Looking for a one-stop picnic supply?  Look no further than fashionable Le Bon Marché, on the Rive Gauche, which houses the spectacular La Grande Epicerie, where you can easily find the most amazing breads, sandwiches, desserts, and products from all corners of the globe.  After an impromptu al fresco lunch of the most delicious  cheese and roast vegetable pressed sandwich in the charming park in front of the store, I did some serious food shopping.  Bewildered by the cheese counter, perfect strangers generously offered their suggestions, as so often happens in France.  I settled on a cheese I was unfamiliar with, Maroilles, an AOC cows milk cheese from the Maroilles region near Lille.  The smell was extremely pungent, even wrapped in 3 layers of plastic.  But the taste was divine; creamy, rich, buttery, with a balancing earthiness.  It went deliciously with wine later that afternoon. 

Selection of Butters at Le Bon Marché

24, rue de Sèvres
75007 Paris – France
www.lebonmarche.com