Paris’s International Agriculture Show is one of the major trade show/fair events of the year in France, attracting 1500 exhibitors bringing with them more than 4000 animals to the delight of children, teens, adults, and politicians.
Due to the importance of agriculture and agricultural lobbies in France, French president Francois Hollande, following in the footsteps of his predecessors, made ample room in his schedule to visit the show, spending 10 hours there—impressive, though down from 12 hours when he was candidate for president a year ago.
After inaugurating the event, M. Hollande attended the milking of the cows, met with union leaders and producers, farmers, farmhands, and children, laid a presidential hand on one-ton beef cattle, futuristic cows and other precision animals, cute, wooly and otherwise remarkable, tasted enough cheese, beverages and other appellation delights to make a Francophile swoon, made a political declaration about the need for better labeling for beef in prepared dishes (response to horse meat scandal), and overall showed the manure-loving bonhomie that the exercise requires. So can you, minus the presidential hand.
I, meanwhile, at least in the morning, was over in a vast hall nearby tasting wine in my role as a judge for the Concours Général Agricole (annual agricultural competition) discerning, along with four cohorts, gold, silver and bronze medals to the best of the 15 Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2012 white and 2011 red wines.
For our joyful troubles we left with purple teeth, a medal of our own (see photo), an ice bag (not for our head but for chilling wine), and three invitations to attend the Agriculture Show during the week.
We’re giving those invitations to the first two people* to correctly answer the following question:
What appellation cheese is being made here?
Since no correct answers came from that clue, and since an image of this healthy meal enjoyed in that cheese town may not do the trick…
… then maybe it will help to know that the cheese bears the same as this church:
Send your response to moi, Gary Lee Kraut, at francerevisited@aol.com, with “Name that cheese” in the subject line.
If no correct answer is received by Tuesday evening Paris time, Feb. 26, then a final clue will be posted here as well as on my personal Facebook page and on the France Revisited Facebook page (new FB friends welcome).
Contest over, we have our winners. And the name of that cheese is….
… Saint-Nectaire.
Congratulations to our winners, Jennifer (2 tickets) and Lynn (1 ticket), and to the others who got the right name right if not fast enough.
*Name That Cheese Contest Rules:
– The first person to send the correct response will receive 2 invitations. The second person to send the second correct response will receive 1 invitation.
– One entry per person per clue. In other words, you can send your guess after the first clue and then a second guess after the second clue and a third after the third.
– Anyone can enter for the fun of it, however you must have a mailing address (it can be a hotel) within Paris or the Paris region in order to be declared a winner and receive the prize. The reason for this is that the show ends on Sunday and the invitations will be sent out on Tuesday or Wednesday, meaning they will normally be received by the winners with only two or three days to be used. You can wait until you have been declared winner in order to provide your address but please indicate your city of residence in your initial e-mail.
– No purchase required.
– Invitations cannot be sold.
– Prizes will be mailed out by regular J+1 priority mailing at La Poste.
– We/I cannot be responsible if the invitations fail to arrive on time and apologize in advance for postal delivery.
Attending the show with or without an invitation: The International Agriculture Show (Salon de l’Agriculture) at Porte de Versailles is open from 9am to 7pm until March 3 and also in the evening until 11pm on Friday March 1.
Tickets: €13; €6 for children from 6 to 12, students on presentation of ID, everyone on Friday March 1 after 7pm; €9 for disabled people (upon presentation of disability card) and the person accompanying them; free for children under 6.
The next Paris/France Revisited contest will take place during the week leading up to March 20.