Surimi in Lyon

[nuppe]

I'll go from Norway to France in early December to study the use of surimi(! I use to get some reactions from the worlds food lovers on that one) I hope to include 2-3 days in Lyon. The aim is to experience how the surimi of France actually is consumed and to see if surimi has acces to restaurants or eventually cafes. Hopefully I'll have glass of wine as well...

[fresh_a]

?????????????? You're talking about that processed sea-crap???????????????

I don't know of any reputable restaurant who would have it on their table..

Edited November 13, 2006 by fresh_a (log)

[nuppe]

Yes. Thank you!

?????????????? You're talking about that processed sea-crap???????????????

I don't know of any reputable restaurant who would have it on their table..

←

[Hiroyuki]

?????????????? You're talking about that processed sea-crap???????????????

←

I'm afraid that this is quite an exaggeration.

[John Talbott]

OK here folks; this isn't "Borat goes out Eating."

Civility, helpful information and respect please.

nuppe simply said:

I'll go from Norway to France in early December to study the use of surimi(! I use to get some reactions from the worlds food lovers on that one) I hope to include 2-3 days in Lyon. The aim is to experience how the surimi of France actually is consumed and to see if surimi has acces to restaurants or eventually cafes. Hopefully I'll have glass of wine as well...

Let's respond to her request.

[CarolineLD]

A lot of France's surimi is made in Saint Malo. The company Comapêche, or Compagnie de la Pêche, has a factory ship (Joseph Roty II) which not only catches blue whiting, but also processes it into surimi. It's apparently the only ship which does this. The ship fishes in the winter, and spent this summer in St Malo offering tours. (I know this because I queued up for one, but had to leave the very long queue before reaching the front in order to catch my plane!).

This is basically from memory, but there was a fairly detailed and interesting article in the newspaper Ouest France in mid-July 06, which you should be able to find in their online archive - for a fee - if you read French (Ouest France archive access).

Hope this helps!

Caroline

[Ptipois]

Hello Nuppe.

In France surimi is mostly for home consumption, and you'll see a lot of it in supermarkets.

You're unlikely to find it in restaurants but I think it is not absent from places like cafeterias, school or corporate cantines, any sort of collective catering.

[Hiroyuki]

I wonder what types of surimi products are available in France.

I understand that fake crabmeat sticks are popular in North America, but what about in France and other European countries?

For those who are not familar with surimi, here is an entry in Wikipedia.

Visit this kamaboko thread in the Japan Forum to view photos of all sorts of surimi products.

[nuppe]

What have I started now?

All in all the answers have been both friendful and useful to me. And I have to thank Hiroyuki for standing up for the surimi, basically the original Japanese kamaboko type. It's my impression that surimi products have a low status in most countries and that someone also regard them as bad, falsely flavoured actors in the world of food and enemies of those who want to take care of slow and natural food. I can understand that reaction, but when you dive into things, they are never that simple. I am now doing a little surimi dive, and if we speak of the history, it's in fact older and more thrilling than the stories of some of the more precious foods. Concerning France I imagine that the French version of the modern surimi is rather refined with a more varieties than we find in the rest of the Western world, but that's what I could like to check.

Thank you for civility, John, and good advice from the others. I will in fact go to Saint Malo as well.