One of my favorite things to do when traveling is head to the local supermarket. I feel like it’s a great way to get a sense of what the locals eat — and also how much things cost. When I was in France back in December, I had the chance to shop at Auchan, a French supermarket chain in France several times. It was near the resort my family stayed at and it was inside a super cool mall named Val d’Europe in Serris. I know, I know — street markets are where it’s at in Paris, but Auchan was a fun experience, too.
Auchan is a hypermarket, much like a Target or a Walmart in the United States. The top floor has clothing, toys, housewares, and home stuff.
The lower floor was the supermarket floor with all the food you could ever want.
Fromage
This endless cheese aisle with every cheese you can think of. Then, there was the fromager with more cheese.
Jamón
Jamón is one of my favorite things in the world and Auchan had so many cured meats from Spain available for purchase. It was like heaven.
Banned In The United States
Kinder Surprise is banned in the United States and Foie Gras is very controversial for many reasons, but both items were readily available and easy to purchase in France.
Le Snacking
My favorite thing (next to the jamón and Kinder chocolates) was how many snacking sections there were. The supermarket had every snack ready-to-make and it even gave me the chance to buy my own ready-to-heat
Chips
I love trying unique chip flavors when I’m abroad and this time was no different. Auchan carried lots of different flavors, including roasted chicken, “LA Chips” sweet chili, and mustard pickles (!).
The American Products
One of my favorite sections was the American section of food, not because it felt like home though. It was fun to see what France defined as American and British products. Seeing this was actually a huge eye-opener to how American food habits differ from the French, especially the big bag of chips that were just SALT flavored. As I discovered early on in France, they don’t use as much salt in their food and the food is so much better, period.