South of France
While living in Europe and learning to be a chef, I got in contact with a long-time family friend, Trish Robinson, to try and get a job.
Trish runs a company called A Taste of Provence, offering “culinary adventure” programs for travellers in the south of France. She would host cooking classes, market tours and long lunches at local bistros, restaurants and country inns.
I asked Trish if she would take me on as an assistant, and happily, she agreed!
During my time there, I immersed myself in Provençal culture and cooking. Produce was fresh, seasonal and plentiful; Trish and I would do as the local chefs and cooks did, creating dishes around the best of the harvest that was available.
Recipes were simple and unfussy, allowing the natural flavours and freshness of the ingredients to speak for themselves. We shopped at farmers’ markets every day, where we could touch, feel and smell the food items that we would put into our bodies only hours later.
Meals were not simply a delight for the mouth and belly – they were also a feast for the eyes, nose, hands and soul: hearty, unhurried, and filled with hours of great conversation (and more than a few glasses of wine!).
I was eating as much as I did while at culinary school in London but I found myself losing weight. It was then I realised how important the quality and wholesomeness of food, as well as the style of cooking it, was to health. Most crucially, I recognised the importance of enjoying the process of preparing the food as much as the process of eating it.
In a sense, my experience in France liberated me – it taught me that healthy eating can truly be a pleasure, not a chore.
In this chapter, you will find dishes rich in taste, yet light on effort – dishes that, whenever I savour them, transport me instantly back to the golden sunlight, relaxed pleasures and abundant bounty of glorious Provence.