Une Pizza ou Un Sandwich?

Let’s face it: of all of the people in l’Union Européenne, the French probably have the reputation for consuming the weirdest foods. Who else is known to eat such vast quantities of smelly cheese or escargots ("snails"), for example? (Around 20,000 tons a year of the latter according to some estimates.) While I am personally a huge fan of both, I realize that some readers have very disgusted looks on their faces at this point. A few years ago, my husband and I led a small group of college students to Paris and Beaune for their first trip abroad. For the most part, everyone in the group joined right in trying different dishes, like salads garnished with gésiers (gizzards) or chèvre chaud (warm goat-milk cheese--pictured). But one young woman stuck to her ingrained habits of eating only cereal and pasta, which became the running joke of the trip: “Jessica won’t eat THAT!”

Yet French restauranteurs attempt to cater to the tourist trade, at least somewhat. Here in Bédoin, where there are several campsites and, since the beginning of April, swarms of vacationers from Belgium, the U.K., Germany, and the like, the local sandwich shop and pizzerias do their best to accommodate the visitors' fast food needs. Point Cuisson, which was principally a not very good boulangerie-pâtisserie ("bakery and pastry shop") until about month ago, had a change of owners and with that a change of menu. They now serve, among other things, des ailes de poulet (“chicken wings”) and des donuts! While I have never tried either, I feel confident that they are à la française and not how they are chez nous; how could they be otherwise? The shop offers a fairly large selection of sandwiches, too, including one called un sandwich américain: a burger, all right, but on a baguette with French fries inside. The rest of the menu is devoted to French favorites, like croque-monsieur (a type of grilled ham and cheese sandwich) and one Provençal specialty which I particularly like: un pan bagnat, a tunafish sandwich on a baguette with a vinaigrette sauce, hardboiled eggs, and des anchois ("anchovies"). Delicious, but hardly your typical lunch at Subway.

The same is true for pizzas. Unless you live in Paris or another grande ville and have a Pizza Hut or Dominos nearby, you’re just not going to find thick crust pizza with tomato sauce and all of the customary toppings on it. Still, I’ll bet that even these American chains have made concessions to their overseas locations, as they should. So, here at Pizza Phil or at Pizza Paradiso, you’ll find roquefort or chèvre cheese (again) as well as mozzarella under toppings such as artichokes, eggplant, ratatouille, anchovies, or seafood. In terms of sausage, the choices might include merguez (Algerian), figatelli (Corsican), or chorizo (Spanish) instead of pepperoni. My final piece of advice is what I always tell my students. “France isn’t the U.S.: it’s different; that’s why we go there.” As I recall, even Jessica tried a little taste of cheese.

Bienvenue à la Cave Coopérative!

Although other regions might dispute the idea, Languedoc-Roussillon was apparently the first place to have a cooperative wine cellar in France. At the end of the nineteenth century a group of winemakers in a small town near Béziers decided to band together to save on the cost of facilities, equipment, and marketing. Since that time, about half of the country began developing caves, including Bédoin in 1924. While it may not be true in other parts of France, the cooperative here seems to be an important presence in town.


La Cave VMV (les Vignerons du Mont Ventoux), along with the church, are among the first sights for visitors coming into Bédoin from Carpentras. Open every day of the week, with the obligatory break for lunch, the main building (or le caveau de dégustation) primarily serves as a place to taste and buy local wines. Wine is sold in bottles, for the most part, but there are boxes available, as well as a kind of “service station” area with pumps, where you can get large, plastic, recyclable containers to fill with VMV wine at a reduced price. Near the front of the caveau, there’s a small boutique which sells wine-related items like glasses, carafes, and corkscrews and Provençal products such as soaps, lotions, herbs, and chocolate. The caveau’s informative manager, Mireille, a smiling, middle-aged woman, is always ready to distribute substantial amounts of local wines and discuss them with anyone interested. We’ve learned quite a bit from her about the different soils in the area and the fact that the designation A.O.C. (appellation d’origine contrôlée) does not always indicate the best wines of a given region. Some local bio (“organic ”) producers, for example, do not have limitations on what grapes to use and irrigation controls which come with A.O.C. wines and their products are, at least to our tastes, superior.

Another thing which we really enjoy about la cave is the monthly soirées they hold on Friday nights. At the end January, for example, we attended their Découverte du Nouveau Millésime (“Discovery of the New Vintage”) party where they featured not only red, white, and rosé VMV wines but des omelettes aux truffes to accompany them. I couldn’t imagine an American wine store paying the price of all those eggs, not to mention the truffles, for twenty or so people. Earlier this month, la cave had another one of their special thematic events: la Chasse aux Trésors. Part of the evening was devoted to a "treasure hunt" to find hidden pictures of chickens and win chocolate bunnies for Easter. They also had tastings of bio wines and platters of cheese from La Fromagerie Vigier in Carpentras. The get-togethers at la cave are great, allowing us new taste experiences and the opportunity to meet people who live in and around Bédoin. This last time we were able to discuss cheese with Mme Claudine Vigier and her husband Roland Barthélémy, a well-known maître fromager ("master cheese seller") from Paris. La cave is one of the main centers of activity in the town.