What is in season in Lille. and what to order when the market changes.
Spring
- Rhubarb: Nord kitchen gardens send rhubarb to Wazemmes from April, and Lille pastry counters turn it into tarts and compotes to cut the region's heavy winter cooking.
- Wild garlic and young leeks: Ail des ours and the first thin leeks reach the markets in April and May, and the bistronomic rooms around Rue de la Monnaie build their spring cards on them.
Summer
- Terrace beer: Bieres de garde and pale ales from the surrounding countryside are the summer pour in Lille, drunk on the terraces of Vieux-Lille and in the taproom courtyards of Moulins.
- Summer berries: Strawberries, redcurrants and gooseberries fill the Wazemmes and Sebastopol stalls through June and July, and they show up in the tarts of every neighbourhood boulangerie.
Autumn
- Mussels: Bouchot mussels are at their best between August and December, which is why the Braderie falls where it does. Lille eats them by the tonne on the first weekend of September.
- Craft beer season: The Festival Biere a Lille takes over bars across the city in early November, closing with a weekend of around seventy breweries at Gare Saint-Sauveur.
Winter
- Chicons: Endives, called chicons here, are the winter vegetable of the Nord. They are braised in ham and bechamel as gratin de chicons, or served raw with maroilles on every estaminet card.
- Carbonade and maroilles: Cold months belong to the stove: carbonade flamande braised in brown beer, welsh under a crust of grilled cheddar, and maroilles melted over almost everything.