By Guest Bloggers Skiology

French Markets really are the best, and the Morzine Market is no exception. Taking place in the centre of Morzine each week, you’ll find a host of traditional butchers, fishmongers and grocers all selling fresh and local produce from in and around the valley.

For quite some time, we went to the weekly market in Morzine and walked around but never actually bought anything. In retrospect, I feel like it was the pricing that influenced our decision in not buying something, as we felt we did not want to pay a premium for some of the produce.

However, it was not until we tasted the difference in the products that we started to regard the pricing difference as a small price to pay for higher quality and lesser cost to the environment. In terms of most of the items having no packaging, there was less food miles and less water used in production and often zero chemicals.

Know Before You Go

– The market is held every Wednesday throughout the year from 08.30 to 12.30 at the town centre Carrefour.

– The best time to go is from 09:00

– Take a shopping bag for your produce

– The local vegetable farmer’s stalls are not there in January, but are deliciously fresh in the spring and abundant in the autumn too.

Merchants & Farmers

The market falls roughly into two categories, sellers, and resellers – merchants and farmers. Here at Skiology, our top favourite farm stalls are:

GAEC le Potager Des Fourches – Fessy

Located near Thonon, they mainly sell vegetables. All amazing, all organic, try the spaghetti squash in Autumn, the tomatoes in summer – if they have any of their own tomato sauce (rather that coulis) you need to try that too – it’s delicious! The produce is carefully labelled so you know where it comes from, however most of it is from their own fields.

GAEC le Cedre – Arthaz

Based near Geneva (about 50 minutes away) selling mainly vegetables and flowers. A slightly larger range than the boys from Fessy.

GAEC Les Places Famille Boisier / Ferme Auberge de Fréterolles

In the summer they run the excellent restaurant ‘Ferme de Freterolles’ at the end of the Valley Du Manche (about 15 minutes away). In the winter, they take the herds down over the side of the mountain near to Samoens. Expect a big queue when you pay these guys a visit. Their prices are less than supermarkets – here you can mainly find local cheese, honey, butter, and eggs.

There are plenty of other wonderful farm stalls from Morzine and Les Gets for you to try, if you happen to take a trip let us know your favourites! We’ve also rounded up some of the other stalls definitely worth a mention:

The bread stall, where you’ll find handcrafted, whole grain bread and a very helpful stall assistant who will be able to advice you on choice and storage!

The fisherman from Lake Geneva (Lac Leman), the price may be high, however that is what you pay for fish caught directly from such a clean and sustainable source.

Chez Paul has been making traditional produce such as saucisson all his life and selling it here too! A nice chap to support, on the expensive side, yet justifiable for great local produce.

Resellers & Merchants

Here you’ll find a much varied and wider choice of produce, from the likes of Morocco. What it lacks in seasonality, it makes up for in the lack of packaging! They even sell produce that you can’t get elsewhere, like padron peppers – D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!

So How Does Pricing Compare?

In all honesty, that is the most exciting part, don’t you agree? What you pay is essentially the ‘market price’ – great harvest of onions = price goes down!

We mainly shop for vegetables at the market, so here is an average of what you could expect to pay in 2020 based on the farms in Fessy and Arthaz vs buying organic products from the supermarket – note that you can’t get as many Bio options in Carrefour, plus non-recyclable packaging waste for supermarket purchases is way higher!

Not that this is what it is all about, however as you can see some produce is even cheaper in the market – the ultimate WIN WIN!

BIO:

Here at Skiology, you, our guests are at the forefront of what we do, and through your feedback we have been able to create a tailored catered service, where delicious food and fresh ingredients are key. Our chefs work alongside local suppliers and nutritionists to provide you with the fuel you need out on the slopes. Our chalets provide great piste access, within 500m reach of the piste/and or resort. Each chalet is uniquely designed with all the home comforts you might need on a ski holiday.

Click here to take a look at our catered chalet selection.

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