Cuisine of Provence

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 – wheat, grapes and olives – 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 à la provençale portends the presence of tomato and garlic". Provence's eponymous sauce provençale consists of tomatoes concasse, tossed in boiling oil with chopped parsley and garlic, mixed with sliced fried mushrooms and tomato sauce.
Other dishes described as à la provençale include:

Other Provençal dishes

Provençal dishes and culinary specialities without the "à la provençale" tag include:

Dish	Contents	Ref
Aioli	A garlic mayonnaise. In his Mets et produits de Provence, Eugène Blancard calls it the "triumph of the Provençal kitchen". It frequently accompanies potatoes, beetroot, fish and other seafood, and boiled salt cod.
Bouillabaisse	The classic fish dish of Marseille. It is somewhere between a soup and a stew. There is no standard recipe, and these are among the fish likely to be included: rascasse, baudroie, vive, galinette, merlan and langouste. Other fish that may be included are conger eel, crabs, gurnard, monkfish, mussels, red mullet, sea bass, sole, spider crabs and turbot.
Brandade de morue	A thick purée of salt cod, olive oil, milk, and garlic, usually spread on toast. It originated in the neighbouring region of Languedoc.
Escabeche	Fish are either poached or fried after being marinated overnight in vinegar or citrus juice. This is another non-native dish, known in Italy as scapece and in Algeria as scabetch.
Fougasse	The traditional bread of Provence, round and flat. Its name derives from the same Latin name as the Italian focaccia.
	A sauce made from the corals of sea urchins, often served with fish.
Navettes de Marseille	Dry biscuits with orange, lemon and sometimes lavender flavouring.
Pissaladière	A speciality from Nice, in the neighbouring Alpes-Maritimes department. Although it resembles a pizza, it is traditionally made with bread dough, and is topped with a bed of onions, lightly browned, tomato, and a paste, called pissalat, made from sardines and anchovies, and small black olives.
Ratatouille	A traditional ragout of aubergine, tomatoes, courgettes and sweet peppers, similar to the older Catalan samfaina.
Rouille	A mayonnaise with red peppers or paprika thick in consistency because bread is a major ingredient, often added to fish soups including bouillabaisse.
	Vegetable soup served either cold or hot, served with pistou, the local version of Genoese pesto. The vegetables may vary, but squash or pumpkin, some root vegetables, and beans are always used.	-
Calisson	A traditional confection of Aix-en-Provence, a soft, iced marzipan-like confection of almonds and candied fruit.
French king cake	A type of Epiphany cake found all over France; the Provençal version is different because it is made of brioche in a ring, flavoured with the essence of orange flowers and covered with sugar and fruit confit.
Tarte Tropézienne	A tart of crème pâtissière, invented by a Saint-Tropez pastry chef named Alexandre Micka in the 1950s.
Thirteen desserts	An old Christmas tradition in Provence. Thirteen desserts are served after Christmas Eve dinner, traditionally representing Jesus and His twelve Apostles. Each guest must eat all thirteen to guarantee good luck for the year ahead.
Herbes de Provence	Provençal herbs are a mixture of dried herbs commonly used in Provençal cooking, containing some or all of basil, fennel seed, lavender, marjoram, oregano, parsley, rosemary, savory, tarragon and thyme.