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The contradiction of the trim Parisian and the butter croissant now has a storefront.
Le Butter Shop, billed as Paris’ first boutique devoted entirely to butter, opened in July, a short walk from the Eiffel Tower—with 30 varieties from small family producers in Brittany, the Loire Valley, and northern France.
France eats around 8 kilograms (18 pounds) of butter per person a year, says the agriculture ministry. It’s among the most in the world. Yet the home of Chanel and Dior keeps an obesity rate well below the average for wealthy nations—14%, compared to an average of 19% for the developed countries that make up the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
At the new boutique, customers taste by the spoonful before buying anything from a 10-gram pat to a kilogram (2.2-pound) block: the classics, then shallot, pepper, seaweed, wild garlic, fine herbs, and lemon with green pepper. At the sweet end: vanilla, raspberry, strawberry and chocolate.
“Most people don’t expect to like a raspberry butter or to like chocolate butter,” said owner Erwan Leo. “And when they try it, this is where they’re just like, ‘Oh wow, OK.’” Leo, who also runs a wine-tasting business, said butter should be used like wine, to make a meal better—“the goal isn’t to get drunk.”
Mehreen Himayat and Salman Bin Ehsan of Dublin, Ireland, saw videos of the shop at home before traveling to France. “We came here just to taste the butter,” Bin Ehsan told The Associated Press.
Alexandra Incolano, a 36-year-old who lives near Paris, came to the shop with a specific mission. “I’m getting married on Saturday, and I’m going to have a cheese centerpiece,” Incolano said. “I saw on Instagram that they had lots of great butters, and I thought it could be a little something extra for my guests, a little surprise.”
The reputation of French butter is also attracting visitors who work professionally with food.
“I know that there’s some of the best butter in France, but I’ve never tried any,” said Aleksandr Balaban, a 31-year-old Estonian chef working in Norway. “I work in Norway; they really like salted butter, and my friend asked me to bring him some French butter as well.”
This article was provided by The Associated Press.