Deze week duiken we in Le Croissant in de Niçoise keuken en vertel ik je waar je in Nice de beste socca, pissaladière en daube de boeuf kunt bestellen.
One of my acquaintances here is a former deputy mayor of Nice whose remit included oversight of food services in the schools—apparently a job quite difficult given the ethnic diversity of many neighbourhoods and the strong opinions of parents. We recently chatted about these specialty foods one finds in Nice, which she characterises as “the food the poor”—generally inexpensively sourced local foods that contrast with what one thinks of as traditional French cooking. It’s a good thing I like olives, chick peas and anchovies! And while there might be some consistency with the salades niçoises, not so with the so-called Caesar salad: I’ve yet to have one that seemed familiar, and oddly they never include anchovies!
That’s so interesting! Every time I tell my non-French friends about French school lunches, with their cheese and dessert course (albeit not served separately, of course, haha), they’re amazed. But I didn’t realise it varied from region to region, with local cuisines taken into account. Even though it sounds bad, ‘the food of the poor’ is historically quite accurate. And yes, luckily, it’s also the food of people who like sunshine on their plates :) Your comment about French Caesar salads often lacking anchovies did make me laugh. Talk about a missed opportunity!
Ben een grote ‘Pipo’ fan! Heerlijk zijn ze.
Ja hè! Over een dikke week ben ik weer in Nice, dan ga ik weer aan de socca-craving toegeven ;)
One of my acquaintances here is a former deputy mayor of Nice whose remit included oversight of food services in the schools—apparently a job quite difficult given the ethnic diversity of many neighbourhoods and the strong opinions of parents. We recently chatted about these specialty foods one finds in Nice, which she characterises as “the food the poor”—generally inexpensively sourced local foods that contrast with what one thinks of as traditional French cooking. It’s a good thing I like olives, chick peas and anchovies! And while there might be some consistency with the salades niçoises, not so with the so-called Caesar salad: I’ve yet to have one that seemed familiar, and oddly they never include anchovies!
That’s so interesting! Every time I tell my non-French friends about French school lunches, with their cheese and dessert course (albeit not served separately, of course, haha), they’re amazed. But I didn’t realise it varied from region to region, with local cuisines taken into account. Even though it sounds bad, ‘the food of the poor’ is historically quite accurate. And yes, luckily, it’s also the food of people who like sunshine on their plates :) Your comment about French Caesar salads often lacking anchovies did make me laugh. Talk about a missed opportunity!