Foods typical of the Auvergne area of France

One of the reasons we so enjoy traveling in France, is because this small country, slightly smaller than the state of Texas, offers a variety of foods typical to each region. No other country is quite so diversified, in my opinion. The Massif Central part of France, or the Auvergne as it is known, had foods we have not tried before and were very anxious to get our knife and fork into.



Above you see a typical dish known as Truffade. One might surmise that it contains truffles, from the name, but it does not. Along side a salad and the typical ham of the region, Truffade is a potato dish, and by the looks of it, they are not shy about serving a large portion. I would compare it to a glorified scalloped potato dish. The one ingredient that puts it over the top is the cheese. They use a local cheese, Tomme Fraiche de Cantal. I saw it at the grocer's and it was sealed in a plastic wrap. It was very squeezable and soft, more so than a fresh mozzarella. I have not seen it at Whole Foods in the states and I am sure, if it would be available, it would be in large, metropolitan cities.



The Truffade was wonderful, but too much. The amount on my plate could have fed a family of three. I could not eat it all, but I could eat some right now if it was at all possible.

Here is another potato dish regional to the Auvergne. This is called Aligot. We had to search quite a few restaurants to find this, but once again, the journey was worth it. From what I have read, it is tricky to make this dish. It takes years of watching grandma and mama before the young women tackle this. It is mashed potatoes and then this same Tomme cheese is beaten into the potatoes until the right consistency is achieved. It also has lots of garlic, but then, some villages omit the garlic. Like any other recipe, the cook rules.

It tasted wonderful, thick, very cheesy and once again, the portion was overwhelming. Lots of double cream and butter are added to the mashed potatoes and yes, I could eat it right now. We truly ate more potatoes in our week in the Auvergne than we have in the last year. It is a good memory and we are working to get the residual off our bodies!!

" Petit sale' aux lentilles," or salt pork with lentils is a classic Auvergne dish. These are la lentille verte du Puy, or lentils from the town of Le Puy-de-Velay. They are small and so very tasty. A small bag accompanied me home!! I love lentils and this dish brought them to a whole new height. I will be on the search for these small lentils in the future.

This dessert takes me back many years. In all the years we have traveled to France, this dessert in some shape or form is available on any restaurant menu. It is called "Ile Flottante" or Floating Isle. When I was in Home Economics class back in high school many years ago, we learned to make this dessert. That was the one and only time I ever made it or ate it. Until...we started traveling to France. I was curious why this was so popular. Well, there are so many variations, but they all start with the basic concept; a creme anglaise topped with islands or meringue.

In the photo above, you see this one was glorified. It contained orange slices, orange sorbet and it was topped with a chocolate cup filled with Grand Marnier. Yoo Hoo!! It was also decorated with these little orange fruits in the paper thin shells and for the life of me, I can't think of what they are called. Sort of tasted like a kumquat. Also note the added color of the violet.

Once again, we have great memories of our meals and wine. Not only do we love the sights but the experiences in the restaurants stay in our memories forever.

Our gite' near Vichy, France

Massif Central lives in the heart of France. Though not many people pick this as a tourist destination, is has claimed its name to many famous products. It is the home of Michelin, Perrier, Opinel knives, Charroux's fine mustard made by crushing seeds with a stone mill, stone quarries, lots of cheese and even a lace school.


We were early in the travel season and we could see immediately that this region is not used to many tourists. Nonetheless, we made our way through this beautiful part of France and enjoyed it very much.

We found a gite' on the Internet and booked it through the owner who lives in England. You can go here to see more details on the home we rented for a week. The photo below shows the house. We rented the entire downstairs which will be in the photos.

This was the first television we had seen in over a week. Also during that time, we had no access to newspapers, so we were anxious to catch up on the world news. Luckily, we also had a satellite connected to TV from England which made things a lot easier for us. On a side note, it was fun watching "House" on French TV. I hope the French do not think that all American doctors are like him!

The galley kitchen worked, but we quickly found out that the Trout and I both could not be in the kitchen at the same time. When we come to Europe, we change our habits. We adjust quickly to the 6 hour time change, and our eating habits also change.

No longer do I have my typical bowl of cereal for breakfast. We either drive or walk, depending upon the distance, to the nearest Boulangerie. We buy a bagette for the day and a croissant (plain or chocolate).

I brew a pot of "Carte Noire" my favorite coffee that I have found in France, and we have our breakfast. Depending on what is available, we might have cold cuts and cheese with the bagette, or a wonderful jam or jelly. In Germany, we had a soft-boiled egg each morning.

We then start driving in the direction of the towns for the day. After visiting a town, a church or another attraction, the time is nearing 12 noon. Restaurants only serve lunch between noon and 2 p.m., so you must be watching the clock. We usually have picked the restaurant in advance through reading about it while at home. Our noon dinner usually takes two hours, so after that we start touring again.

It is pretty typical that we get back to our gite' around 5 p.m. The Trout should be commended because he does the travel planning. He finds us a place to stay that is central to where we want to tour and then plans the directions we want to go and still be able to find lunch somewhere and get back home before 6 p.m.

We then relax with a glass of wine and prepare our evening meal which is usually cold cuts, cheese, bread and a bottle of wine. We tend to eat a heavy meal at noon with just a simple glass of wine. French driving laws have no tolerance to driving under the influence. This way, we can eat our evening meal when we want to (before 8 pm.) eat lighter and still enjoy a bottle of wine with no concerns. Sometimes during the day we come upon a market where we can buy a special treat for the evening meal.

Out the window of our gite' we kept seeing these little glass houses with roofs. One evening we walked over to find out that we were looking at the roofs of enclosure over graves in a cemetery. We had never seen anything quite like this and decided it must be a regional tradition.