The week before Thanksgiving, and the day before I teach a Zoom Thanksgiving Favorites cooking class, I go searching for fresh cranberries to make my Cranberry Chutney, a staple at Thanksgiving for the past 30+ years, and an essential layer to my day-after-Thanksgiving turkey sandwich. To an American, this might seem ridiculous- cranberries are everywhere at this time of the year in US markets. But, the French don’t really know about fresh cranberries. They eat them dried (les canneberges séchée), but they really wouldn’t know what to do with a fresh one. However, there is just enough of an Anglo influx into the area for the markets to attempt to accommodate us. Sometimes. For instance, I picked up a jar of Hellman’s mayonnaise today at one market (for my day-after turkey sandwich!). At another market, I checked to see if they had restocked the Frank’s Hot Sauce, only to find they had filled the shelf space in with 3 different flavors of Tabasco Sauce. This was not for the turkey sandwich, just something I like to have on hand.

I knew I could get the cranberries at the big, beautiful Grand Frais market in Agen, 25 minutes from my house, but I also thought I might be able to get them at one of the markets closer to home. I had found them there last year, but I couldn’t remember which one. So, first, I hit Intermarché, my most local market, the one where I go for everything from toilet paper to local wines. It’s where I spent hours and hours when I first moved here, trying to crack the code of French supermarkets. So foreign when I first moved here, I now know every aisle and have my own preferred brands to use and those I chose to stay away from.

After 2 times around the produce section I was fairly certain that there were no cranberries. Without those big US displays of yams, and sage and cranberries, I tried to think like a French person. Would they put it with the fruit, with the yams, in the special little cabinet with precious berries and sushi, in the refrigerated cabinet with the bagged lettuce? Yes, much to my dismay, they have that here, too. No cranberries. Maybe I got it at Super U last year.

So, down the road to Super U, where I didn’t find cranberries or Frank’s Hot Sauce. On the way to Agen, my mind bounced between excitement- it’s really a fun market, with fresh produce and other products from all over the world, a vast and varied fish section, and a powerful representation of France’s 1,600 cheeses- and concern about what I could substitute for cranberries for the class tomorrow. I also was wondering if it would help to put out an SOS for cranberries on one of the Ex Pat groups I belong to on Facebook. How far was I willing to go for these cranberries?

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Passing through the produce department twice before picking up 2 quince, I thought they would work as a substitute if I chopped them up in cranberry size pieces. Then I took a quick look at the prepared aperos snacks- a little research for an Apéro Dînatoire (the French phrase for a party of heavy appetizers or small plates) cookbook I’m working on. On the way to the check out I passed through the fruit section one more time. Et, voilà! Nestled in among those precious raspberries was one-yes, just one- clear plastic carton of cranberries. 340 grams. Exactly 12 ounces, as needed for the chutney.

As I left the store with my cranberries and sliced almonds, and shredded coconut, and burrata cheese, and almond flour (the store has so many temptations!), I stepped in to the adjacent bakery for a very un-French on-the-go lunch of pizza and Orange Schweps to enjoy in the car on the way home.

As I walked into the house, there was a ping on my phone announcing a new post by my pastry chef friend in Chicago on her Stresscake blog featuring- would you believe it?- my cranberry chutney! It seems she had no issues finding fresh ones, and I loved reading her take on it!

So, Thanksgiving is saved, or at least my class tomorrow is. There should be enough for me to package up some for each of the participants in our socially isolated confinement Auberge Espagnol (potluck) dinner. I’m making turkey, stuffing, and a walnut pie; Kate is making sweet potatoes and an apple and a pumpkin pie, Bill is making broccoli slaw, Joy is making a fruit salad, and Luke (the vegetarian) is making mac and cheese. We are going to divide and package it up and, on Thursday afternoon, deliver meals to each household, including a delivery to Franny, who is recovering from shoulder surgery.

And, I will be doing Pie Day with my family on Wednesday, per tradition, though this time we will all be in our own homes and sharing the experience on Zoom. Strange times. But, I’m thankful to be here, thankful to have my family, even if they are many miles away, and thankful for the family I have added to my life, here, in France.

À bientôt!

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