Snow-white plumage, azure feet, fiery crest: the only poultry in the world graced with an AOP stands proudly beneath the vaults of Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse.
There is a fowl that all of France envies us and that Lyon cherishes like a treasure: the Bresse poultry. Raised on an exceptional terroir spanning the Ain, the Saône-et-Loire and a strip of the Jura, it is the only poultry in the world to bear an appellation of origin, first recognised in 1957 under the presidency of René Coty, then crowned with the European AOP in 1996. Its immaculate plumage, its deep blue feet and its scarlet crest compose a veritable banner of gastronomy.
Behind this splendour lies a patient craft, long carried by the farm women of Bresse and passed down from generation to generation. Selected chicks, long weeks of freedom on vast grassy meadows, a finishing diet of maize and milk: every stage obeys a rigorous set of specifications. At the end of the journey, the flesh becomes pearly, fine and melting, with a flavour the greatest chefs hold to be incomparable.
At Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse, our poultry merchants are its passionate guardians. Behind their stalls, they advise the right cut and the ideal cooking, from the Sunday chicken to the festive poularde, all the way to the holiday capon. Recognisable by the ring sealed to its leg, each bird tells the name of its breeder and the pride of an entire region.
Every December, this work culminates at the Glorieuses de Bresse, a prestigious contest born in 1862, where the finest birds, wrapped in fine cloth like a precious casket, vie for the grand prizes. To choose your Bresse poultry at Les Halles is to treat yourself to a fragment of living heritage and to pay tribute to Monsieur Paul, who so loved to elevate this jewel of our countryside.