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 For the
longest time, we didn’t get kale in Paris. As the crinkly greens with the
tough stems zoomed in popularity in the U.S., those of us used to, and
craving, the rugged flavor of these branchés (plugged-in,
or trendy) bunches, were out of luck. I remember chancing across some
curly kale in a natural foods store over in the 5th arrondissement, and
sweeping the whole shelf of it into a bag, stuffing it all inside, and
bringing it to the register. The cashier looked at the bag, then looked
at me, and said, “Vous
êtes…américain, monsieur?”
 Indeed I
was. But now, Paris has firmly gotten on the chou kale bandwagon and although it’s
mostly green curly kale you come across, you can sometimes find red
kale and even Tuscan (lacinato) kale at outdoor markets, and even in some
supermarkets as
well as the frozen food chain, Picard.
And, being Paris, where trends are often taken to the extreme, there’s
even a Miss Kale
café.
 Much of it
is due to Kristen
Beddard, who made it her mission to get growers to plant kale,
as she chronicled in her engaging and delightful memoir, Bonjour
Kale. But I was surprised last week at my local market when I
saw these tiny bunches of what looked like mini cabbages, or
over-developed sprouts, and brought a bag home. I’d asked the vendor what
they were called and he didn’t know. He just shrugged his shoulders and
said, “les pousses”,
an all-encompassing name for “sprouts.”
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