Tag Archives: food

Cattle Country

Posted on 19/03/2017 by nessafrance

Considering we are surrounded by them, I’m surprised I haven’t written more about these mainstays of local agriculture. Perhaps it’s because I have a love-hate relationship with them, especially when marauding herds have trampled down our garden. What am I … Continue reading →

Posted in Food/drink/recipes | Tagged Beef, beef consumption, boeuf, cattle farming, farming, food, rural life, SW France, transhumance | 27 Comments

French Flavours #1: A is for Aligot

Posted on 18/01/2017 by nessafrance

The temperature was approaching -10C when I went downstairs this morning – outside, I hasten to add. This is the coldest spell we’ve had for five years. In this weather you want rib-sticking food; nouvelle cuisine doesn’t hit the … Continue reading →

Posted in Aveyron, Food/drink/recipes | Tagged aligot, Aubrac, Aveyron, burons, food, Laguiole, Laguiole cheese, SW France, tome fraîche | 40 Comments

Appetising Return to Belcastel

Posted on 13/11/2016 by nessafrance

Last time, I wrote about a ghostly story linked to the château de Belcastel. This week, we had the opportunity to make a return visit to this plus beau village in Aveyron. Not only does it occupy a delightful setting … Continue reading →

Posted in Aveyron, Food/drink/recipes, Places | Tagged Aveyron, Belcastel, Château de Belcastel, food, Michelin star, Plus beaux villages, Restaurant du Vieux Pont, SW France | 16 Comments

Opération Escargot

Posted on 24/04/2016 by nessafrance

France’s cuisine was awarded UNESCO World Heritage Status in 2010, when it was included in the list of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage. Why “intangible”? Good food might be a consolation for the soul, but it’s also a feast for most … Continue reading →

Posted in Food/drink/recipes, Nature | Tagged escargots, food, French cuisine, gastropods, héliciculture, rural life, snail breeding, snails, SW France | 22 Comments

Le Temps des Cerises

Posted on 31/05/2015 by nessafrance

The title (‘Cherry Time’) is that of a very famous French song written in 1866 and interpreted much later by Yves Montand. With the addition of some verses, it became one of the anthems of the revolutionary Paris Commune in … Continue reading →

Posted in Food/drink/recipes, Places | Tagged A Year in Provence, cerises, cherries, cherry-picking, Clafoutis de cerises, food, Le Temps des Cerises, Provence, recipes, SW France | 12 Comments

Seasonal Treats: Asparagus and Strawberries

Posted on 29/03/2015 by nessafrance

When we first moved here, it was frustrating not to find strawberries or asparagus in the French shops in the winter. I completely changed my mind a long time ago. There is a lot to be said for enjoying produce … Continue reading →

Posted in Food/drink/recipes | Tagged asparagus, food, Gariguettes, seasonal produce, seasonal treats, spring, strawberries, SW France | 14 Comments

French Restaurant Capers

Posted on 18/07/2014 by nessafrance

French restaurants are currently on the menu in the news. A hapless blogger posted a bad review and was fined by a judge. And as from last Tuesday, restaurants have to indicate if any or all of their meals are … Continue reading →

Posted in Food/drink/recipes, French life | Tagged "fait maison", Auberge de la Grance du Cros, eating out in France, food, French cuisine, French restaurants, SW France | 11 Comments

A Brief History of Cheese

Posted on 19/01/2014 by nessafrance

At the Tuesday market in Caylus, which stall has the longest queue? No contest: the cheese stall. It’s especially long in summer when the holidaymakers and second homers swell the population. But even in winter you can count on a … Continue reading →

Posted in Auvergne, Food/drink/recipes, History | Tagged cheese, cheese production, dairy produce, food, France, French cheese, fromage, history of cheese | 19 Comments

Frog and Toad

Posted on 19/10/2013 by nessafrance

In culinary matters, the French and the British often compete about who first discovered a particular dish. A notable example is burn’t cream – crème brulée in French. Both countries claim to have invented it . Now, there is … Continue reading →

Posted in Customs, Food/drink/recipes, History | Tagged Amesbury, bufo bufo, Common European Toad, cuisses de grenouille, food, French cuisine, frogs, frogs' legs | 19 Comments

Goose Fat and Garlic

Posted on 08/07/2013 by nessafrance

A few weeks ago – only just found time to write about it – I attended the launch of a new edition of Goose Fat and Garlic, a book about the cooking and recipes of SW France. Jeanne Strang, who … Continue reading →

Posted in Aveyron, Books/writing, Food/drink/recipes | Tagged Aveyron, books, Ferme Carlès, food, Goose Fat and Garlic, Jeanne Strang, recipes, SW France | 15 Comments

French Provincial Cooking

Posted on 13/11/2012 by nessafrance

When pondering what to serve dinner guests this coming Saturday I reached for my disintegrating copy of Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking. Not because I expected to copy a user-friendly recipe but because it is chock-full of ideas. First published … Continue reading →

Posted in Books/writing, Food/drink/recipes, Personalities | Tagged Elizabeth David, food, France, French cuisine, French Provincial Cooking, Writing | 14 Comments

Chestnuts and Chestnut Recipes

Posted on 14/10/2012 by nessafrance

This autumn’s chestnuts It’s that time of year again when the sweet chestnuts are falling. Very few chestnut trees grow near us but not far away, around Najac and Laguépie, they clothe the slopes. If you walk along the River … Continue reading →

Posted in Food/drink/recipes, History, Personalities | Tagged châtaignes, chestnut cake, food, gâteau à la châtaigne, rural life, SW France, sweet chestnuts | 17 Comments

Figs and Fig Recipes

Posted on 14/09/2011 by nessafrance

This is the time of year for figs, those strangely luscious and fleshy fruits. We have plucked these figs from our own tree – alas, we have only one. They are unusual in that they are not the small … Continue reading →

Posted in Food/drink/recipes, French life, Nature | Tagged autumn fruit, fig and walnut jam, fig clafoutis, fig recipes, figs, food, France, living in France, SW France | 18 Comments

Tomatoes and Tomato Recipes

Posted on 17/08/2011 by nessafrance

How about these for tomatoes? Each one is about 14 centimetres in diameter and weighs around a kilo. None of your shop-bought imitations – perfectly symmetrical, dosed to the pips with noxious substances and tasting like cotton wool. And just … Continue reading →

Posted in Food/drink/recipes, French life, Gardening | Tagged food, France, gardening, growing vegetables, living in France, SW France, tomato and courgette soup, tomatoes | 4 Comments

What Do the French Talk About at Dinner Parties?

Posted on 03/08/2011 by nessafrance

Last night, we were invited to dinner with French friends with whom we socialise regularly. The SF and I have christened our group ‘the Gang’. There were nine of us yesterday. Some of them were born in the region and … Continue reading →

Posted in Customs, French life | Tagged dinner party conversation, etiquette, food, France, living in France, social customs, SW France | 11 Comments

You must be in France when there’s…an Egg Mayonnaise Protection Society

Posted on 11/03/2011 by nessafrance

Apologies to any subscribers who were unable to access this post from their notification email. I did something stupid but have rectified it so the link should work now. I almost overlooked another important news item in last Saturday’s Le … Continue reading →

Posted in Customs, Food/drink/recipes, French life | Tagged Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, confréries, food, France, living in France, oeuf mayonnaise | 7 Comments

French winter market

Posted on 16/12/2010 by nessafrance

Our village market in winter occupies a different world from its summer version. There are many more stalls in summer, when jewellery sellers rub shoulders with purveyors of over-priced charcuterie. As I walked down into the market square this Tuesday, … Continue reading →

Posted in French life, Places, Weather | Tagged food, France, markets, SW France, winter | 3 Comments

Pumpkins and Pumpkin Recipes

Posted on 03/11/2010 by nessafrance

Where we live in southwest France, size is of the essence: in fact, the bigger, the better. One of our local villages, Parisot, held a competition on Sunday for the biggest, heaviest and oddest shaped. I am of course talking … Continue reading →

Posted in Customs, Food/drink/recipes, French life | Tagged food, France, living in France, pumpkin, recipes, rural life, SW France | Leave a comment

Roquefort

Posted on 16/10/2010 by nessafrance

Roquefort cheese takes its name from the place where it is manufactured, Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. Until last Thursday, what I knew about the manufacture of Roquefort would have gone on the back of one postage stamp. After our Thursday outing, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Aveyron, Food/drink/recipes, French life, History, Places | Tagged Aveyron, cheese, food, France, living in France, recipes, Roquefort, SW France | 3 Comments

Walnuts and walnut recipes

Posted on 10/10/2010 by nessafrance

I’ve written about walnuts before, but that was in May when they were unripe. June is the time to pick the unripe green ones for walnut wine (see my post about it, here). October is when the nuts start … Continue reading →

Posted in Food/drink/recipes, French life, Nature | Tagged food, France, living in France, recipes, SW France, tarte aux noix, walnut tart, walnuts | 6 Comments

Mushroom picking fever

Posted on 27/09/2010 by nessafrance

After this week’s rain, the event we’ve been waiting for has arrived – the mushroom season. People carrying baskets or plastic bags are seen disappearing furtively into the woods. They look round suspiciously, as if in a spy movie, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Food/drink/recipes, French life, Nature | Tagged cèpes, food, France, living in France, recipes, SW France, wild mushrooms | 8 Comments

French markets

Posted on 19/08/2010 by nessafrance

We all love going to French markets. The array of misshapen and sometimes eccentric items (and that’s just the customers); the banter between stallholders and customers; the sight of French people in pursuit of that most serious of pastimes, eating; … Continue reading →

Posted in Aveyron, Food/drink/recipes, French life, Places | Tagged blogs about France, food, France, living in France, markets, rural life, SW France | 1 Comment

Goats, grain and gremlins

Posted on 27/06/2010 by nessafrance

The gremlins were the weather goblins, who made last weekend a complete washout. Sunday 20th June was a journée du patrimoine, when monuments and places of historic interest open their doors to the public. Despite the weather, or maybe because of … Continue reading →

Posted in Food/drink/recipes, French life, Nature, Personalities, Places | Tagged farming, food, France, goats, goats' cheese, living in France, recipes, SW France, watermills | 3 Comments

Eat well in France – 10 top tips

Posted on 14/06/2010 by nessafrance

Although noted for its cuisine, you don’t always eat well in France. A writer’s lot in France provides 10 top tips for enjoying a restaurant meal. Continue reading →

Posted in Food/drink/recipes, French life, Top tips | Tagged blogs about France, bread, déjeuner, dinner, eating, food, France, living in France, Lunch, menu, restaurants, wine | 6 Comments

French seasonal treats: répountsous (asparagus alternative)

Posted on 03/05/2010 by nessafrance

Strangely bent figures can be seen at this time of year patrolling the grass verges, heads bowed in concentration, oblivious to the juggernauts thundering past. What are they doing?

Posted in Aveyron, Food/drink/recipes, French life, Nature | Tagged asparagus, Aveyron, food, France, recipes, repountsous, rural life, SW France, Tarn, Tarn-et-Garonne | 1 Comment

Walnut wine – vin de noix

Posted on 18/04/2010 by nessafrance

Try making walnut wine, a regional drink from southwest France, where walnut trees abound, suggests A writer’s lot in France. Continue reading →

Posted in Food/drink/recipes, French life | Tagged aperitifs, food, France, recipes, SW France, vin de noix, walnut wine, walnuts, wine | 7 Comments

French social customs 4: table manners part 2

Posted on 21/03/2010 by nessafrance

People in France eat out a lot (although somewhat less during the present crise). On Sundays, you will often see whole families from grandparents down to babies tucking into a five-course meal. This is the reason why French children are … Continue reading →

Posted in Customs, French life, Top tips | Tagged blogs about France, breaking news, dinner, etiquette, food, France, Lunch, restaurants, social customs | Leave a comment