Provence is a melting pot of immigrants and nowhere is this more apparent than in Marseille where residents hail from neighboring Italy and Spain as well as Greece, Armenia, Indochina, and West and North Africa. Given that Marseille is the Mediterranean Sea’s largest port (and Europe’s second-largest), its cosmopolitan composition is not surprising. Upwards of a quarter of the population of France’s second largest city has roots from North Africa, especially Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria (referred to as the Maghreb). Marseille is geographically close to these three countries—a two-hour flight to Tangier, for example, costs as little as €26 right now. Even more pertinent are…

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At some point, midway through the procession of holiday dinners at our home this year, the subject of ‘bon appétit’ raised its controvertible head. (Again.) You may not even have known, until now, that it had a controvertible head. You, dear reader, are likely part of the majority of people who merely thought of the phrase—to the extent that you gave it any thought at all—as a festive salutation from the host to “enjoy the meal” and, with this pronouncement, blithely assumed it was the signal to begin the meal. Ah, but you underestimated the significance of these two little words—to some people, these seemingly…

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My advice is to find some Muscat de Beaumes de Venise and forget the confusion of what to call them! What’s in a name? That which we call a twice-baked almond-honey cookie by any other name would smell as sweet. Apologies to Shakespeare (who, by the way, would have called them biscuits!). Part two of a three-part series about what you may find in Provence after the “big supper” (otherwise known as the “Gros Souper”) on Christmas Eve. Called “the thirteen desserts of Christmas” or “Les Treize Desserts de Noël,” tradition dictates that the desserts consist of dried fruit and nuts, fresh fruit, and sweets…

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 “Calissons” is the first of a three-part series that focuses on what you may find in Provence after the “big supper” (otherwise known as the “Gros Souper”) on Christmas Eve,  Called “the thirteen desserts of Christmas” or “Les Treize Desserts de Noël,” tradition dictates that the desserts consist of dried fruit and nuts, fresh fruit, and sweets totaling 13 desserts to represent Jesus Christ and his 12 apostles at the Last Supper. The desserts are set out after Midnight Mass, all at once, on three layers of white table cloths (that represent the Holy Trinity). People who live in Provence know that everyone should take…

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Rosé can be the perfect match for your turkey and its varied trimmings, especially when it comes from Provence, the birthplace of rosé. With hundreds of years of practice making this wine, it is not surprising that the best rosés in the world hail from this region. Light yet complex, nicely balanced fruit and acidity, Provence rosés are refreshing to one’s palate and versatile enough to go with the myriad foods typically found on the traditional Thanksgiving table. (Keep a bottle chilled for the leftovers, too!) I love Thanksgiving. I am one of those (obsessive) sorts who has a file bulging with Thanksgiving recipes and…

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Okay, Patricia Wells is not really in my kitchen. But her new book, The French Kitchen Cookbook: Recipes and Lessons from Paris and Provence, has occupied a prominent place in my kitchen since I met its author last week in Darien, Connecticut. Wells made a stop at the Darien Library as part of her cross-country book tour to promote her newest entry in to the category of French cuisine cooking. The event, sponsored by Barrett Bookstore, packed the room with close to 200 people. Mostly women and many toting copies of earlier published books, this was an enthusiastic crowd with lots questions that demonstrated a…

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The luscious fig—its sweet flesh accented by crunchy seeds and enveloped by a deep purple skin—will soon reach perfection in Provence, arousing passions that border on obsession in folks who live in this part of the world. A cause for sleuthing, celebration, and, in Solliès-Pont, a lingerie fashion show that’s part of a three-day festival devoted to a particular variety of fig. I am a lover of figs—plain; wrapped in jambon de Parme; topped with chêvre or with Fourme d’Ambert cheese and a dollop of honey; arranged in tarts; transformed into jams and chutneys; or sautéed in butter and brown sugar and slathered atop vanilla…

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Le Quartorze Juillet, also known as La Fête Nationale or, especially in English-speaking countries, simply Bastille Day, is next Sunday.  July 14th is a French national holiday that marks the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille (prison) in 1789 and the symbolic birth of modern France. To learn more about the history of this fête nationale, please see an earlier TMT post. If you are lucky enough to be in France as you read this post, it will not be difficult to find a place to celebrate Bastille Day. Depending on where you are, there may be long parades, fireworks, airplanes decorating the sky…

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For years I thought I didn’t like melon. However inviting those deep orange slices of juicy cantaloupe appeared, I knew they tasted like cardboard and had the texture of baby food. One of my most vivid memories of melon encounters goes back to adolescence: I was staying with a best friend’s family in their cabin in Shaver Lake, a small community nestled in the Sierra Nevada’s of California. I came to the breakfast table and, to my horror, found half of a cantaloupe waiting for me. Panic set in: how could I possibly eat the entire half? Jeralynn and her sisters dug their spoons in…

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It is 12 degrees outside as I write this post. The wind is howling and the ground is covered with several inches of snow. Portsmouth, New Hampshire is not in the Alps, the place from which this Swiss dish hails, but the blustery weather makes me long for a roaring fire and one of Switzerland’s storied and traditional meals. Hint: it has a French name. Not fondue…the other Swiss meal with the French name—raclette. In the United States, nearly everyone is familiar with cheese fondue, but very few people know about raclette. And yet, it is said to be more popular in its native country…

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