Fish and shellfish

A good French fish shop or market stall is a wonder to behold. Laid out in an intricate mosaic, heads overlapping tails, are often 20 types of fish, their sandy, silver-pink or silver-blue skin gleaming against pristine white ice chips, surrounded by shellfish (fruits de mer or fruit of the sea). You can smell that sea. There will be three or four types and sizes of oyster (more around Christmas), all available to taste there and then, to help you choose between the salty pleine mer, the fines de clairs or the nutty, delicate bellons.