THE GREAT FRENCH CYCLING ADVENTURE (with fine food along the way)
In the second part of her delicious. residency, Felicity Cloake travels across La Manche and takes a two-wheeled tour from the Alps to the Atlantic, then serves up un petit menu of seasonal Gallic dishes to entice you into the wonderful taste of France
PHOTOGRAPHS MYLES NEW FOOD STYLING SOPHIE AUSTEN-SMITH STYLING LUIS PERAL
FELICITY CLOAKE
Food writer in residence No 7
the residency.
Savoyarde bilberry tart, p42
“July is, for me, traditionally a month to spend indoors, curtains drawn tightly against the sun, watching a pack of skinny cyclists battle their way up mountains and down the Champs-Elyseés in pursuit of a yolk-yellow Lycra jersey. This perhaps unlikely interest in the Tour de France can be partly attributed to too much time spent hanging around campsite bars as a child, but I’d be lying if I said my passion was purely sporting. Tour champions come and go: the country itself is the real star.
I’ve long been in love with France in that clichéd British fashion, its mighty Alpine peaks and wide Atlantic beaches, the lush hydrangeas of Brittany and dark forests of the Ardennes, its style and silly sense of humour, and most of all its food, fiercely regional and treated with a refreshing reverence from Calais to Cassis.
Much has been written about the decline in France’s famous culinary culture, and it’s true that you can buy microwaveable burgers as easily as a jambon-beurre these days – but, after numerous, rather more leisurely two-wheeled expeditions of my own, I’m happy to report the provincial restaurant, serving an unfussy three-course menu for less than the price of a London main course, is alive, well and open for business – to everyone from local workmen to hungry cyclists.