Without a doubt the French pharmacy is not to be confused with an American drugstore. You won’t find cigarettes, liquor, groceries, greeting cards, magazines or other convenience store items such as you will find in a Walgreens or CVS. Of course, you will not find a bottle of aspirin in a grocery store in France.
When traveling it is easy to spot a Gallic pharmacy. Simply look for the universal green cross. And if you are suffering a traveler's malady of some sort the pharmacist will set you right with a scrip and save you a trip to a doctor.
Lesser known and one of the most important functions of the French pharmacist is that of mushroom identification. Pharmacists in France are trained in mycology. All French pharmacists are required to study mushroom taxonomy as part of their training and provide the service of examining your basket of wild-foraged fungi.
Thus, if you are a mushroom hunter, and as a public service, you can take the mushrooms you find to the pharmacy to ensure that they are edible. In the fall of the year it would not be unusual to note lines of men and women toting bags and baskets to have their woodland and field fungi inspected by the pharmacist before they are incorporated into rich and delicious French cooking - or dried and preserved for future use..
Raising a toast to the French pharmacist. Vive la difference!
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