Chef Gigi’s trip to Le Rungis
Published on: July 16, 2026
I never knew how much you could do in 32 hours, until I got the chance to visit Le Rungis, the world’s largest wholesale food market, with Social Pantry. It was an incredible trip, filled with fantastic food, inspiring ingredients, and not much sleep!
Le Rungis is a haven for some of the best produce in the world, so I couldn’t say no to the experience of having a personal guided tour, by two of the most knowledgeable and inspiring people who work in the field of fresh produce. Even if you combined Piccadilly Circus with Borough market, and multiplied that by 20, it still wouldn’t compare to the sheer scale of Rungis, which is known to be larger than the state of Monaco. At 3am it was abundant with life, bustling full of sellers, growers, butchers, buyers and delivery drivers. As they have 26,000 lorries going in and out of the market every day, avoiding getting run over was a task in itself!
As a chef, it was humbling to be alongside Ben and Marcus, from Le Marché, who care deeply about getting the best quality ingredients, delivered as fresh as possible, to chefs all over the UK. As suppliers to renowned chefs such as Alan Ducasse, they have an impressive knowledge of each individual product, knowing when it’s in season and where the best growers exist in the world. They told us to avoid the pink tops of white asparagus, as this makes it bitter and to look out for heritage tomatoes that are bursting underneath, as this means they are packed full of flavour and sweet acidity. We were taught to slap the enormous watermelons like a drum, for if they sound hollow, they will be perfectly ripe. It was a foodie’s delight.
As we wandered around the endless warehouses full of crisp apples, juicy tomatoes and succulent mango’s, Ben and Marcus were kind enough to let us taste as much as possible. They would use a tiny pocketknife to quickly divide an ingredient, often with juice dripping down their arms, and feed our eager tastebuds. We were given an array of flavour profiles ranging from zingy sorrel to sweet strawberries to punchy garlic. It was magical. Le Rungis, felt like stepping into another world, a secret locality that runs in a different time zone. I didn’t know a place existed where you can taste black raspberries, come face to face with a deboned cow’s head, then sit in a cafe 5 minutes away and watch the chefs in an open kitchen cook you a perfect French omelette. It was a surreal experience full of memories that I will always cherish and a great reminder to always say yes to any further opportunities provided by Social Pantry. Thanks Alex!
