Sunday, July 3rd, 2:30 PM at La Coupole, in La Gaude
Lecture given by Alex Benvenuto and Jacques Dalmasso
Free Entry
An intriguing journey into our culinary past featuring very easy-to-make recipes, inspired by Apicius’ book, prepared and tested for you, which will not disconcert any Niçoise, but also a reminder of wild plants to rediscover and cook.
Ancient authors such as Cato, Pliny, and Palladius provide insights into both the cooking methods and the cooking ingredients and utensils of the Romans.
Roman cuisine is Mediterranean, based on olive oil, honey, and aromatic herbs, with a distinct preference for saucy dishes using wine.
The most famous work, copied throughout the Middle Ages, is De re coquinaria, by Marcus Apicius, cook to Emperor Tiberius.
When browsing his recipes, one quickly realizes how much Niçoise cuisine has inherited from Roman cuisine.
Let’s add that the picking of wild plants for immediate consumption is one of the imperative tasks of women in the countryside.
Two examples: Garum and Patina.
Roman cuisine uses garum, a kind of fish brine, in virtually all recipes, including desserts.
And when one goes through Apicius’ recipe, one notices that it is identical, both in procedure and ingredients, to the pissalat that my grandfather used to make.
Pissalat he used to start all sauces, including to begin stews or tripe.
It can be replaced by anchovy paste.
The patina is often found in Roman cuisine.
It is an earthenware oven dish, glazed, round or oval in shape, whose name was given to the dishes prepared in it, bound with eggs and baked … doesn’t that sound like the definition of the Niçois Tian, this Vallauris earthen dish that gave its name to the gratins in our cuisine?
The Romans adapted the patina for vegetable preparations, enriched with meats, or sweetened.
In short, Niçoise cuisine is a direct descendant of Roman cuisine more than of Gallic cuisine.
