The Secrets of a Parisian Spice Store Owner: Good Food is Simple Food

It doesn't taste like simple food. In fact, the Paris cuisine that I've experienced since arriving in France, food that has tasted fresher and cleaner than I've experienced, is raising more questions in my mind.

In an effort to find the answers to these questions, I've returned to the Rue Cler market to visit with Pascal Mievre, owner of L' Epicerie Fine, a gourmet foods and exotic spice store on the Rive Gauche, the right bank of the Paris cuisine scene.

Pascale is a multi-generational grocer. Grandfather worked for a roasting company and sold spices "by the ton" and his grandmother worked in a small grocery. Pascale has spent most of his life in food, first as a manager for a supermarket in France, food management that lasted for 20 years. He then created his own shop.

With all this experience and France food in his blood, Pascal has a very definite opinion about food.

"Just a few drops" he says of his prized truffle oil, "it's incredible".

I feel as though I'm getting closer to the answers I've been seeking during my Paris cuisine and ingredient search. "Good food is simple food" is the answer that comes from Pascal.

In my trip to France, food has been a surprise and I'm not finding what I expected. You don't need to add heavy ingredients, you don't need complicated cooking. What makes cooking and Paris cuisine so incredible is that it's made of simple food. "Simple things, but good things" is the way Pascal put it.