The French Garden Blog

HAPPINESS  IS  A  RIPE  TOMATO

Modern day Marmande is famous for one thing. The tomato. Not just any tomato – but one which is named after the town itself. It is for sale in every market near here and I have even seen it in Waitrose. It is a town also famous for one of the last massacres of the fourth crusade (against the Cathars) when around 7000 residents were massacred, but that is another story for another day.

The town celebrates its tomato (and any other variety of tomato it can muster) each July with a festival which takes over the various squares around the town centre for two days with tastings, entertainments, parades, award ceremonies and general good times together with demonstration plantings of varieties of tomato in every colour and shape available within the cloisters of the town’s old church. This year the fiesta took place last weekend. I had completely forgotten about it until I went to my hairdresser (in Marmande town centre) and was puzzled to see that Patrick the coiffeur, who normally dresses entirely in white (a la Segolene Royale perhaps), had white trousers and a tomato red t shirt on. Tomato Fiesta 2012 it proclaimed. And today was the day. I arrived at 9am; by 11 the town was fizzing.

The Marmandaise don’t throw tomatoes at each other in the manner of the Spanish at their Tomatina festival, but celebrate it a bit more respectfully and – naturally – centre the celebration around eating. In the manner of the famous Jurade at St Emilion when the brotherhood of wine makers parade around the town, there is a ‘confrerie’ of those associated with the Marmande tomato (all dressed in red with red hats) who parade to fanfares, make speeches and award prizes. Sometimes the parades are enhanced by guest appearances by the brotherhoods of asparagus, aubergines and goodness knows what else too – dressed in suitably coloured gowns and hats of course. Patrick complained that these days people take themselves too seriously and don’t know how to have fun. Watching the proceedings, I was not so sure.

This weekend it was sunny, after weeks of unsettled weather, and people felt relaxed and determined to have a good time, despite the gloom associated with France’s political and financial situation. It is an unpretentious town, not rich but not poor either, which is proud of its horticultural heritage. A trip to Marmande’s market on an average Saturday is a revelation. Seasonal food, minimal food miles, as little packaging as they can get away with and a quality and quantity of produce which most of us can only dream about.  Such a simple thing, and so straightforward to achieve, but slipping from the grasp of most of the people I know back home.