Food, glorious food

Click on these babies to get a close up of the ripe skin, bursting with flavor. You can almost smell them!

I love France because food seasons still exist here. I know when it’s spring because the asparagus and baby veggies have arrived, and summer doesn’t start until the first cherries and melons come up from Provence. When the oysters are as plentiful as the golden delicious apples, I know the temperatures will be dropping soon and bringing plenty of autumn rain. In winter, all the pumpkin soup I could ever desire starts off most meals of hearty stews or tender confit de canard with lots o’ potatoes.
All of these repasts are washed down, of course, with equally seasonal wines. Lighter reds, from the Loire Valley, go best with Spring, while the whites from the Maconnais and rosés of Provence (punctuated by the occasional Vino Verde from Portugal) cool down summer. For fall, the Côtes du Rhone contribute a fond reminder of August sunshine, while Bordeaux warms up the winter with toasty intensity. Luckily, champagne is appropriate and inexpensive year round.

Cheeses are seasonal in a special way in that their individual “personalities” are considered more appropriate at different times of the year. The moist, fresh goat cheese on your salad in June is a far cry from the runny vacherin that you scoop up with a spoon onto hearty bread in December. There are actually peak times of the year for certain cheeses (such as vacherin) depending on the ageing/curing process. However, this is one of the few staples of French cuisine that will truly be delicious all 12 months of the year. And anyone who thinks of themselves as an Epicurean or cheese-lover should follow the appropriate order in consuming the tempting array on their carefully arranged platter!

The culinary cycle is based on what is ripe, what is fresh, what tastes best at this particular point in time. While sometimes I miss the fact that in the US, you can satisfy a craving for anything at any time of year (and even any time of day or night, simply unthinkable here), when you stop and consider that the plums you so desire in January could not possibly have come from anywhere near where you live and therefore were not picked just as they were ripening… they kind of lose their appeal (and moreso when you see the price tag!) There’s a certain charm to limiting oneself to the foods that nature intended us to eat on Her schedule, and the markets and the menus here tend to be an accurate reflection of what is seasonal.
Right now is my favorite part of summer, as the cherries have just made way at my market to juicy nectarines, fresh-cheeked apricots and peaches and plump blueberries. Melons are still readily available, the tomatoes are bursting with flavor and raspberries literally explode on your tongue. I find great delight in the simple cucumber, with a sprinkling of herbs and a liberal dose of fresh feta straight from my local cheese shop.
Another thing I love about the French is that conversations about food and wine can last for hours; gastronomy and the pleasures of the table are among their top priorities, the basics, the crucial elements that make life worth living.
Vive la France et bon appétit !