The "stinky cheese" pie man

While I was pregnant, I rediscovered the joys of the French markets. I'd lost interest after having lived in the middle of the Wazemmes market for a little while.

But when we moved, I discovered the Saturday market at Place Sebastopol with the fresh vegetables, Jean-Marie the honey man and the crazy Corsican "stinky cheese pie" man.
Ok fine, the other things are just excuses to get cheese pies.

The worst part of being pregnant was not being able to have all the stinky, moldy cheese I wanted. I mean, I came to France for the cheese (and love). And then one morning, I asked the cheese pie man which cheeses a pregnant lady could have. Anything that's cooked. I was saved!

Now that little S is here, I like to go to market to get her fresh veggies and fruit (to make her food) and to show her around the market. But it's always a difficult choice - do we go to the market or the baby swimming classes? Usually the cheese pies win.

So back to the crazy Corsican cheese pie man - he's got an oven in his truck and a menu of over a dozen different pies. He makes them fresh, using bread dough as a base. And he's always busy. He looks like he's too big for his truck, speaks a mile a minute and always has a one-liner. He makes fun of the customers, is borderline offensive but those pies are worth it.

As soon as you get to the market, you have to go directly to him, order your pie and go do your other errands because there is always at least a 20 minute wait. When you get the pies, you can almost see the stinky cheese rising in a cloud from the box. Yum. It's always a challenge getting it home without disturbing the cheese.