Christmas And Food

Christmas And Food
The French traditionally do much as we do as far as Christmas fare goes, with the exception of Christmas pudding. The French don't have mince pies either although the German stöllen is plentiful in the shops. I find it rather strange that even though preserving fruit is a local speciality there appears to be no kind of local fruitcake. Even more strange, in an area covered in grape vines, grapes (raisins) don't seem to be among the preserved fruits. These latter are apples, pears, strawberries, apricots, melon and figs, plus the pineapples and papaya that come from La Reunion or Mauritius. The preserved strawberries are especially delicious.

A fowl of some sort is the favourite meat and foie gras is the prescribed starter. The shops are full of whole foie gras. The French do have Christmas cake but it is rather different from ours. Theirs is a “galette des rois” (after the three kings) and consists of a light brioche-type cake with large pieces of candied fruit on top and a small crown hidden somewhere within it. The person who gets the piece of cake with the crown in it is king for the moment and is supposed to be treated specially.
Chocolates, I assume, are also consumed in quantity since the supermarket displays of these cover at least six times more shelf-space than they normally do.

Another tradition here in Provence is the 13 desserts, the number signifying Christ and the 12 apostles. The exact nature of the 13 desserts varies considerably but must always include local produce and the colours black, brown and white. The colours represent the those of the robes of the monastic orders that prevail locally (I'm not sure what the orders are and can't be bothered to research them). Anyway, the brown is usually nuts, typically almonds in this area, and the black and white are typically nougat. The colour black can also be provided by olives. Brown, of a lighter hue, is also the colour of the fougasse, which must be included. Fougasse is a type of pastry rather like choux pastry and is available throughout the year in bakeries, usually with olives in it. At Christmas it tends to be served plain. Some preserved fruit, typically figs, is also included.

Last Sunday, the English library in Beaumont de Ventoux (BELL) had its annual Christmas get-together and launched a new version of its cookbook. The previous one had been compiled in 1995. It's one of those things that such organisations, particularly an essentially ex-pat one, do but which struck me as slightly unnecessary, particularly since publishing it works out to be relatively expensive. There are plenty of extensive and inexpensive cookbooks on English and French cooking. In the event I was pleasantly surprised. What I had overlooked was that most of the ex-pat community had travelled widely during their lives and so the recipes in the cookbook originated from all over the world. So it was a worthwhile exercise after all.

I usually take a few things back to England with me at Christmas but, at this time of the year, the possibilities are rather limited. The best of what is produced here is mainly fresh local fruit and vegetables. Honey in jars doesn't travel well in a suitcase, so it's a question of soaps (olive-oil based), flower essences and of course the local donkey sausage, which both of my kids love. Donkeys were used extensively round here up to half a century ago to bring produce from the fields into the village, which posed the question of what you do with an old and knackered donkey that is no longer fit for work. If you're English, you probably make it into a family pet; if you're French, you make it into sausages. I'm also taking back a tin of confit de canard, which is probably available in England but which I haven't noticed in any of my mother's local supermarkets. If I can find any, I may also pack some pâté de coing (quince paste) which isn't in the shops but is made by many people locally and is delicious.