Behind the Scenes of the Dieppe Herring Fair: Traders’ Preparations and Traditions

While the Dieppe event is in full swing since this morning and until tomorrow, meet these traders who, behind the scenes, have been working for several days already to make the event a success.

“My fisherman left at 5 p.m. He called me at midnight saying ‘It’s okay, the nets are full’, so I took the truck, I went to join him“. 2h15 drive, in the middle of the night.

But at Sébastien Herouard, owner of the Dieppe fishmonger “A l’écaille d’or”, we don’t mess around with herring. Even if it means not sleeping all night to drive to Boulogne-sur-Mer and go get your fish.”at the bottom of the boat” as he says. His Grail is there, before his eyes: beautiful herrings, “especially not with the red head even if we sometimes hear the opposite!“. For this passionate fishmonger, it’s well worth a sleepless night.

Born in Dieppe, this seafood lover nevertheless regrets that he has to go looking for fish so far, including to stock up for the Dieppe Herring Fair. “We hardly have any herring fishing boats here anymore…”

However, according to him, this popular fish “it’s Dieppe folklore“. Especially since “soon, with global warming disrupting herring migrations, we may no longer have any on our shelves, so we must take advantage of it now!“

Take advantage of it, but not just any way! After provisioning, it is time to prepare the fish. And be careful, for Sébastien Herouard, gutting a herring is quite an art.

Then head to… the barbecue. But here, grilled herring is not just one weekend of the year. Throughout the season when these schools of fish descend near our coasts, from the end of October to the beginning of December, the fishmonger lights his “locomotive“(nickname given to his barbecue because of the large metal hood that hangs over it) to sell herring to his loyal customers… and to others! “There are people from Dieppe that I only see during the season and that I never see again the rest of the year“, slips the manager. Real herring fans…

At the Herouards too, we are unconditional. And for several generations! Sébastien’s father was one of the first to offer these large grilled herring on public roads. And this almost in spite of himself.

In 1988, he took his little barbecue at home to grill his herrings, telling my mother ‘that way I won’t ruin the house, I’ll make them at the store and I’ll bring them back to you this evening’. Then as I started grilling the herrings, a customer arrived saying ‘Mr. Herouard, can’t you grill me one?’. ‘Oh well I’m there, go ahead, I’m not close’. Barbecue has grown from year to year until today with our high-performance locomotive.

Sébastien Herouard, Owner of the fishmonger “A l’écaille d’or”

Today, thousands of herrings are grilled in the streets of Dieppe, over a weekend, for this great Fair.

To see in pictures these preparations for the event among traders, watch our report produced ahead of the event.

For restaurateurs too, this festive weekend is eagerly awaited.

For the turnover that this large influx represents, of course, but also (and above all) for the collective good humor which invariably emerges from this crowd of visitors. As Vadim Novick, manager of the “Tout Va Bien” brewery, explains.

A popular festival that this restaurateur has been anticipating for a long time. While his team has an average of 8/9 people in normal times, this weekend he plans to double the workforce to cope with the influx of customers.

It must be said that in this famous brasserie on Quai Henri IV, several hundred place settings are made for each service. From 11 a.m. until 11 p.m.

The manager also had to stock up accordingly with barrels of beer, side dishes, condiments… and of course herring. Every morning during the Fair, 1,200 rolls and 200 croissants are also baked in preparation for the day.

For all traders, there is only one watchword: anticipate, so that the party is truly successful.