The atlas · A cuisine · Provence — south-eastern France, from the Rhône to Nice
Provençal
Olive oil, garlic and the herbs of the dry hills, with tomatoes, fish from the Mediterranean and sauces pounded in a mortar.
Where it comes from
Greek settlers founded Marseille around 600 BC, and they're often credited with bringing olives and vines to this coast. Olive oil, not butter, is the fat here, which sets Provence apart from most of French cooking.
Much of what now tastes most Provençal came later. Tomatoes, peppers and courgettes arrived from the Americas and took centuries to become everyday food — and the jarred blend called herbes de Provence is far newer than the thyme, rosemary and savory that grow wild on the hills.
Where in it
- MarseilleThe old port city, founded by Greek traders: bouillabaisse from the rockfish of its coast, pastis at the bar, and navettes baked for Candlemas.BouillabaisseNavettes
- NiceTied to Genoa and Turin until 1860, and it still cooks like it: socca, pissaladière, ravioli and a salade niçoise its cooks argue about, all on olive oil and small black olives.RatatouilleSoccaPissaladière
- Avignon and the VaucluseThe papal city and its fertile plain — melons from Cavaillon, cherries and truffles in season, and a daube made with lamb in white wine.Daube provençale
- The CamargueThe Rhône delta of marsh and salt pans, where black bulls and white horses graze, rice grows in drained fields, and sea salt is raked by hand.Gardiane de taureau
How it cooks
- The mortar
- Aïoli, pistou, rouille and tapenade are all pounded — garlic first, then everything else, oil last.
- Boiling hard
- Bouillabaisse is boiled fast so the oil beats into the broth rather than floating on it.
- À la provençale
- Garlic, parsley and olive oil, often tomato — the finish that marks a dish as from here.
- Long in the oven
- Daubes and tians, cooked slowly in earthenware until the vegetables collapse or the meat falls apart.
Always in the kitchen
Cook from it
Tonight, with what's good in October
Its classics
ProvençalBouillabaisseMarseille's fish stew: bony rockfish boiled hard with olive oil, tomato, fennel and saffron, served with rouille and bread.No one here has made it yet
ProvençalRatatouilleAubergine, courgette, peppers, onion and tomato stewed slowly in olive oil with garlic and herbs.No one here has made it yet
ProvençalSoupe au pistouA summer soup of beans, green beans, courgette and pasta, with basil, garlic and olive oil pounded and stirred in at the end.No one here has made it yetProvençalAïoliGarlic pounded with salt and beaten with olive oil into a thick, pungent emulsion.No one here has made it yet
ProvençalTapenadeBlack olives pounded with capers, anchovies, garlic and olive oil, spread on toast.No one here has made it yetProvençalSoccaA thin chickpea-flour pancake baked in a very hot oven in a wide copper pan, eaten hot with black pepper.No one here has made it yet
ProvençalNavettesHard, boat-shaped biscuits scented with orange-flower water, dunked in coffee.No one here has made it yetProvençalPissaladièreA thick bread dough spread with onions cooked slowly to a sweet mass, criss-crossed with anchovies and dotted with black olives.No one here has made it yetProvençalDaube provençaleBeef marinated in red wine with garlic, herbs and orange peel, then braised for hours in a pot-bellied daubière until it gives to a spoon.No one here has made it yetProvençalGardiane de taureauBull's meat from the Camargue stewed slowly in red wine with onions, garlic and black olives, served with the delta's own rice.No one here has made it yetHow it got here
Around 600 BC · from PhocaeaOlives and vinesGreek settlers from Phocaea founded Massalia — Marseille — around 600 BC, and are often credited with bringing the olive and the vine to that coast. Olive oil has been the fat of Provence ever since.
Cooked here
No one here has cooked Provençal yet.