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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Fêtes des Châtaignes – Chestnut Festivals


It’s the season of fêtes in France.

We’re lucky in Provence; it’s a great place to celebrate these country festivities.

The late autumn sun was unusually warm here on Sunday, an extra incentive for all of the 613 inhabitants of Les Mayons to celebrate the annual chestnut festival.

This is deep Provence, a village surrounded by cork, olive and chestnut trees – a village steeped in tradition, no glamour here just good old fashion heart and soul seduction.

Chestnut trees grow wild in this area of the Massif des Maures where for hundreds of years chestnuts used to be a staple food for the country folks; they made flour, and beer from chestnuts and fed the peelings to the animals.

Today, chestnuts are included in many menus in France. It can be chopped and mixed in with a salad, make a hearty yet delicate winter soup. It’s the sweetness of chestnuts that makes it so decadent in our desserts, so enticing in liqueur de Châtaigne.

But why do we say marron glacés for those wonderful crystallized chestnuts and Vin de Châtaignes for wine made with chestnuts? They are after all made from the same fruit.

It has to do with the biologic aspect, the separation of the fruit.

Sweet chestnuts produced from the chestnut tree can be either marrons or châtaignes depending on the separation – if the fruit has a partition it’s called a châtaigne, if it’s  contained as a single piece, then it’s a marron.




Châtaigne or marron, nothing beats the aroma of fresh roasted chestnuts out in the open especially on a fine day in October.


Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Semaine du goût -- a week of taste

Semaine du goût translates as a week of taste.

What it means is that all of this week (October 15 to 19) the French will be talking even more about taste and gastronomy focusing on the following core values:
  • Educating children and the general public about real food as opposed to fast food.
  • Promoting diversity of taste.
  • Product information and origins.
  • Promoting a balanced lifestyle through a healthy and balanced diet.

During the week food professionals will be giving demonstrations in schools, restaurants will be offering special prices on their fixed menus and workshops will be organized – cooking workshops, demonstrations and exhibitions.

The aim of semaine du goût?

To revive our taste for flavor and to take pleasure in eating. This is all good as France is beginning to have a problem with obesity -- statistics show that there are now seven million overweight people in the hexagon.

Semaine du goût started in 1990, a French initiative which the Swiss adopted in 2001 and which is now practised in quite a few countries.

This week of taste is definitely gaining popularity in France as this time last year it was hardly talked about.

Children become hooked at an early age on food so why not start at nursery school?
I popped in to our local maternity school to see what activities had been planned and what they were having for lunch on Monday.

Yes, they were having a few guests later on in the week; chefs who were coming to give demonstrations, to meet and talk to the toddlers about food, to discuss what they liked and what they didn’t like.

I also had a look at their menu for the day: 

Monday: 
Salade verte/ Roquefort/ pommes et noix (green salad/ Roquefort/ apples/ nuts.
Gratin de poisson ; Poelée de legumes (baked gratin fish, vegetables).
Pâtisserie.
                                   
A healthy start to the week. 

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Olive Festival in Ollioules

Every year around this time, the medieval village Ollioules in Haute Provence celebrates all things olive -- a two - day olive festival – a time to celebrate with food, music and scenery.

This year, celebrations kicked off on Saturday 6th October.

Traffic was closed off for the weekend; numerous stalls lined the old streets in the different squares; all welcoming, all bright, all very Provencal.

Olive oil producers welcomed the opportunity to show off their range of extra virgin, visitors delighted in sampling and buying not only olives and olive oils but also the wide range of olive specialties from Provence.



                       
                           

This was also the perfect venue to have the professionals answer all the olive oil questions:

  • Can you fry in olive oil?
  • How do you use fruity green, fruity black and fruity ripe in the kitchen?
  • What is the best way to store olive oil?
  • What do you look for on the label of a bottle of extra virgin?

This year there was even a competition for kids under the age of 14 on how to make aioli; the kids pounded their garlic while the adults encouraged and cheered.

There were other stalls of course, other demonstrations, all in keeping with the Provencal theme – the love of the people for tradition.

So what's aioli?


The name ‘Aioli’ is formed from the French ail (garlic) and oli (Provencal dialect for oil)

Aioli is a garlic mayonnaise that features in many traditional Provencal recipes but that also makes a delicious dip when served with a selection of raw or lightly cooked vegetables.