“Madame Berthou” was an emblematic character of the Toulon market, at a time when they were not yet called “Biltoki”. At the time when handcarts circulated around Place Vincent-Raspail, at the time when you could buy a horse steak or a sea bream caught in the morning in Vignettes harbor on the stalls. Her thing was more Alsatian dishes, her region of origin.
Andrée Berthou, 94, died a few days ago in La Garde, where she enjoyed a peaceful retirement. This “exceptional woman”, to quote her eldest daughter, the author and radio host Évelyne Adam, had devoted two decades of her life to the halls of Toulon, whose rebirth she had observed, in 2021, with a certain curiosity but also a lot of kindness.
“An Alsatian business is missing…”
From 1968 to 1989, “Madame Berthou” ran the Relais d'Alsace in the large covered market in Toulon. People came from far and wide for a pan of the famous sauerkraut, made from Mulhouse charcuterie, which she sold in her wooden “box”. Kouglof, Lorraine pâté, spaetzle or artisanal Adelshoffen completed a menu that quickly became a reference in the city center.
“The halls were a wonderful place and full of life”, she told Var-morning three years ago. “There was a wonderful atmosphere between the fifty or so traders. We were good friends, happy to come to work. The refreshment bar delivered the coffees to each stand. There was Ferdinand Baldacchino, the butcher; the Corsican butcher Pascal Saravelli; L'Héritier , the grocer… And then Zize, the fishmonger, no matter how much we turned our backs on her, we only heard her!”
Upon discovering the Biltoki halls, she praised the beauty of the place or their cleanliness. “It’s because of the poor hygiene of the place that my husband and I left.”. In the end, she only expressed one regret: “There is a lack of Alsatian commerce, all the same…”
To his loved ones, Var-morning sends its most sincere condolences.
Related News :