French Imamothers--can you help me plan?

sweetpotato

Wed, Jun 22 2016, 10:07 am

I've been wanting to take my family to France, namely to visit very old, very dear family friends (who aren't Jewish). I spent a lot of time in France when I was a teenager and I speak and read French pretty well, but haven't been back in a long, long time. The biggest thing that has been holding me back from planning a trip is how to manage with kashrut while traveling. We would be staying with our friends, who live outside of a small town (about 2 hours from Toulouse). I can figure out the pots/pans etc. issues, but am in need of guidance on what kinds of kosher products I could purchase in local grocery stores, outside of a big city. I'm familiar with the Consistoire's list but it's a little hard to parse not knowing all the brands or terminology.

Would anyone be able to talk me through some of this? I'd like to know what I am likely to be able to buy at regular bakeries in a small town (just pain ordinaire?), whether it's easy to find acceptable yoagurts and dairy products, etc. in a local, typical grocery store. I don't need exact brands or anything like that, just general guidance. We eat cholov stam and aren't makpid on pas yisroel and are pretty middle of the road in terms of kashrut. We follow what the local observant people do when we travel to a new place.

Please feel free to PM me if you prefer.

Merci!

Mrs Bissli

Thu, Jun 23 2016, 6:54 am

I’m not French but have done self-catering in France so familiar with the situation. It’s very good you already have found the Consistoire list and familiar with the language.

Firstly, France has a good network of national supermarket chains, including Carrefour (which also owns ‘Dia’ discount chains), Auchan, Casino (which also owns ‘Monoprix’ and ‘Franprix’), Leclerc and Super-U. There are also German discounters Lidl and Aldi, mostly selling private brands. Picard is a chain that only sells (high quality) frozen foods. You are very likely to be able to find a few of these chain stores near the town you’re staying.

The list contains both branded products (eg. Nestle, Danone) and private brands for supermarket chains. Generally permitted items may be just listed as ‘Toutes Marques’. The brands are in orange bold letters, and only the actual products or flavours listed under these heading are permitted. Sometimes there are further clarifications like ‘make sure the product does not contain xyz’.

Often, private brand products approved on the list specifically refers to 5digit EMB numbers, which are assigned in all French packaged food and consumer products where you can track places of production. You should be able to find them on actual food package, usually either stamped near the ‘best before’ date or the ingredients label.

I find bread situation a bit tricky as I don’t really know enough. My (limited) understanding and what I heard from friends is that 'baguette traditionelle' only contains flour, water, yeast and salt by law, and you need to ask it was baked 'non-moule' (without greased pan). To be honest I’m not sure how they get around possibility of using the same oven with other items—not sure if this is still valid as local custom.