Beautiful Brittany right here on your plate…

A memorable evening that was at Cook’s Barn last Thursday!  A group of ten very keen Francophiles (of varied levels of French) set their eyes on stunning views of Brittany landscapes to the haunting sounds of music by Yann Tiersen (made familiar because of the sound-track of the film “Amélie Poulain”).

An hour or so was spent learning about this very distinctive region of France.  Brittany has a history, culture and unique language that existed long before it became part of the 'Hexagon' that we call our country nowadays.  Brittany is now very much part of France.  Yet its history as well as geographical position set the region in a world of its own.  It was fascinating to discuss the very deep and specific traits of the Breton mentality and traditions.  One has to decide to go to Brittany; you don’t simply drive through it on your way South and discover it “by chance”.  You have to choose to go there!

So we made that special journey all the way to the tip of Finistère, visiting the little towns of Concarneau and Douarnenez, going cross-country up and down the peninsula, admiring the rocky coastline, stopping in Lochronan,  being reminded of Tintagel in Cornwall by its granitic architecture, strolling through a quiet market in the suburb of Quimper.  And what about the quaint little streets of Quimper lined up with artisans and delicatessen and rows of flower pots on the pavement outside florists’ shops?!  We learnt about BZH, calvaires, menhirs, vieilles charrues, binious and chapeaux ronds as well as oignons (including the ones one wears around the neck of course!), artichauts and choux-fleurs… and of course last but not least, we made friends with the legendary Bécassine.

  

We also looked into “La Chandeleur” French celebration (yes, another one) from Roman to modern times.   Never forgetting that all that linguistic and cultural investigation of our “French on your Plate” workshops is but a pretext to take a closer look at regional gastronomy!

We added to the presentation the study of a few recipes, all Breton of course and all including delicious crêpes.  

We scrutinized the vocabulary of both the ingredients and the cooking techniques, memorized all the necessary verbs and hurried to the kitchen range to enjoy the preparation of the meal.

 

Where we were then tasked by Christine to yet another test, that of identifying, amongst other things,  the various jams to be put on our pancakes.  The whole adventure was supervised by a little Bécassine puppet…

Our efforts were well rewarded when we shared a meal as delicious as ever.  The evening was enjoyed by everyone and we cannot wait for the next “visit” to France in that fashion.  By the way it’s on March the 3rd and we help you to discover Northern France.  Early bookings advisable!