It happens every year. I run out of Saturdays for foodie related posts for Weekend Cooking during Paris in July, so here is a Paris in July/Weekend Cooking post on Friday!
Several years ago I become obsessed with Stanley Tucci's Searching for Italy. I have watched parts of that show over and over, and have now followed Stanley Tucci wherever he wants to take me on his culinary journey including the new TV show TC in Italy and his foodie memoirs.
I did know that Eva Longoria has previously done a series called Searching for Mexico, which I think I have watched before. What I didn't realise is that she has now gone on to make a Searching for Spain series. and now Searching for France. So what qualifies Longoria to take us on this culinary journey through France. Clearly she has the experience of travelling through various countries, connecting with people and eating some amazing food. And she is a self proclaimed Francophile1
The series has 8 episodes with the first two being filmed throughout Paris. The first episode focussed on the Art of the Table, with the second focussing on Patisserie! Oh la la! So much deliciousness. They visited somewhere which is known as Sweet street where there is a food hall that I really want to visit next time we go to Paris.
From there, the host travels around the country to explore food and culture traditions which varies so much around the country starting in Provence. Below are a highlight from each of the episodes.
Provence - One of the segments was all about ratatouille, which when served with cous cous and lamb is one of my favourite meals ever.
Bordeaux - Red wine, of course! Also beef and caviar
Burgundy - Truffle hunting and history
Alsace - is it French or is it German, exploring the ways that both German and French influences have created a uniquely Alsation cuisine
Brittany - This episode started in St Malo which we visited when we were in France a few years ago. It also talked about seafood and buckwheat
My favourite episode was called France in Seven Courses and it was the 7th episode. This was a journey through French culinary history through a seven course dinner eaten whilst taking a cruise down the Seine. Throughout the meal, they talked about how the French Revolution led to the establishments of restaurant, how Auguste Escoffier changed French cooking, how Michelin started the famous star system, the rise of nouveau cuisine and bistronomy through to modern cuisine which is taking on influences from around the world. It should really be the last episode but I guess they wanted the seventh episode to have the Seven Courses title.
What about Eva herself? I can't say that I am that familiar with her as a person, but this show definitely showed that she has an earthiness, earnestness, a certain cheekiness and a love of food and wine. There were also moments of honesty. For example, in Provence she was being given a half and half pizza type dish where one half is covered in anchovies. She did say up front that she didn't like anchovies, but it isn't often that you see a TV food presenter go ugh, I don't like that! You can watch a video here where she talks about all the things that she loved.
While watching the series I said to Robert next time we go to France we will make it all about the wine regions. We had already talked about visiting Champagne but now we are adding Bordeaux and Burgundy to our itinerary.
Here's the trailer
No comments:
Post a Comment