THE French cuisine : a unique concept ?

A map with the name of all the dialects (not that much spoken nowadays) which happen to be the name of different cooking styles : provençale, lorraine, basque and so on.

Such a thing simply does not exist, of course some recipes are known all over France no matter where you are : everyone has heard of cassoulet or of pot-au-feu.

Yet, every region has is own  recipe book and classics most of the time influenced by the traditional products you may find there (Mirabelle pie in Lorraine, different sorts of fish on the coasts ), by history (Henry IV and la poule-au pot) and the migration waves (Couscous in a classic now), and -not to be neglected- by the proximity of other countries, such as Germany or Italy (Pasta is eaten by the vast majority of people at least once a week).

Main principle:

• The upper part of the map traditionally cooks  with butter (usually unsalted)  and double cream.

• The lower part of the map traditionnally cooks  with oil (that is to say of course olive oil !)

In the 60's a comic movie called "la cuisine au beurre" was even made about this MAJOR culinary difference:
The story takes place after WWII, a man (from Marseilles) comes back home in the South of France after having been kept in detention by the Germans only to find his wife re-married with a man from Normandy, because she thought he had been killed. The film is very caricatural, and old-fashioned but is, IMHO, still fun to watch.







I will try to pay tribute to every region, and post recipes I know and like from all over France, but I have got to say, I am a "Provençale" myself, and I tend to use olive oil and Mediterranean veggies all the time when I cook for my family, not to mention garlic. I even "converted" my husband into it even if he is a lorrain himself, so this was not an easy task at first !