The cooking of Provence is based around fresh, local produce including garlic, olive oil, tomatoes, fish, vegetables, fruit, and goat's cheeses. Meat and poultry also feature, but are generally of secondary importance.
The cuisine of Provence is long established but has changed considerably over the centuries. Traditional rural life depended on three major crops â wheat, grapes and olives â which, with sheep farming, together with a variety of other local products such as almonds and herbs, sustained an agricultural economy of small farms. Although this traditional polyculture has largely disappeared, replaced by modern, large-scale agriculture, Provence remains, in the words of the Michelin Guide, "the garden of France".
With a sunny climate and suitable soil, Provence produces a wide diversity of vegetables and fruits throughout the year, providing the basis for a varied and seasonal cuisine. The Michelin Guide lists as Provençal specialities strawberries from Carpentras, cherries from Venasque, melons from Cavaillon; figs from Caromb, potatoes from Pertuis, garlic from Piolenc and asparagus, tomatoes, peaches and apricots from all over Provence. Other prominent ingredients in Provençal cooking include aubergines, courgettes, grapes, mushrooms, olives, parsley peppers, and saffron. Along the Mediterranean coast of Provence there is plentiful fish and other seafood, including anchovies, bass, crayfish, dab, eel, grey mullet, octopus, red mullet, sardines, sea bream, skate, sole, spider crab, squid and tuna.
In The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson comments, "it is fairly safe to assume that portends the presence of tomato and garlic". Provence's eponymous consists of tomatoes (skinned and deseeded), tossed in boiling oil with chopped parsley and garlic, mixed with sliced fried mushrooms and tomato sauce.
Other dishes described as include:
Provençal dishes and culinary specialities without the "" tag include: