Cuisine Provencale

---

The cooking of Provence is based around fresh, local produce including garlic, olive oil, tomatoes, fish, vegetables, fruit, and goat's cheeses. Meat and poultry also feature, but are generally of secondary importance. The cuisine of Provence is long established but has changed considerably over the centuries. Traditional rural life depended on three major crops – wheat, grapes and olives – which, with sheep farming, together with a variety of other local products such as almonds and herbs, sustained an agricultural economy of small farms. Although this traditional polyculture has largely disappeared, replaced by modern, large-scale agriculture, Provence remains, in the words of the Michelin Guide, "the garden of France". With a sunny climate and suitable soil, Provence produces a wide diversity of vegetables and fruits throughout the year, providing the basis for a varied and seasonal cuisine. The Michelin Guide lists as Provençal specialities strawberries from Carpentras, cherries from Venasque, melons from Cavaillon; figs from Caromb, potatoes from Pertuis, garlic from Piolenc and asparagus, tomatoes, peaches and apricots from all over Provence. Other prominent ingredients in Provençal cooking include aubergines, courgettes, grapes, mushrooms, olives, parsley peppers, and saffron. Along the Mediterranean coast of Provence there is plentiful fish and other seafood, including anchovies, bass, crayfish, dab, eel, grey mullet, octopus, red mullet, sardines, sea bream, skate, sole, spider crab, squid and tuna. In The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson comments, "it is fairly safe to assume that à la provençale portends the presence of tomato and garlic". Provence's eponymous sauce provençale consists of tomatoes concassées (skinned and deseeded), tossed in boiling oil with chopped parsley and garlic, mixed with sliced fried mushrooms and tomato sauce. Other dishes described as à la provençale include:

---

Article title : Cuisine of Provence
"(1995). Cuisine provençale (in French). Paris: Hachette. ISBN 978-2-01-625130-0. Saulnier, Louis (1978) [1923]. Le Répertoire de la cuisine (fourteenth ed..."
Article title : Provence
"to the north, in the Drome, is sometimes referred to as the fr:Drôme Provençale, given its very similar features and landscapes. The Rhône river, on the..."
Article title : Mediterranean cuisine
"Mediterranean cuisine is the food and methods of preparation used by the people of the Mediterranean basin. The idea of a Mediterranean cuisine originates..."
Article title : List of French dishes
"French cuisine. Some dishes are considered universally accepted as part of the national cuisine, while others fit into a unique regional cuisine. There..."
Article title : Belgian cuisine
"Belgian cuisine is widely varied among regions, while also reflecting the cuisines of neighbouring France, Germany and the Netherlands. It is characterised..."
Article title : Aioli
"yolk. Add the juice of a lemon.' Reboul, J.-B. (1989). La Cuisinière Provençale [The Provençal Cook] (in French) (25th ed.). p. 88. See also 1900 (3rd..."
Article title : Daube
"other meat is sometimes used. The best-known is the bœuf en daube à la provençale, a Provençal stew made with cheaper cuts of beef braised in wine, with..."
Article title : Michèle Torr
"tout l'amour du monde Others 2012: Chanter c'est prier 1999: La Cuisine (provençale) de ma mère by Michèle Torr 2005: la Couleur des mots (autobiography)..."
Article title : René Jouveau
"entitled Histoire du Félibrige in 1971. Jouveau, René (1963). La cuisine Provençale de tradition populaire. Berne: Editions du Message. OCLC 31895227..."
Article title : Herbes de Provence
" Retrieved May 15, 2017. Reboul, Jean-Baptiste (1910). La Cuisinière Provençale. "Cahier des charges label rouge no LA/02/03 Herbes de Provence" (PDF)..."

---