fig. a: Patrice Fortier in his element
It’s hard to believe, but it’s now been OVER 20 YEARS since we first made the acquaintance of Patrice Fortier and his incomparable la Société des Plantes, one of the world’s great purveyors of rare and heirloom seeds, and, therefore, significant figures in the push for biodiversity and sustainability. Its name might conjure visions of vast fields and orchards, huge arrays of greenhouses, and large teams of botanists, but la Société des Plantes is a modest operation, owned and operated by Patrice and his small team of associates and based on a small farm in Kamouraska, in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Eastern Quebec. In any case, in retrospect, it seems as though we actually met Patrice before we started “…an endless banquet,” in the fall of 2004, but that our second encounter with Patrice occurred right in the thick of the first month of AEB’s existence—November 2004—a period of excitement and high enthusiasm that resulted in a torrent of posts (21 in all, although many of them amounted to little more than “micro-blogging,” avant la lettre).
Patrice quickly became not only an inspiration for this couple of novice food bloggers, he became a good friend. And back in the day, he used to regularly show up in Montreal with his fantastic (and fantastical) assortments of vegetables and hold these largely impromptu farm stand sales that were very much true to the DIY roots of la Société des Plantes (and very much in line with the DIY philosophy of AEB), so he also became a recurring character in the pages of AEB. Not surprisingly, a number of our favourite posts feature Patrice quite prominently.
The photo up top—the one with the full angelica headdress—is my favourite photo of Patrice. In 2012 we finally went to visit Patrice in Kamouraska, and when we did we discovered that a documentary film was being made about him: Julie Perron’s Le Semeur (2014). We arrived just in time to behold the shooting of an elaborate fertility ritual that Patrice had created for the film. My photograph is a behind-the-scenes view of the action that captures some of the chaotic energy that was in the air on that August afternoon. If you’re interested in tracking down the finished version of Le Semeur (The Sower), you can do so here.
And if you’d like to read all about that magical first visit to la Société des Plantes, you can do so right here. In addition to details of our visit to Patrice’s farm, you’ll find tales of bakeries, charcuterie producers, smokehouses, restaurants, and eel appreciation centres, as well as a preview for a stunning “Hommage à Kamouraska” menu that Michelle had created for Foodlab (a.k.a., Labo Culinaire), featuring vegetables from la Société des Plantes.
fig. b: Patrice’s squashes, Mile End, 2005
The AEB Archives also contain a number of posts about Patrice’s numerous DIY farm stand sales, especially in the years 2004-2010. Some of these literally took place on street corners. Others took place in an odd assortment of businesses, all of them run by members of Montreal’s secretive Vegetable Underground, like bike shops and wine importation houses.
Examples of these posts include our very first piece on Patrice and la Société des Plantes in November 2004, as well as the following items:
November 2005: a sale at Villeneuve Bicycle (now C & L Cycle)
October 2006: a sale “in the parking lot at 5550 Casgrain”
November 2010: a sale at the wine importers la QV’s headquarters on Beaubien
fig. c: Michelle & her Société des Plantes cardoon, 2006
Finally, this is one of my favourite photos of Michelle from AEB. It’s a photo of her holding a prized la Société des Plantes cardoon in 2005.
We had the pleasure of seeing Patrice again yesterday when he held a sale of his seeds (sorry, no vegetables this time!) at Librarie Gourmande at Marché Jean-Talon. It was such a treat to see him again—it had been a while. And one of the reminiscences that came up was the vision of Michelle and her cardoon at one of those early streetside sales. Patrice mentioned that AEB had been among the first to draw attention to la Société des Plantes in Montreal. That may have been true, but our interest in Patrice and la Société des Plantes had everything to do with his phenomenal assortments of vegetables and his magnetic personality. He was the one who was doing something extraordinary. He still is.
Once again, if you’d like to learn more about la Société des Plantes, you can check out their website HERE. If you’re a gardener, or you have gardeners in your life, seeds from la Société des Plantes make a wonderful gift.
aj
p.s. 1: One of our earliest recipes was one inspired by our second visit to one of Patrice’s sales, where we picked up “white carrots and white beets, tomatillos, chervil, homemade plum preserve, homemade herbes salées, and fresh horseradish.” The fresh horseradish found its way into a recipe for Horseradish Mashed Potatoes that we’d gleaned from Amanda Hesser’s 1999 book The Cook and the Gardener (seems appropriate), just a few years before Hesser founded Food52. Without any further ado:
Horseradish Mashed Potatoes
1 1/2 pounds potatoes, washed
salt
1/3 c. freshly grated horseradish
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 c. heavy cream
3 tbsp. butter
black pepper
Boil the potatoes in water and salt until tender. Drain.
Grate horseradish, keeping eyes as far away from the grater as possible, and add lemon juice right away.
Crush potatoes with a masher, add horseradish, cream, 2 tbsp. butter, salt and pepper to taste. Mash until desired consistency is reached.
Heat remaining tbsp. of butter in a medium pot, add potatoes, cover, place over medium heat, and stir until they are served.
Serves 6 as a side dish.
(This recipe comes from The Cook and the Gardener by Amanda Hesser)
p.s. 2: Did we pick up some seeds for ourselves? Yes, of course, we picked up some seeds for ourselves!
fig. d: La Société des Plantes seeds, ready to be broadcast