Like every year at the same time, the famous Agricultural Show (Salon de l’Agriculture) transforms the Versailles exhibition center into a giant farm.
This year, the event will take place starting this weekend, from Saturday, February 25 until Sunday, March 5, 2017.
As usual, I’ll definitely be stopping by, and after combing through the program, I’ve put together my own selection of top tips to enjoy if you’re heading to this Parisian show.
Melle Bon Plan’s selection:
- AOP Ossau-Iraty cheeses (Hall 1 C53, “Nouvelle Aquitaine” area)
Like every year, the AOP Ossau-Iraty from Béarn and the Basque Country—the only ewe’s milk cheese from the Pyrénées-Atlantiques recognized with an AOP and made in the pure tradition of shepherds from these regions—is participating in the International Agricultural Show.
The goal is to introduce this local product to as many people as possible, while highlighting the wide variety within this cheese range:
- a relatively mild dairy Ossau-Iraty
- a Basque and Béarnais type farm-produced Ossau-Iraty
- a summer-pasture (d’estive) Ossau-Iraty
An unmissable opportunity to meet its many producers and to (re)discover, through tastings, the full richness of this cheese that has been crowned the world’s best three times.
Top tip: a very nice prize, 1 Ossau-Iraty box is up for grabs in the contest at the end of this article.
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- Mlle Agathe snails (Hall 2.3 – Stand E027)
This brand is the 1st range of organic cosmetics and food supplements made with snail slime (yes, it sounds dreamy, I know!).
The fun thing to do at least once in your life (twice would be too much, I think):
the stand offers 15 minutes of surprising relaxation with live snails on your face!!!
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- Ferme De Viltain (stand 1 M 052)
I already told you about the Ferme de Viltain, which I discovered during the previous edition of Goûts d’Yvelines.
On the program: fun activities for kids on the themes of discovering cows and nature.
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- FrogBeer (at the Brasseurs de France stand)
Craft beers will also be on the menu thanks to the presence of, among others, the pioneers in the field: FrogBeer, from the FrogPubs bars, restaurants, and microbreweries (which I talk about regularly on the blog).
At the Brasseurs de France stand, you can test their “best-sellers”: Hopster, a dry-hopped Pale Ale that is fresh and light (3.8%), with low bitterness and bursting with fruity tropical flavors; Pearl, a balanced and floral Pale Ale (which incidentally won a bronze medal at the 2015 Concours Général Agricole); Ginger Twist (a ginger-infused beer); and Wham! (a dry-hopped American Pale Ale).
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- The Comptoir Local (Pavillon 4 – Stand C026)
Comptoir Local is a site that allows you to do your grocery shopping online while benefiting from fresh products from Ile-de-France producers.
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- The Chez les Landais stand (stand J-148 Hall 3)
This stand brings together 4 producers (vegetables, duck, pork, wines from the South-West, and Armagnac) whose ambition is to introduce their products and their region with Landes conviviality.
Top tip:
the products of each producer will be available for tasting and offered as plates by chef Florent Carle, from the Landes restaurant “Chez Flo”. For this occasion, a currency was created to pay for the plates and glasses tasted: the Pignot (€2), meaning “little pine” in the Landes dialect.
Every day (4pm-6pm): 1 day/1 chef, culinary demonstrations by Parisian chefs (schedule pending).
Wednesday, March 1 (5pm-7pm): Armagnac cocktails by Thomas Girard, bartender at Gravity Bar (Paris 10th district).
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- Passion Céréales (Hall 2.2, Stand B027)
After my little trip to Beauce for the harvest, I remain attached to this association that highlights the cereal industry.
To discover at the stand:
- guided tour of a cereal farm: crops, points of interest, innovations, etc.
- bakery oven, bread-making activities and workshops for children
- climbing aboard a real combine harvester (I did this for real in Beauce and it was incredible!!!) and discovering the harvest in 360° thanks to an immersive headset
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Table of Contents
International Agricultural Show
Porte de Versailles
From February 27 to March 6, 2016
Every day from 9am to 7pm, and Wednesdays and Thursdays until 8pm
Price: full price ticket: €13 / reduced: €6
CONTEST:
Like previous years, AOP Ossau-Iraty kindly offered to let me give away invitations to the show. I have a batch of 2 invitations valid for the day of your choice for you!
To participate, simply leave a comment below this article answering the following question: What do you like/are you most interested in at the Agricultural Show?
A random draw will determine the winner of the 2 tickets from among those who answered this question. Good luck to everyone and enjoy the Agricultural Show!
Rules:
– Contest limited to Metropolitan France
– + 1 chance if you are a fan of the blog’s Facebook page; + 1 chance if you follow the blog’s Twitter page; + 1 chance if you follow the blog’s Hellocoton page + 1 chance if you follow the blog’s Instagram page + 1 chance for each share of the article (don’t forget to leave your usernames in your comment if you want to benefit from extra chances)
– 1 entry per IP address
– Transport to the show venue is not included in the prize
– Contest start date: Wednesday, February 15, 2017 – deadline to participate: Sunday, February 19, 2017 at 8pm, and result the next day on the blog in an update to this article
Update of February 20, 2017:
Thank you all for your participation, I see that you are motivated to go to the Agricultural Show, that’s great! Following the random draw, I am announcing that the winner of the 2 invitations to the Show is Lise.
Congratulations, I will contact you by email soon. Thanks to everyone for your enthusiasm and loyalty!
