I love listening to podcasts when I’m running around Paris, making dinner, or looking for an a local alternative to NPR. I like the ones that are engaging enough to entertain, but informative enough to make me feel like I’ve learned something.
My absolute favorite local podcast of the moment is the Join Us in France Travel Podcast, a weekly podcast about France hosted by Annie, a French-born woman who lived in the US for 18 years, and Elyse, an American-born historian and tour guide living in France for over 20 years. Topics include everything from little-known towns and famous French characters to dining etiquette and truly useful travel tips. The production quality is superb, but most impressive is the wealth of knowledge these ladies share and the fascinating people they’ve interviewed in their 98 episodes.
For more specialized topics, there are three more recent podcasts on the scene:
Paris Paysanne, by the author of My Paris Market Cookbook Emily Dilling, covers French terroir and the Paris food market scene, including topics like craft brewing, seasonal recipes, how to shop the food markets, and interviews with local wine makers, restaurant owners and coffee roasters. She has just moved to the Loire Valley, so you can also read her blog articles on her new life in the French countryside, chickens and all!
I actually met Emily through Forest Collins of 52Martinis.com, who has just posted the second episode of her new podcast, Paris Cocktail Talk, which covers the latest Paris cocktail bar reviews and interviews with all the movers and shakers in that scene such as such as Josh Fontaine, the co-owner of Candelaria, Glass, Le Mary Celeste, and Hero. She’s also the founder of the fabulous private cocktail events club, The Chamber.
Finally, if you’re looking for a dose of literary Paris from your armchair, look no further than Spoken Word Sounds, a new podcast of recordings from the popular Spoken Word open mic nights at the Chat Noir featuring local poets, singers, storytellers, and comedians. All podcasts are free, but donations are appreciated.
Thanks for the recommendations! I just recently started listening to podcasts – they have made my daily commute on the métro soooo much more pleasant. I'm looking forward to checking these out!
Thank you so much for these podcast links! I too love listening to podcasts (and audio books) and to be able to listen to local ones will be fantastic in helping me integrate further.