A Local's Guide to Eating in Provence: Olives to Aïoli

In this episode, I'm talking about the thing that brought me to Provence before I ever set foot here: the food. I trace it back to two books I read as a teenager (Richard Olney's Lulu's Provençal Table and Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence) and the picture they gave me of simple, sun-soaked meals shared around a crowded table. Years later, actually living here, I've found the reality isn't far off.

From there I work through the ingredients that make this cuisine what it is: the olives (including the ones ripening on my own trees), the olive oil and garlic that start almost everything I cook, herbes de Provence and summer basil, the tomatoes and courgettes filling the markets right now, and the produce this region is famous for: Cavaillon melons, Carpentras strawberries, Banon goat's cheese, and local lamb. Then the dishes themselves: soupe au pistou, ratatouille, tapenade and anchoïade, a proper grand aïoli, daube, the Niçoise specialities (pan bagnat, pissaladière, socca), bouillabaisse, and petits farcis - plus what to actually expect on a menu here, which is lighter and far more vegetable-forward than most people picture when they think of French food.

If you're planning to eat your way through Provence, or just want to understand why the food here means so much to the people who live here, I hope this gives you a real sense of it. I'd love to hear which dish you try first...