Le Jour de Merci Donnant and the Booze Cruise

No one can deny that the Jour de Merci Donnant is a grand fete

Art Buchwald

What do Americans in America do to get ready for Thanksgiving?

Start cooking we suppose. We don’t think they head for Canada or Mexico but over here in the UK, come November, we Americans head for France on a pre-Thanksgiving booze cruise. Wikipedia describes a booze cruise as “an English colloquial term for a brief trip from Britain to France … with the intent of taking advantage of lower prices, and buying personal supplies of (especially) alcohol or tobacco in bulk quantities.”

Now ordinarily, booze cruises are pretty straight forward affairs. You get on a ferry, shop-till-you-drop, eat a great lunch and go home. But, as we all know, these are not ordinary times. To begin with, our ferry company went bust which was a very bad beginning. Undaunted, we rebooked on Eurotunnel, which is still operating a reduced schedule following a truck fire in September. OK, shit happens but it’s still not comforting. Then the pound keeps falling against the Euro, wiping out lots of the savings. Then we remember that Monday is the wrong day to shop in France when the hypermarkets are packed and the cute little specialty stores are shut. But its too late to change the booking, and so, with nothing left to do but go on this ill-fated adventure, we headed for France.

The first piece of good news was that travelling to France via the tunnel was better than we remember. Years ago, we wrote off Eurotunnel as expensive and somewhat souless and stuck with the ferries. But the whole Eurotunnel experience is superior. Its faster (35 versus 75 minutes), smoother and the highway access and loading are much easier. At £27 each way for as many passengers as you can pack in your car, its also good value. As long as fares remain competitive, we see no need to ever get on a ferry again.

For our second piece of good news, despite the insanely crowded hypermarket, we hit pay dirt on the booze, finding a good inexpensive Cote du Rhone to serve at Thanksgiving from a vineyard we like that was 50% less than what the equivalent would cost in London. We also loaded up on good champagne for what you can pay for bad champagne in the UK and just for fun we threw into our cart some oysters, duck confit, unsalted butter, cheese, fancy salt and fois gras. Even with the exchange rate working against us, between the novelty, the quality and, in the case of the liquor, the savings, we more than felt our trip was justified.

After we finished our shopping, we had an inspiring lunch at the Restaurant Le Grand Bleu in Calais that on its own could have also justified a crossing. The chef, a young man who trained with Alain Ducasse, serves up sophisticated and beautifully presented seafood specialties, such as the scallops shown above, in a simple waterside restaurant for a fraction of the price you would pay in London or Paris. We can’t remember the last time we gasped in amazement at our food but such was the case when our ultra-finely shaved tuna, responding to the heat coming from below, began dancing and shimmying across the plate. The bottom line is that it is good for the soul to eat great food and for once not feel cheated when the bill arrives. We’ll be back.

Speaking of food, it is now the Monday before Thanksgiving, and time to corner the London market in sweet potatoes and pecan pies. As Art Buchwald put it in his 1953 Herald Tribune column where he explained Thanksgiving to the French:

"And so, on the fourth Thursday in November, American families sit down at a large table brimming with tasty dishes, and for the only time during the year eat better than the French do."

Over here in London, thanks to the French and that great old tradition of the booze cruise, we expect our celebrations to be very grand indeed.

Le Grand Bleu

Quai de la Colonne

8, rue Jean-Pierre Avron

62100 Calais

Tel: 03 21 97 97 98

Shopping for Little Saints

Every husband comes with baggage. Some have sports fixations or Blackberry addictions or children from other marriages, but me, I have the little saints. Millers and bakers, fishermen and bear trainers, village idiots and water carriers, you name it, I’ve got it, and it was always thus. It’s not everyone who can boast a fascination with “santons” (the word comes from santouon which means ‘little saint’ in Provencal), the 70 millimetre high, hand painted clay figures representing 19th century Provencal characters. It’s really not as kinky as it sounds. Having spent time as a child in Marseille, my husband and his whole family acquired a passion for collecting santons, which actually began as a popular act of resistance to the closing of churches during the French Revolution.

Before the French Revolution, crèches were big business in Provence. Churches put on magnificent nativity displays and people flocked to see them. With the closing of the churches, the population was denied access to their beloved crèches and perhaps more importantly, crèche makers had no work. Along came Jean-Louis Lagnel (1764-1822) from Marseilles who seized the market opportunity and began to make figures for people to display in their homes at affordable prices. Using the fine clay from Marseille and Aubagne (10 miles down the road) Lagnel and his followers perfected a technique of using small molds, the casts from which would then be hand painted. As these were crèches “for the people”, santon makers looked to local characters, trades and activities for inspiration. The idea for crèches which used ordinary people on their way to pay homage to the Holy Family was an instant success, with santon fairs springing up throughout the region. The largest and oldest of these fairs, founded in 1803, still exists and can be visited in Marseille from Advent through Epiphany.

Today, the ancient art of santon making is lovingly practiced in workshops across Provence and for visitors to the region, santon shopping presents the rare opportunity to bring home something that is really made in the region instead of China and is a small work of art in its own right. The santon you buy today is made using the same techniques that have been practised for centuries. There are hundreds of different figures, animals and accessories from which to choose. Most families add a piece or two every year and santon collections are considered family heirlooms which are passed down lovingly from parent to child.

For the uninitiated, there are a few aspects of santon collecting that could seem confusing. First, you need to decide whether you are interested in the “santons d’argile” which are the hand painted clay figures that come in six different sizes ranging from 1- 6 inches or the “santons habilles” which are more like small dolls dressed in cloth and carrying implements such as baskets and fishing nets. To a degree, what you are willing to spend will drive the decision. No santon is cheap, there’s too much hand labour for that, but the price varies a lot depending on the size. A woman from Arles, for example, costs €14.45 in Size #2 and €89 in Size #5. In case you were wondering, the most popular size and type for French collectors is the “santons d’argile” in Size #2.

For anyone interested in purchasing a crèche, a good place to start is at one of the workshops which offer visitors the chance to watch the santons being made as well as having sales outlets. One of the oldest and most famous santon makers, Marcel Carbonel, has a workshop, boutique and museum in Marseille, along with another store on the main square in Aubagne. You can visit the santon workshops and boutiques any time during the year. The best time to shop for santons is during Advent when the fairs are in full swing. My recommendation would be to make a weekend of it, staying at the wonderful Bastide Relais de la Magdeleine which is just outside of Marseille and close to Aubagne where you can eat and shop to your hearts content. If you happen to be in Paris, there are plenty of santons and accessories for sale at the religious shops on the square next to the St Sulpice cathedral. Most of the major workshops also sell from their internet sites.

On our recent trip to Provence, we made the pilgrimage to Aubagne in pursuit of this year’s additions. We bought a woman with lavender, Monsieur Jourdan, one of the characters from the Maurel ‘Pastoral’ and a woman with snails. We spent an interesting morning discussing santons with the lady running the Marcel Carbonel shop and in addition to being introduced to the newest pieces in Carbonel’s collection, we also know what Madame thought of the weather this summer, how it impacted the trade and where Madame will be taking her long deserved holiday. In roughly two months time, these new members of our santon family will join dozens of others who will be arranged and rearranged around the Hedges dining room because it is always difficult to decide if the brigande should be next to the woman with a chicken or the one with the keg. As for husbands with baggage, I’m glad I went for the one who brought along an entire village of little saints.

Santons in Marseille
Atelier Arterra
Cabanon des Accoules
Marcel Carbonel

Santons in Aubagne
Lei Santoun Castelin Peirano
Santons Magali
Santons scaturro Daniel

Santons in Aix en Provence
Santons Cavasse
Santons Fouque
Santons Jouve
Santons Richard

Most of the workshops and boutiques are closed on Mondays