The Salon de L'Agriculture takes place every year in Paris, at the Porte de Versailles Expo complex. Hundreds of thousands of visitors come to experience the french countryside and terroirs, its farm animals and products, food and wine. I think that the 2007 edition was a success one more time. Everyone loves to mingle with the hundreds of animals and put their hand on them.
This is the sort of thing that we, city dwellers, have forgotten to manipulate long time ago....
Among the many breeds of cows, some are real milk machines, like the black-and-white Holsteins, but there were many other lesser-known cows, coming from the french regions and mountains. Many of the visitors being farmers themselves, I could hear from their comments that they knew very well the differents breeds.
There was even a real-size plastic cow to let people learn how to manually milk a cow. No need to say that the exercise was appreciated by kids. I even saw a farmer offer a kid to taste a real cow's milk by pulling a jet of milk straight into his mouth...
Most of the animals were awake and fit, but a few ones like this one seemed completely smashed... Could be that they were administered tranquilizers, as I've heard that some of them have a hard time with the stress of standing 9 days among the crowd and noise. See on the left the automatic cattle water dispenser that equipped each individual animal space.
Some of the exposed animals had more than their share of jostle and crowd when a politician chose to stop a couple
of minutes by them. They seemed to go through the ordeal quite smoothly though. Sarkozy seemed very at ease with the people, even though some of the exhibitors here and there were stunned by the jostling crowd of journalists and fans that sometimes were on the verge to knock over everything on their way...See pic of socialist Francois Hollande on the right (he is also the non-married partner of the socialist presidential contender Ségolène Royal).
This year saw the comeback of the poultry at the Salon de L'Agriculture. Last year the feather animals were banned because of the H5N1 virus having stricken several areas in eastern France.
Jacques Chirac who inaugurated the Salon 2006 had then encouraged the consumers not to panic and buy chicken again...
This fair was the opportunity for young children living in big cities to experience the farm animals, and I really appreciate that most of the time, you could touch, and physically interact with the animals. Of course, you had to be careful with some of them, like the cows and bulls which sometimes moved their head abruptly when you touched their forehead.
Here and there, cook's workshops were organized and the public was initiated to a recipe or
preparation. The fair was also a window for all the traditional french products from the many regions, and you could taste or buy charcuterie, saucisson or cheese for example after tasting the product. See pic on right a stand from the Le Lévejac farm, in the Lozère, which makes a nice ewe cheese.
In short, this 9-day fair will leave a lasting imprint on the young public, and even for those of them who don't live in a farm, the experience will help build their imaginary and emotional world.
of minutes by them. They seemed to go through the ordeal quite smoothly though. Sarkozy seemed very at ease with the people, even though some of the exhibitors here and there were stunned by the jostling crowd of journalists and fans that sometimes were on the verge to knock over everything on their way...See pic of socialist Francois Hollande on the right (he is also the non-married partner of the socialist presidential contender Ségolène Royal).
preparation. The fair was also a window for all the traditional french products from the many regions, and you could taste or buy charcuterie, saucisson or cheese for example after tasting the product. See pic on right a stand from the Le Lévejac farm, in the Lozère, which makes a nice ewe cheese.
