Perpignan Train Station from iei media on Vimeo.

For Stéphane and Nathalie Ferrat snails are a labor of love, not for the slimy gastropods they raise but for each other.

Their escargot farm in Estoher, France about 26 miles outside of Perpignan, began as a means for the couple to live and work together. Nestled at the foot of lush, green mountains and surrounded by peach orchards, La Ferme aux Escargots provides a tranquil backdrop for what 45-year old Stéphane and 39-year old Nathalie describe as a busy but beautiful life.

One of the Ferrat's snails.

“We appreciate the way of life we have,” Nathalie said. “It’s a pleasure. It’s a quiet life. There is no noise [but] it’s a job that’s very hard because we do 17 hours of work in the day.”

The couple struggled to spend time together after meeting in Dans la Marne in the North of France more than 10 years ago. At the time Stéphane worked for the French military and Nathalie was a secretary.

“[For a] long time I never see Nathalie. She works with her boss and me for [mine] so we never live together, [but we] want to live and work together,” said Stéphane. A lean, energetic man, Stéphane talks almost continuously, using his hands to further animate his voice.

After marrying in January 1999, Nathalie brought Stéphane to the Perpignan region in the South of France so he could meet her parents. Stéphane fell in love with the land so they decided to use farming as a way to work together. But the couple didn’t see themselves as traditional farmers.

“Agriculture,” Stéphane said, “it’s possible but I am not sure I have got the green hand. So no trees, no vegetables.”

Turning to animals, Stéphane narrowed their choices down farther.

“I’m afraid by cows. I think they’re very dangerous,” he said. “Horses are dangerous in the back, dangerous in the front and very uncomfortable (to sit) on.” Goats, he added, are destructive. “You can’t keep something if you have got a goat.”

Finally, he found the right animal, something safe, quiet, clean and unable to escape easily.

Snails.

Le escargot.

The French term escargot refers to any edible snail. Stéphane and Nathalie farm two types of snails popular in culinary dishes throughout the Languedoc Roussillon Region: Helix aspersa minima and Helix aspersa maxima, which they affectionately refer to as “Petit Gris” (Little Grey) and “Gros Gris” (Big Grey).

In 2003, while Nathalie attended agricultural school in Savoie, Stéphane began building their farm from the ground up. He hauled in dirt and stone to create a foundation and walls for the snail parks, long rectangular sections of land bordered by a mesh electric fence to keep the snails from crawling away.

Stéphane’s ingenuity is evident all around the farm in the small house and office he built, the gypsy caravan he designed, even in the furniture he created himself. Although untrained in any sort of construction or handy work, Stéphane wired the farm for electricity, diverting a local water source to create a small pond, and modified his Honda motorcycle to run faster.

Nathalie handles the publicity and administrative aspects of the business while Stéphane does most of the physical labor around the farm as well any artistic work. He drew their farm’s logo after seeing the shape of a snail in spilt sugar.

Their first year raising snails almost became their last when a number of snails escaped after their electric fence failed during a rainstorm. Returning home from Perpignan, Stéphane and Nathalie found many of their first crop of 300,000 snails squished on the road outside their farm.

“The first years for Nathalie and me [were] a catastrophe. A lot of money [went] away,” Stéphane said.

To be considered a professional snail farmer in France you must have at least 300,000 snails on your farm. The Administration of Agriculture considers someone with fewer snails than that only a hobby farmer.

In their seventh year of farming Stéphane and Nathalie raise 500,000 snails on 8,000 square meters and are looking to expand their snail nursery to harvest snail eggs for caviar.

By producing high-quality snails and continually expanding their product line, they hope to overcome the national economic crisis currently hitting France — and to challenge stereotypes many people hold toward snails.

“Everybody thinks snails are very expensive but they’re not more expensive than beef,” Stéphane said. “It’s in the brain of everybody that snail is a product of luxury. It’s a real problem.”

For Stéphane and Nathalie nothing is more important than the quality of the snails they raise. Although their snails are organic they shy from attaching this label to their product.

“We don’t want to have this label because it is used by everybody and by lobbyists,” Nathalie said, explaining that many businesses use the organic label as a reason to raise their prices when their product is not in fact fully organic.

Stéphane delivers 100 fresh live snails to a client in Finestret.

Unable to afford an employee to help them on their farm, Stéphane and Nathalie use a variety of animals in place of machines and chemicals.

“We employ the animals to help us in our work,” Nathalie said. “We don’t use chemicals against the pests, the grass or the predators. It is not dangerous for the snails if they eat the chemicals but if we eat snails after they have eaten chemicals it is dangerous to us.”

Two goats, a handful of rabbits and a sheep keep the grass trimmed around the snail parks. Two ferrets and three cats hunt the rats that eat the snails, while bats, two turtles and frogs keep down the mosquitoes that damage snail eggs.

“Our philosophy is we want to use the ecosystem to have good results,” Nathalie said.

While many people in the Perpignan region pick snails from the street after it rains, the Ferrats say snails from the wild contain pollution that can affect the taste and nutrients of the flesh.

Sitting down for lunch in the shade outside their home, Stéphane and Nathalie watch their 5-year old son Marckam play in the grass nearby. Stéphane moves to check on the snails sizzling on the grill in the traditional Catalan cargolade style while Nathalie spreads Terrine d’escargots, a snail paté of her own recipe, across a piece of bread.

Across from them a neighbor’s peach orchard stretches out along the foot of the Canigou Mountain like a vivid green carpet. A bird whistles in the distance, its song rising above the soothing sound of the sprinklers watering the snail parks.

“Snail or no snail I don’t care,” Stéphane said. “It’s tranquil. I stay here not for snail but because the area is for me.”

“People don’t have enough money to take care of their pets, so they bring them here,” said Sylvie Zafra, administrative manager of La Société Protectrice des Animaux (Society for the Protection of Animals) in Perpignan. “That’s a new problem this year especially.”

“If humans have economic and social problems, the pet is going to have the same troubles,” said SPA employee Clémentine Durand.

Ferrieux said it costs 6 to 7 euros each week to feed about five cats in her village.

“If it were more, I would spend more and we would sacrifice,” she said. “We have a choice about how we spend our money.”

A stray cat crouches under a vehicle in Perpignan

Ferrieux said the economy is an excuse for throwing pets out on the streets.

“OK, they say they can’t afford it. Have a look in their houses. They’ll have a [big] television. They’ll have a top-quality car. They’ll have iPhones. And they can’t feed an animal? As we say in French, ‘My eye,’” she said, using her index finger to pull down the skin under her eye in a gesture of skepticism.

In addition to the economy, SPA employees said divorce, pregnancy and a lack of access to animal sterilization cause people to abandon their animals.

Zafra said close to 500 pets are brought to the SPA each year, including dogs, cats, horses, sheep and goats.

Community members find some of the animals and bring them to the SPA; others are brought to the center by the pound. About 700 pets are adopted annually, but the society still has to turn some away from their facility.

“[All of] the dogs, for example, should be in the kennels, but there’s no room,” Durand said. “We can’t do more.”

Durand said she appreciates when people in the community look after stray animals because the SPA cannot care for all of them.

“Wild cats have the right to be outside,” Durand said. “Why should we put them in a cage? It’s nice that people help them.”

Ferrieux said some people in Saint-Nazaire resent that she feeds the felines.

“One guy threatened to kill me,” she said, eyebrows raised. “He said, ‘I’ve got a contract out for you.’”

Others in town leave out rat poison to kill the cats.

Ferrieux also told of a “Madame X” who put fox traps in a public alley in an attempt to catch the strays. One cat had to have a limb amputated.

“If a child had seen this trap, put his hand there and got his hand caught, it would have been a very, very serious matter,” said Ferrieux.

She said she doesn’t know why some neighbors don’t support her efforts.

“It’s not taking anything out of their pockets for heaven’s sake, is it? So why should they be so uptight about it?”

Nevertheless, Ferrieux said she doesn’t mind donating her time and money to help unwanted cats in her community.

“People ask me, ‘Why do you do it?’ Because it’s got to be done.”

Extravagent Gems with Natural Materials from iei media on Vimeo.

At the end of a quiet street in Perpignan, the jewelry store Alterior Symboise displays unique jewelry that incorporates natural materials from the region.

A necklace by Thierry Arabia

Lamb’s wool, Tahitian pearls,  drift wood — Alterior Symboise adds a touch of surprise to each hand-crafted piece.

“I didn’t choose Perpignan to take any “ ‘risks,’ ” said Thierry Arabia, owner and head designer. “I really wanted to return to where I am from and settled the shop here.”

Arabia was born and raised in Perpignan, but began his jewelry career in the very north of France almost 20 years ago.  His partner, Eliane Malrich, also from the South of France, lived in Austria and Germany for many years and developed her craft there.

Their risk-taking designs are influenced by their time in northern France and Central Europe.

Germany has had a long tradition of pushing the edge with modern design, Arabia explains. After the fall of the German monarchy shortly after World War I, experimental arts flourished under the Weimar Republic. Here, the famous Bauhaus movement was created.  Artists, inventors, architects and thinkers came together in a reaction against emotional expressionism to create a movement and theory based on functionality, rationalism and design. The idea that design and function should be interchangeable was key to their vision.

Arabia focuses much of his efforts on the actual process of creation, which he says he learned in the north of France. When commissioned for a piece, which is about 70 percent of the time, Arabia goes through a series of steps with his clients before the construction process can begin.

“Everything that is related to my creation begins when I meet the client,” he explains. “In general, a lot of people don’t know who they are, in terms of style and what suits them or not. My role is to have a client  try on different jewels and see if she likes them or not and then step by step we can go and find something specific that she likes.”

It is difficult when viewing some of the more extravagant pieces in Alterior Symboise to even begin to understand which piece would suit anyone, or not suit anyone for that matter.

Arabia frequently looks to the land around him for inspiration and for materials.

Deep blue water, candy-colored homes and vineyards above, Collioure

“In this region there is a lot of contrast.  There is contrast between the sea and the mountains, the colors and I was immersed in the contrast since I was born, so it’s a good place to get inspiration,” Arabia says.

Arabia and Malrich often go hiking in Collioure, a small seaside village, and other parts of the region to collect natural materials they set against silver, gold and traditional gems. The contrasts of the region’s terroir , as the say in Perpignan, or more specifically, the land, are reflected in Alterior Symboise’s pieces.

Freshwater pink and lavender pearls peak out of twisted driftwood. Diamonds stud lava rock. Coral is paired with lapis.

In each one-of-a-kind piece, one can see the push and pull between modernism and traditionalism. As the city of Perpignan slowly moves toward a more modern way of life, Alterior Symboise is making headway toward new innovations that will dangle and shimmer from the necks, fingers and wrists of its clients.

Caves Byrrh from iei media on Vimeo.

What’s happened to the aperatif, long a staple in France?

The aperitif was introduced in 1846 by French chemist Joseph Dubonnet, who wanted to be able to give the public quinine to fight malaria,  which was rampant during that time.

Dubonnet added different herbs and flavors to make the bitter drink enjoyable. In the early 20^th century, it was used to stimulate the appetite before a meal. The aperitif was contrasted with the digestif, which was used after a meal to aid in digestion. In addition, it provided a way to entertain guests and was typically served with small finger foods like crackers, cheese and olives.

The aperitif, though, has been declining in popularity since World War II.

One aperitif that was popular in France for many years is Byrrh, a bitter aperitif made of red wine and quinine or tonic water. Opened in 1873 by the Violet family, the factory in Thuir at one time employed more than 700 employees and produced nearly 35 million bottles a year. (A staff of 77 now makes just 1 million bottles a year.)

Byrrh takes three stages to perfect. First, the grapes are received from the producer. Next, workers extract the “mistelle” — grape juice, pips, stalks and skins. After it is pressed, alcohol is added to stop the fermentation process, keeping the grape’s sweetness intact.

Then comes the period of maceration. Different herbs and plants are added, depending on the flavor and aroma of the wine. Quinine, bitter orange skins, coffee and cocoa are among the ingredients that may be added to spice the drink.

The wine is then left to mature for two to three years in an oak vat, before the Byrrh is bottled and packaged to sell.

Byrrh reigned over the other “A.B.V’S,” (or Alcohol-Based Wines) up until the 1940s. The aperitif was most popular among housewives, who would serve it to guests. However, other hard liquors, such as vodka and whiskey, began taking over the entertainment market. Beginning in the 1950s, whiskey became the drink of choice while sales of Byrrh slumped dramatically.

This declining popularity of aperitifs prompted the Violet family to sell the company in 1961 to the Dubonnet-Cinzano Company. Since 1976, the corporate name of the business has been Cusenier, a branch of the Pernod Ricard Company.

Although a large corporation heads the Byrrh production today in France, competition is still a big problem. “Unfortunately today, there is a lot of competition from the vodka, whiskey and gin products,” says Josephine Blad, communications director for Caves Byrrh.

Even so, 45 percent of Caves Byrrh’s production is still strictly Byrrh products. However, only 1 million bottles are now produced annually.

Although aperitifs are not as popular as they once were, some still enjoy a traditional before-dinner beverage. With the growing popularity of  cocktails such as the ‘cosmopolitan,’ made famous by the ‘Sex and the City’ series, vermouth is making a comeback.

“We have a laboratory of research and we are always trying to come up with new ways in order to be more competitive and for what the customer wants,” said Blad. Even so, Byrrh is and probably always will be, a staple in French society. A resident of Thuir touring the Caves Byrrh factory proved just how close French people hold Byrrh to their heart. “I live in this town (Thuir) so I am proud that I still drink the product that comes from my hometown factory,” said Paula Italia.

Visitors can tour the Byrrh factory in Thuir and view one of the largest oak vats in the world. For more information go to Caves Byrrh website.

The Chef at Le Tire-Bouchon from iei media on Vimeo.

Wafting into the bar and baguette station through a tiny kitchen window are the smells of sizzling oil and sauce –- a signal that Marie Dargnat is cooking. Dargnat is the one of the few female chefs in the city and runs the Catalan restaurant and bar Le Tire-Bouchon in Perpignan.

Dargnat has been cooking professionally for almost 11 years and manages the bistro with her husband. Over the last decade, Le Tire-Bouchon has become both her breadwinning business and home away from home.

Her pedicured feet quickly take her from one end of the tiny, stuffy kitchen to the other, moving from the salad bar to the stove to the counter and back. One hand stirs a pot while another flips pork sausages. Without fear, Dargnat caramelizes a plate of Catalan cream with a scorching hot burner by rotating the flat iron in perfect circles.

After finishing each creation, she pushes a dish through the little window. A loud tap on the table bell signals the waitress and food is immediately brought to the customers.

Marie Dargnat, the chef at <em>Le Tire-Bouchon</em>, sets up her dishes. (Nicole Reyna)

Dargnat, who uses fresh ingredients to create simple traditional Catalan meals, is well known in the area for such dishes as her famous grilled scallops and homemade foie gras.

“Catalan cuisine is really inspired by the products we find and produce here. For example, we use old plants from the vineyards as kindling for barbeque grills, whereas other regions of France would throw them away,” she says. “The little aspects, such as the vines, give a special taste to what we cook and are specific to the region.”

Her restaurant has gained the attention of local celebrities, such as broadcasters, media personalities and the local rugby team, the Catalans Dragons. Dozens of autographed rugby balls line the top of the liquor cabinet at the wine bar while framed pictures and posters of glamorous people adorn pale yellow walls.

Because it is situated only a couple blocks away from the Perpignan train station, Le Tire-Bouchon has an ideal location. Tired passengers mingle with residents at the bright yellow bistro after a long day’s traveling. New customers find dining at Dargnat’s place to be a memorable experience in a neighborhood surrounded by fast food kebab shops and mini cafes.

Overview of the bistro. (Nicole Reyna)

Although everyday cooking is viewed as a feminine task, men still make up the vast majority of certified chefs in France. While there is competition in the field, Dargnat is not discouraged. She sees her gender as an asset in business.

“Sometimes when I walk outside to write down the menu in front, people pass by, stop and ask me, ‘Are you the cook?’ I say, ‘Yes’ and they immediately book a reservation,” she says.

Dargnat believes dishes prepared by female chefs often remind customers of their childhood and the comforts of home. By stirring those feelings in patrons, she regularly gains praise for her food.

“My favorite compliment is when clients tell me my cooking reminds them of how their mother or grandmother cooks,” she jokes. “I love it.”

One such memory that Dargnat fondly treasures came almost a year after a customer took one of her homemade jams out of the country as a gift and through networking, informed her he still remembered tasting it.

“I enjoy the process of creating and having the pleasure of pleasing others,” Dargnat says.

You can find Le Tire-Bouchon at 20, Avenue du Général de Gaulle, 66000 Perpignan. It is open for lunch from 12 to 3 p.m. and dinner from 7 to 9 p.m. Contact 04 68 34 31 91 for dinner reservations.

A Designing Woman from iei media on Vimeo.

What’s in a costume? Is it merely an assemblage of fabric sewn together?

When the fairy godmother turns Cinderella’s pitiable rags into a ball gown, the costume she wears connects one part of the story to the next, like scraps of material pieced together to make a costume.

Behind every costume there is a sewing machine and a costume designer— or, in Patricia Aveillan’s case, a “character” creator.

Patricia Aveillan, a local dressmaker and costume designer in Perpignan, spends nearly every waking hour bent over a sewing machine or a large piece of fabric, etching the outlines of a character’s costume. Her fiery red hair belies her reserved and humble demeanor as she constructs creations that give life to a performer’s “character.”

She moves quietly around her workshop, where a constant hum of cutting and snipping resonate. With the flick of her wrist she transforms bits and pieces of fabric into full-length costumes.

After studying ballet and the arts as a child, Aveillan founded the Patricia Aveillan Dance School in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1980 she moved to Perpignan and opened Les Sylphides Creations, a costume boutique and workshop in Caberstany, a suburb of Perpignan. It was then that she began to contact local dance schools, offering to design costumes.

“When I arrived here no one was doing anything in terms of costumes so I started this to keep me busy two or three times a week,” she says. “It started very fast and now I am creating costumes for everyone.”

Everyone includes the Mylène Farmer, sometimes called “the French Madonna” and France’s legendary Gruss Circus. Almost 30 years later, Aveillan has established herself as a household name in the Perpignan creative community.

Aveillan says that costumes are symbolic and represent the underlying themes and messages in a production. For her creations, she is inspired by a dance or ballet theme, and she then relishes creating costumes that complement the characters.

“Inspiration is a flash in my head and although I go to see movies and see theater, it’s all about imagination,” she says softly. “When I create costumes for a dance company, I talk to the choreographer and I listen to the music and I draw.”

Even though designing the ideal costume for a specific theme can be taxing, she loves the imaginative challenge and the liberty to create whatever she wants.

“It depends on the character and it depends on the costume,” she explains. “As long as there’s imagination and creation, we can imagine more.”

Martine Mattox, a professional choreographer who owns a dance school in Perpignan, says Aveillan has designed her students’ dance costumes since the costume designer arrived.

Mattox believes it’s absolutely necessary for a designer to have natural, creative talent. “When you are a designer making costumes, you have to understand and adapt to what the choreographer has in mind,” she says.

When Mattox creates a ballet with a special mood or a special character, she explains to Aveillan what she envisions for the dance and the characters. Aveillan then designs costumes that are perfectly compatible with the dance theme, Mattox says.

Aveillan says that she and Mattox have a “big trust with each other” regarding the costume designs.

“Often, people tell me, ‘You’d be better off living in Paris,’ because of the many fashion-related projects going on there, but I have a good relationship with Perpignan,” Aveillan softly trills. “Here, I have always liked making and creating costumes. I like to do creations. It’s something I’ve always liked doing.”

Mattox says Aveillan has the ability to construct a costume that represents “character” for her dance pupils. Because of her creations the girls are free to dance, Mattox says.

So what is “character” without the material?

Ask the bashful yet approachable woman in Perpignan waving the magic wand.

Just as American gospel musicians bring the music of Southern Baptist churches to the masses, the Perpignan-based gypsy band Tekameli shares the evangelical religion that many modern-day gypsies have adopted. Singing in both Catalan and Calo, the language of the gypsies, this band is like no other on the globe.

“In Calo, Tekameli means I like you, I want you, I love you,” said Jean Soler, guitarist and singer.

Soler started Tekameli in 1992 with Salomon Espinas and Julio Bermudez. Their deeply rhythmic, soulful songs speak of love of life, love of family and love of God.

Both Soler and Espinas grew up with fathers who worked in the church playing music and spreading the word of God. This had a heavy influence on their decision to become musicians and on the band’s musical style.

“I do this music because I want to give a peace and love message,” said Espinas, guitarist and singer. “I can express myself across the music.”

For many fans, listening to Tekameli can be an incredibly religious experience. Their music, which features beautiful melodies, heartfelt lyrics and expressive singing, teaches young and old the power of love and respect.

“We can touch the people, the heart of the people with this music,” said Soler. “And a lot of people cry when they listen to our music.”

Franck Noell, the band’s manager for the past 12 years, says his connection with Tekameli is more than just a job. “When I listen to this music, I feel something in my skin. I never feel this with another music.”

Tekameli’s music ranges from lively dance music to slow, heartfelt spirituals. The band can rally up a whole party to start clapping and dancing or take down the beat and speak of the true beauty in life.

Tekameli has close ties to the world-famous Gypsy Kings. Some of the band members of the two groups are related and the groups have played together at gypsy weddings and in large public performances. Both bands play the upbeat rumba style of gypsy music that the Gypsy Kings are best known for, but Tekameli specializes in more spiritual gypsy gospel music.

Soler feels that the Gypsy Kings’ style is more commercial than Tekameli’s, noting that his band sticks more to authentic gypsy music. “But, when they make new CD, I go to buy their CD, because I love it. even if it’s commercial style, because they are still The Gypsy Kings,” Soler said.

Though Tekameli doesn’t have the Gypsy Kings’ worldwide reputation, the band has performed at music festivals around Europe and Canada. “In Australia, we played eleven days with a full booked room in the Sydney Opera House,” Soler said. The band has yet to perform in the United States, although they hope to do so in the future.

Tekameli is currently working on their fourth album, the second they’ve self-produced; it’s  due to come out in the next year.

Noell said he feels lucky to have been able to watch the band develop its unique style, while still sticking close to the gypsy roots they all grew up with. “This is the authentic message from love,” he said. “So if you feel this in your body, you feel happy.”

To follow up on their latest concerts and events, go to the band’s myspace page.

The Language of Learning from iei media on Vimeo.