How to Decipher the Menu, Know the Market Foods & Embark on a Tasting Adventure By Ronnie Hess

Ronnie Hess is an author, journalist, English teacher, and chef. She has lived and worked in France, studying gastronomy with a passion for the art itself.

The Introduction:

This entry to the Eat Smart series of guides tackles French cuisine in a most interesting manner. It is not simply

about the cooking, but rather it covers the historical and regional aspects of how the foods came to be what they are today, immersing the reader in the culture of the country. It brought back memories of the aromas around an open air market in Paris so many years ago…..the bread, the cheese, the garlic…..

The Review:

This book is absolutely delicious, cover to cover. I feared I would actually eat the pages; that’s how descriptive the author made the food of…

Collioure, France – a fantastic splash of colour for Spring.  It was Henry Matisse, the artist, who said, “In the whole of France there is no sky as blue as the one above Collioure.”  The French town, lying almost in Spain but its roots being resolutely Catalan, is best seen out of season, when the weather is warm but not hot and you can have the place to yourself.  Artists Matisse, Picasso and others developed their fauvist (meaning ‘wild beasts’) style of painting in the town, utilising intensely vivid, contrasting colours and simplified shapes.

This little town tumbles down the hillside in a splash of colours, wedged into the Cote Vermeille – or Vermillion Coast, named after the purplish-red rocks.  The outdoor markets sell all manner of local produce – fat, freshly-landed oysters from Cap Leucate, huge bulbs of garlic, paper cones of sardines.  The…