The Market Where France’s Top Chefs Buy Their Food | Hacker News Reader

The Market Where France’s Top Chefs Buy Their Food

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34 pointskostyk23 comments

> But ask most Parisians if they’ve heard of it, and they’re likely to shrug and shake their heads.

As every other commentator just said, nothing about Rungis is "secret" and everyone knows it exists; what's true is that -- in theory -- you have to be working in the food industry to be allowed to buy there, but it's so not secret that there are organized tours for laymen/tourists:

http://www.rungismarket.com/en/jaune/visiter_rungis/index.as...

This is also misleading:

> Many [products] end up packaged and promoted in different ways to make it seem like they’re coming from different sources.

Rungis is a MARKET where sellers and buyers meet; products actually come from "different sources" (very different sources indeed) and not "from Rungis" -- they are only sold there.

What you buy on eBay doesn't come from eBay!!

As stated before, Rungis is absolutely not secretive at all. Every average citizen knows about it. It was initially within Paris (now Chatelet-Les Halles station) and was moved in the suburb to expand. Not only top-chef buy their food there, but the large majority of french restaurant, not only within Paris but from the rest of France.

I wonder about the doubts raised by the article on the future of Rungis. Rungis is almost a religion. I don't see it declining. In fact it has no competitors at his scale.

Yeah, Rungis is hardly secretive. So much not so in fact that my GPS seems to take a perverse delight in directing me through there anytime the autoroute is closed for whatever reason :-/

The joy of French map that are false around Paris in the suburbs unless you take the highway.

Was using IGN map to go to Paris from Pontoise using the straight line fresh market road from Rouen...

Nearly got killed by gypsies, and false indications ...

The screenshots of roads that disappeared years ago where a carrier near Cormeilles, made a very nice irrealistic suspended road in thin air 20 meters above the ground.

Would have been fun, if in the quite abrupt slope going down on Argenteuil I did not discovered at full speed a roundabout that was not supposed to be there. It makes you wonder why we send satellites in space if we don't update the maps for decades.

Probably a remain of De Gaule plans to confuse the USSR invading us.

Yes its pretty well known outside France too. And the comments about knowing how sausages are made are just stupid. The government selling a stake hardly seems like the end if the world.

Agreed. It was even prominently featured in one of the Paris episodes on "No Reservations."

http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/anthony-bourdain/trave...

Secretive ? Not really... We have news report on Rungis every other month on national TV. Everyone knows about this place in France.

It's delivering food daily for the whole country, and was initially within Paris. They moved it outside Paris to make it easier to access by train.

It's a place folks love because that's where you get the freshest stuff.

I live in Dijon (300KM south of Paris) and I can get fresh Fish that most of the time come from Rungis.

Agreed.

Most restaurants in Paris get their food there. Wholesale, fresh, cheap.

But well, I guess it makes for a good title :o)

Indeed, "ask most Parisians if they’ve heard of it, and they’re likely to shrug and shake their heads", living in Paris, that's simply not true.

Still it's kind of "secretive" in the sense that it's reserved to food professional (be it a restaurant, a butcher or a supermarket), so that most Parisians never get to visit Rungis. Now if we're talking about what top chefs get, that's a kind-of-secretive market because you can't just get in Rungis and expect to get the top of the line products, they're already reserved for the top clients. It's not even (well not only) a question of money, you have to work with the right guy who knows the right producers since like forever.

Old photos of Rungis: http://www.lesechos.fr/industrie-services/diaporamas/DIAP260... (first one from the old paris market who was replaced) An up to date video: http://www.elephant-groupe.com/docs/rungis

Mods could just drop 'Secretive' from the title to make it accurate.

Impressive pictures, however the copy seems like a missed opportunity to dig deeper than "the workers looked really tired".

Yes, we've done so. I overlooked an opportunity to do it last night, in fact, only to see that the thread was entirely about this word.

Yes Rungis is not secretive at all, everyone in France especially in Paris know about Rungis market! Gigantic for sure, all the popular local markets here get the food from there. I find the title lurid. For geeky people, you can even order on line directly from rungis and get your fresh and organic food delivered at home (see http://www.mon-marche.fr/).

Secretive? Seriously I don't know who the author asked the question to, must be some hobos or he just made it up...

It was probably made up, probably by a headline specialist who knows what tricks work.

Everybody in Paris (and most of France) knows about Rungis. It's merely a logistical platform for restaurants and food outlets, and most restaurants in Paris get stuff from there, not just the best ones.

New York City has the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, the world's largest, in the Bronx. The Fulton Fish Market and the Produce Market used to be elsewhere, but in the last 20 years there's been consolidation.

Anybody can go in to buy, but it costs $25 for a day pass to the Fulton Fish Market, and buying hours are 1 AM to 7 AM. So it's for bulk buyers.

What other similar "secretive" markets are there around the world?

Ceagesp in São Paulo, Brazil is a similar market of almost the same size of Rungis. And both aren't secretive at all!

Mercamadrid, in Madrid, looks just a little smaller (spanish): http://www.mercamadrid.es/index.php?option=com_content&view=...

Wikipedia says it's the second market in the world, after Tokio, for fish and seafood. Most people in Madrid knows about Mercamadrid.

Tsukiji in Tokyo is best known for its fish, but the vegetable market is quite nice too. But no, other than the tourist unfriendliness it's no secret.

The London markets are fragmented, Smithfield for meat (still central there are some startups upstairs), Billingsgate for fish at Canary Wharf but due to move again, New Covent Garden for fruit vegetables and flowers in Vauxhall. You can visit all of them but most stuff is wholesale quantities only.

Varvakios agora in Athen. Nice, and pittoresque. As secretive as Rungis :)

"Gigantic"

-> True. I don't know if it's the biggest in the world but it is indeed gigantic.

"The best food in France [...]"

-> Bullshit. The best food in France (like, probably, anywhere else in the world) comes from small local producers.

"Where France’s Top Chefs Buy Their Food"

-> Probably only partially true. Top chefs (Michelin starred) source their products directly from small producers (see above).

"But ask most Parisians if they’ve heard of it, and they’re likely to shrug and shake their heads."

-> Total bullshit. Most Parisians know about it, and it's been featured on national TV (including popular show like Top Chef and Master Chef) times and times again.

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