Specialties Saint Jean D’Arves and of the Savoie Region

Having a glass of gluhwein after a 2 hour skiing binge. Next foto is a restaurant in the mountains.

“Are you two looking forward to the winter sport holiday?” Dutch sister asked looking very enthusiastic during Dutchman’s family birthday party (which was a week before we left).

“Ja, ja, ja.” Says the Dutchman nodding his head. Grinning and pointing at me he added, “But she has a different reason to look forward to. She’s excited because our chalet is located in a small village in the heart of the Alps and she found out too that there is a market there once a week.”

Well, I just love those markets!

The Wednesdays open-air market in St. Jean D’Arves - La Chal takes place in front of the Tourism Office beside the piste.

The open-air market in St. Jean D’Arves is not really that impressive, but for a tiny village in the Alps, this every Wednesday market is better than nothing at all. It was rather small, with only 7 vendors. I was delighted though, well consoled is the word to find out that 2 vendors were selling my favorite gourmet food, dried and cured sausages. It perked me up totally, especially after a tiring day in the slopes.

More fotos are here: St. Jean D’Arves, Rhone-Alpes - France


On the right is a vendor selling traditional Alpine liqueur from the Genepi plant-flower. They look like bottles of olive oil but they are not. Have a closer look at the herbs in the glass casing - this is the Genepi (Genepy) flower-plant.


Infusions des Aiguilles D’Arves in other words, tea.


The saucisson vendor from Madagascar and his brilliant €20 promo package: 7 saucissons of your choice (beaufort, pur porc, naturel, smoked, peppered, herbed, and with nuts), 1 bottle of wine, 1 pate foie de vollaile, and 1 cutlery knife.

“Where do you come from?”

“I am from Holland, but I originally come from the Philippines.” (for someone French in the mountains he does speak very good English. Yesterday, I was chatting with the Churros vendor and I found myself explaining things with my hands, making strange funny noises and speaking mangled almost unintelligible English, lol)

“Ahhh, Manila! I come from Madagascar.”

“Do you know that we speak the same language?”

“Oh really? How?” (now he speaks Tagalog as well! haha)

“Yes we do – how do you say ‘Thank you’ in the Philippines?”

“It’s SALAMAT.”

“See, we also say ‘Salamat’ in Madagascar.”

“Wow, cool!”

I left the saucisson stall with my mind a bit perplexed and wishing I had the world map in my hands. How far is Madagascar from the Philippines again? Isn’t Madagascar an island in the southern tip of Africa? How on earth and why should Madagascar and the Philippines speak the same language? So many questions on the air-or perhaps he was just being polite, trying to create a common ground between us so I will buy his sausages. Well, it would not have really mattered as I am the queen of the dried and cured sausage federation, I would buy them in a heartbeat! But the incident left me with a nagging thick thorn stuck in my inquiring brains. The task of I must google Madagascar.

“Malagasy is unrelated to nearby African languages, instead being the westernmost member of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family, a fact noted as long ago as the eighteenth century. It is related to the Malayo-Polynesian languages of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and more closely with the South-east Barito group of languages spoken in Borneo except for its Polynesian morphophonemics.”
-- Source: Wikipedia Malagasy


Crepes-churros vendor said he knew someone by the name Maria. It was amazing how 2 people could communicate and not speak the same language, lol. Next foto is the tourist office.

Further researches lead me to learn about the early seafaring South East Asian’s escapades to the African continent. Just like the Dutch invading Indonesia and the Spaniards the Philippines, the South East Asians were also busy themselves in another part of the world, in Madagascar. Who would have thought?

Moreover, the word ‘Salamat’ is actually ‘Salama’ in Malagasy which means ‘Hello’, and not ‘Thank you’. It sounds and spells about right but both of us had something else in mind, ha-ha. Well, it’s close enough anyway!

It never stops to amaze me how unexpected circumstances come up offering peculiar avenues in learning new things.


The fromagerie - cheese shop with a disheveled Christmas tree outside on its pavement.


Le Beaufort cheese is the big thin planks of cheese on the corner of the dairy display (upper right hand) and more dried-cured sausages as well.

Au Beaufort Saucisson with sliced augurken (pickles). Commercialized Genepi digestif drink sold at Sherpa supermarket. For the traditional version, see foto above in the market.

In the Savoie (Savoy) region, which is mainly the Alps department, Beaufort cheese is the local dairy specialty. I mentioned in my previous post about this cheese dairy farm and store by the junction of Saint Jean D’Arves and Saint Sorlin D’Arves. I actually managed to take a peek into the cheese shop but refrained from taking fotos as I was not planning to buy anything. But for the curious ones, I took pictures of the sausage and dairy section of Sherpa, the local supermarket, and Beaufort cheese was on the top corner right on the foto. Many green salads in local restaurants are sprinkled with Beaufort cheese in little cubes.

Dutchman however will only want to eat 1 type of cheese. Gouda. Because Dutch men, I found out, are fascinatingly loyal creatures of habit, and are very predictable, they are not easily persuaded to dabble into any type of cheese experimentation, or even just a simple attempt. Gouda and/or Edam are their immediate and sometimes only choices. I know, a bit boring but they are known for that anyway, and they seriously don’t mind!Beaufort cheese is also mixed into the dried and cured sausages, which is actually a regional specialty, so this is the ultimate local gourmet you get: yummy Beaufort Saucisson

One evening, we were at Les Melezes, one of the fine restaurants in Saint Jean D'Arves offering authentic French cuisine, and I had my first introduction to this regional alcoholic drink called Genepi (sometimes spelled as Genepy). The charming and very attentive waitress in Les Melezes restaurant explained to me that Genepi is a special local digestif liqueur from the Savoie region and is usually taken after a meal. The drink which is actually a shot is colorless, less sweet than any other digestif drink I had in the past, tastes like vodka, and has a sharp trace that gives a slight burning sensation in the throat.I also googled Genepi and found out that this is actually an exceptional aromatic alpine plant-flower that only grows in the Alps. It is not only popular in France but also in the neighbouring Alpine infested countries such as Italy, Switzerland, and perhaps Austria.


A busy lunch day in Le Bouj terras by the piste.

Travel Period: January 2008 
Destination: St. Jean d'Arves (Savoie - Rhone-Alpes), France