Letter from the desk

A journal, not a storefront

Field Notes started as a habit: walking the eastern arrondissements with a notebook, writing down what the markets smelled like before noon, what a natural wine list sounded like after nine, and how a kitchen that once felt radical now feels like the city’s default grammar.

We publish long-form essays and field entries about Paris food culture — especially bistronomie and the 11th arrondissement — because that geography still teaches more about contemporary French cooking than any awards roundup. Rooms associated with the movement around Rue de Charonne appear in our pages as cultural subjects: architecture of appetite, not advertisements.

We do not take bookings. We do not publish menus with prices. We do not run reservation forms. If you came looking for a phone number or a table, you are in the wrong place — and that is intentional. The internet already has enough transactional pages. We wanted a place to read.

What we cover

Bistronomie as a historical and living idea. Neighborhood foodways from Charonne to Oberkampf. Natural wine as social practice. Seasonal cooking as logistics, not slogan. Producers and markets as the real protagonists behind a Tuesday lunch. Kitchen craft and dining-room rhythm as craft essays.

How we work

Entries are reported and edited in English for an international readership. Photos are documentary in spirit — streets, produce, rooms, glasses — chosen to support the writing. We revise essays when seasons shift or when a cultural claim needs a clearer history.

If you want the short version: Field Notes is an independent informational resource about Paris food culture. Thank you for reading like a guest in someone else’s kitchen — curious, unhurried, and hungry for context.