Moules marinière

This can be a very communal dish. There is a camaraderie attached to eating moules frites, mussels steamed in wine and herbs and served with chips. At the Braderie de Lille, a huge seven-day autumn flea market that invades the entire city and is France’s largest public gathering, over 500 tonnes of mussels are consumed. Their empty shells are piled up on the pavement in front of each restaurant, in a competition to find out which place was most popular with hungry visitors.

A