[blaze33]

Indeed, "ask most Parisians if they’ve heard of it, and they’re likely to shrug and shake their heads", living in Paris, that's simply not true.

Still it's kind of "secretive" in the sense that it's reserved to food professional (be it a restaurant, a butcher or a supermarket), so that most Parisians never get to visit Rungis. Now if we're talking about what top chefs get, that's a kind-of-secretive market because you can't just get in Rungis and expect to get the top of the line products, they're already reserved for the top clients. It's not even (well not only) a question of money, you have to work with the right guy who knows the right producers since like forever.

Old photos of Rungis: http://www.lesechos.fr/industrie-services/diaporamas/DIAP260... (first one from the old paris market who was replaced) An up to date video: http://www.elephant-groupe.com/docs/rungis