La Grand Epicerie de Paris, Paris

There is a set rhythm to every one of my stays in Paris. I land, check into the rented apartment, and within an hour I am making my way down rue de Sevres to do some food shopping at La Grand Epicerie. I buy all of our essentials there: butter, pate, cheese, lox, yogurt, tea, some produce (most will be purchased at a street market), and drinks.

In 1852, Aristide Boucicaut created the world's first department store, La Bon Marche. He transformed a simple stall into a department store selling a wide variety of items - a model that would soon be copied all over the world.

In 1923, a food counter was added which offered fine teas and preserves. La Grand Epicerie de Paris opened its doors in 1978, and it soon became one of the capital's finest food stores.

I have been shopping At La Grand Epicerie for over 10 years and have seen it go through many changes, and upgrades. The store of today, after 18 months of renovations, is vastly different from the one I remember from many years ago, and even back then it was wonderful.

Today, this is a fantastic food hall, a spectacular place which offers over 30,000 products from all over the world.

Some of my most favorite food halls are Harrods in London, KaDeWe in Berlin, and Mitsukoshi and Matsuya in Tokyo. La Grand Epicerie is a food hall on crack, it is a supermarket with the best of the best. I can get lost in there for hours, examining and admiring. This is also a great place to find gifts for friends and family back home. My suitcases are usually loaded up with beautiful salts, mustard, jams, sardines, chocolates, etc. Even after all these years, I get giddy when I walk through its large glass doors. One note, because our world has changed, all bags are examined by security personnel upon entering the store.

Here is a glimpse into the world of Le Grand Epicerie de Paris.

Tea and coffee department.

I love this, what I call "The Great Wall of Water". The water bottles range in price between 2 - 50 Euro, it really depends on the bottle. The bottles blinged out in crystal beads are more expensive.

Delicious jams.

The savory department with all the salts, mustard, spices, etc, is very well stocked and wonderful. I can easily devote a huge chunk of my time to browsing through those isles.

A bucket of Dijon could become useful at a major dinner party!

I have been lusting after this olive oil bottle. Very Chanel looking, n'est-ce pas? Can't bring myself to spend over $55 for it though.

Candy and sugar

and sugar

and more sugar

Marshmallow syrup which some use in coffee, soda, over ice cream; the bottle is pretty, but my teeth hurt just looking at it.

There is self service at the produce department, so the customer puts the fruits or veggies into paper bags (each type of an item in a separate bag). When done, it all needs to be brought to the salesperson at the counter who will weigh each bag. This has to be done before heading to the cash register or the register lady will sent you right back to weigh it.

Loved this truck in the produce department before the most recent renovation.

The organic section is on one side of the fresh produce department.

I love wild strawberries but these, since they are rare, were $36, so they stayed back. Not everything at LGE is very expensive, but the prices are higher than at an ordinary supermarket.

They have a huge dairy section with hundreds of different yogurts, butters, and a large cheese department.

There is a great raw and prepared meat department, a big charcuterie section, and lots of prepared salads, appetizers, and cooked meals ready to take home.

They have an American section (a lot of Parisian supermarkets do), filled with all the crap (sorry) they think we all eat. Some of the things are good, like mustard, maple syrup, peanut butter, but do we really need to give the French grated Parmesan cheese in a box or soups in a can? Unless the soup in a can is from Campbell's, cause that is art, of course.