For dinner we visited the Caves de Moines, which is built into the side of the hills along the river. This caves came about in the 1100s because they were used to cut out the limestone that built the chateaux and cathedrals of France. It was a laborious process of slicing the stone out of the earth and in it’s place left a series of caves and trails that are about 7 miles long. Our tour guide told us how the stone was harvested and then moved on to what the caves are used for now - mushroom production and snail raising!In the dark, humid and cold tunnels, we learned about how mushrooms are harvested. The first kind are the champignons de Paris, which are like balloon mushrooms. They were grown first on the floor, then in iron beds and now in bags. It is actually quite a complicated science that takes
several months for the mushrooms to grow. We also saw them cultivating blue stem mushrooms as well as Shitake mushrooms and oyster mushrooms. It was all very creepy to see all these mushrooms down there but it the perfect condition for them. France is the 2nd largest producer of mushrooms after the US and this particular cave sells all of its mushrooms to restaurants for use in cooking.This cave also raises snails, which are ideal because of the lack of winter. They lay eggs (which are even more expensive than caviar - $5,000 for a kilo (2.2 pounds) of eggs. Snails are also sold to the restaurants for escargots.
After our guided tour we headed to the cave’s restaurant for a taste of the local specialties we had learned about. The first course was a mushroom tart served on a bread shell (like a half of ciabatta) and with melted cheese on top, along with a green salad. It wasn’t a huge hit with the kids but most at least tried it. Poor BJ thought that was all there was for dinner so even though he didn’t care for it, suffered through the whole thing because he knew he should eat when offered.
The second course was more of the same bread, hot from the stone oven, served with salted butter and a pork pâté spread. You cut open the bread, shove in the cold butter and/or meat spread and let it melt together. This was by far the most popular course of the meal. Not everyone was a fan of the pork spread, others said it tasted like NC pork barbecue!
Meanwhile, each table ordered a plate of 6 snails so they could try the escargot. More than half the kids tried it and nearly everyone who tried it liked it, much to their surprise. They reported that it was a bit rubbery and tasted heavily of garlic. A few even kept their shells as souvenirs.
The next course was a bowl of white beans with chunks of pork in it. Liam decided to add the beans to the pork spread and butter inside his roll and make a sandwich of it. Not as many people enjoyed the beans though.
After that the 4th course was cheese (we think it was brie) melted on the same bread shells we’d had throughout the meal. No one was a particular fan of this and they were disappointed because they thought that was dessert. But to their surprise and delight, we were soon served a 5th course of apple tart. Most everyone liked this one too.
Although it was a bit different, and a bit cold, it was certainly a unique experience. Not the best meal of the trip, but likely the most memorable!
Lots more pictures of today on my Facebook page:
Secondary programming note: Tomorrow we are driving to the Mt. St. Michel in Brittany on the edge of Normandy. I don't know how much Internet access I will have for the next day or so. Do not panic if the posts are not as frequent or often. Your kids are still eating, sleeping and having the time of their lives! :) I may be more limited as we get to the end of the trip because I'm almost out of minutes on my plan ;) We are going to try and recharge but I need to conserve a little bit and take advantage of WiFi when I can find it, which will be less often.
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