Instructions: Peter Mayle, author of the current best-seller French Lessons wrote that the French spend as much of their income on their stomachs as the English do on their cars and stereo systems. A visit to Fauchon, a gourmet store in Paris, explains why.

Fauchon is a Paris institution. More than a century old, it occupies a handful of stores at Place Madeleine, a big square thats home to a delectable chocolate shop, a weekly outdoor market of produce, cheeses, and meats, and a competing gourmet store called Hediard.

Our favorite Fauchon shop was the bakery, where we stood at high round tables and ate our breakfast of sinful croissants, cinnamon pastries, brioche and other buttery sweets with our tiny cups of coffee. With each coffee comes a single delicate square of Fauchons bittersweet chocolate, wrapped with a giant F, proving that no time is too early for chocolate.

On the other side of the store, piles of exquisitely wrapped candies and chocolates await the visitor. The displays are astonishingly beautiful. There are round towers of chocolates wrapped in gold and red foil, interspersed with brightly-colored miniature marzipan fruits. Dont worry about being a gawking tourist. Fauchon staff is used to it. (Although I got the sense that they dont hold special feelings for Americans.)

The next Fauchon store specializes in prepared foods. Its deep storefront window displays traditional French ready-to-eat foods. It is jammed with stuffed snail shells, pates, salads, and dozens of other beautifully constructed dishes. Even Parisians stand on the sidewalk, staring, exclaiming and pointing.

Inside, you can order several types of pates, terrines, meats, produce - everything youd need for a lavish and elegant dinner party, or a romantic picnic for two.

Our other favorite Fauchon store addressed our desire to bring home

"something French." It stocked pre-packaged goods, encased in gleaming dark wood shelves and stacked prettily on marble countertops.

Theres a dizzying selection of items made with the Fauchon label, which carries a certain amount of prestige. Decadent cans of truffled pate look appealing, but because we were returning to the United States, we couldnt take them home or have them shipped. There are restrictions on importing meat and cheese. We should have bought a tin for a hedonistic picnic in our Paris hotel room.

Also worth perusing is an impressive selection of pre-made sauces, including more than 30 kinds each of mustards (chive, coriander and "four red fruits"), flavored vinegars (cherry, pear, and mint); and flavored oils (Provencal, curry, and even pizza).

We bought jars of achoiade, a silky paste made of anchovies, olives, and capers, that we used as a dip for crudities. We stocked up on bittersweet chocolate bars to hand out to our chocoholic friends. We snagged a beautiful jar of herbal tea - so pretty that it looked more like potpourri - plus tiny cans of lobster parfait, jars of horseradish and tarragon mustards, a pack of nougat studded with hazelnuts and a jar of black currant jam. The prices were high, but no higher than the designer food items found in gourmet food stores back home.

Then we wandered over to Hediard, a Fauchon competitor with eye-popping displays of prepared foods, produce, coffees, confections and liquor. The atmosphere is a bit more homey and fun. Picture a window designer run amuck.

Everything is casually perfect. In a place like this, you dont fondle the produce, because each piece is exceptional. You point and a salesperson selects it for you. We tried to walk past the marzipan display in the huge candy section, but eventually succumbed and purchased three perfect marzipan balls of orange, cocoa and chocolate.

For our next gourmet encounter, we cruised the brightly-lit second floor of the Gallery Lafayette shopping center. Its an entire supermarket floor of food, with every conceivable type of cheese, meat, liquor, prepared food, and many imports. It didnt have the rarified air of Fauchon and Hediard, but oh, the selections!

We bought a picnic lunch there for our train ride to Avignon: sandwiches of smoked salmon and remoulade; and tiny pastel-colored meringue cookies filled with jams and creams.

If youre a food lover, its easy to spend a whole day at these three shops.

We reveled in the beauty of the displays and the huge variety of delicacies. We took in their smell, color, and texture (when permitted allowed to touch something). Its a tremendous sensuous experience. And if you do buy a little something, its a wonderful treat for your taste buds.

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