroglyphs of radishes on Egyptian pyramids although it is unknown which one. It has also stated that Egyptians enjoyed radishes as early as 2,700 BC. 

Myself, I usually buy ‘radis rond’ or ‘radis rose’ at Carrefour for 0,99 centimes a couple of times a week - they go fast as a quickie snack eaten straight out of the bag sliced up.

On Tuesday I went to marché Mutualité Maubert to buy a botte/bunch of the much beloved so-called French Breakfast Radish with green leaves attached. These leaves 🍃 are supposed to be edible, but in the marché they always look triste to me and don’t appeal.

Let me just say NO FRENCH PERSON is eating radis for breakfast/petit déjeuner. Nor will any Paris cafe be serving them up soon.  The average French person has a cup of coffee/tea + a slice of toast slathered with butter + confiture/jam like French Girl is having here.

This is a British/American Victorian fantasy. Upper-crust Victorians were apparently fond of eating these mild little vegetables for breakfast at a specific radish festival. They added "French" to the name as an homage to the vegetable's country of origin. 

My problem with the prettier French Breakfast radish is they tend to be ‘hot’, spicy or ‘piquant’ as the French say. Supposedly roasting them makes them sweeter. I didn’t have much luck 🍀 

How the French serve radis - sliced paper-thin on a tartine

I was delighted to discover I am not the only radis fanatique/enthousiaste. I have big competition from artist Ar Furlukin, who installed 600 radishes on the facades of Rennes. He hopes to hang 1,000 in total. 

He has been passionate about radishes for 37 years. I cannot compete.

On Monday I went to Canal St Martin to add to my radis collection.

Macon & Lesquoy has very nice embroidered pins

And not just betterave/beet pins but RADIS pins 👍🤸‍♂️👏

Perfect to add to my small collection 👍 all bought in Paris. 

The tiniest radish was bought in June, 2013 from the annual Salon de la Poupée, SIMP, International Dollhouse Show. The die was cast.

FYI, radis are grown year-round on the Île-de-France.

Remember to stop by my ETSY SHOP for PARIS LETTERS & Radishes 👍👏 

Thank you for your support. I hope you’re enjoying your Summer.