Another shot from yesterday’s market. This farmer selling eggs, poultry and rabbits isn’t being patriotic, it's just that he’s parked his van behind the war memorial.
The photo got me thinking about the word ‘volaille’, which is translated as poultry. I just wasn’t sure whether it includes ducks and geese. So I Googled, and found a government website that told me that yes, alongside chickens, turkeys, capons, quail etc., ducks and geese are described as volaille, as also, surprisingly are lapin (rabbits). Well, this is the sort of thing I have to get on top of, now that I’m a Frenchman, so I Googled some more. I asked Google the question in French, "are rabbits poultry ? " , and that led me to a Forum where that very question had already been posed. The first fellow to reply explained patiently that rabbits were mammals and therefore didn’t lay eggs, as if anybody in France didn’t know that ! The second contributor thought that it wasn’t so much the laying of eggs that defined poultry, it was having feathers. The third contributor agreed that rabbits weren’t poultry, because they were in fact ‘gibier’ (means game, like pheasants and partridge). Thought that was a bit of a red herring to be honest (herring being a fish, ‘poisson’). Finally a sensible woman offered the observation that in all her old cookbooks the rabbit recipes were included in the poultry section, and that this was probably due to the nature of the flesh. And that is the true answer, rabbit is classed as poultry for cooking purposes because the flesh is different from ‘viande’, the generic name for red meat.
A very interesting description of 'volaille' and well done for persevering with the research. I'm presently enjoying my U3A French class, and attempting to reply to MONTSERRAT in French!
This is a great street picture representing a slice of life in France. I laughed at your story about the fundamental question about rabbits. In all honestly I didn't know.
Very interesting narrative. I don't believe I've ever had rabbit and it's doubtful I will. Lovely capture! The buildings look like they've been well cared for.
Love the colours here. And love your linguistic sleuthing. My French is horrifically rusty (good intentions having joined the Civil Service French Club to rectify that have so far come to nothing!) but somehow knowing rabbits are included in vollaille didn't surprise me.
As you do. Hubby came home with a pheasant for me to cook the other day. I don't like dealing with whole animals! Eventually cooked it for him though. Nice colourful capture.
Ah! This narrative (along with the great photo) has me laughing as I would do the exact same search. Also, in the states, rabbit is not often on a menu, but if you ever tried to get someone to sample rabbit, the expression is usually thrown out (for persuasion) "it tastes just like chicken!" But it makes sense that it would be in the poultry section for cookbooks as I imagine the preparation may be similar.
@darylo On further research on the Internet I found that hare is classed as gibier (game), because unlike rabbit it is not farmed. Looking thru some French cookbooks, rabbit is always listed under 'volaille', but wild rabbit, and also wild duck, is listed under gibier. Now I've started wondering where ostrich fits into all this!
January 23rd, 2023
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A nice shot of daily life too, a lovely bright day.