There were a lot of strawberries at the market today, and I noticed that they were labeled “3 barquettes/3 Euro”, so I decided to get some for our lunch. Unfortunately, most of the strawberries looked a little dreary — dark and dull red, oversized, a little mushy. But then I spotted a few barquettes sitting apart from the others, and those looked a lot better! They were that bright, vibrant red I usually associate with wild strawberries, and they looked delicate and delectable when compared with the others.

I hoisted a barquette up to the grocer, but when he saw them, he shook his head. “Ce ne sont pas des fraises, mademoiselle,” he explained, and he pointed to a sign. Sure enough, the well-hidden sign indicated that the berries I had chosen were not strawberries, but something called gariguettes.

Even more horrifying, these impostors were selling for 37 Euro/kilo!

With a mumbled “peut-etre pas,” I rushed to put the scary, expensive mystery fruits back where I’d found them, but the fruit-man stopped me. “Look,” he said. “They’re really very good — you should try them. I’ll let you have that barquette for 5 Euro.”

I chewed my lip — 5 euro is still a good deal more than I had meant to spend for strawberries. But they would go so nicely with the lunch I had planned… And that red!

In the end, I couldn't resist -- I got the gariguettes, and some lovely raspberries, too!