March 16, 2025 • 57 mins
Have you ever dreamed of leaving it all behind and starting fresh in France? In this episode, "MasterChef’s Andrew Prior: From Australia to France," host Annie Sargent chats with Andrew Prior about his incredible journey from Australia to France, his passion for French cuisine, and his time on MasterChef Australia.
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Andrew shares what inspired him to make the big move and how he turned his love for French food into a career. From leading food tours to launching his Fabulously Delicious podcast, he gives us an inside look at what it takes to embrace French culture through its cuisine. He also reveals the challenges of transitioning from life in Australia to settling in both Paris and the French countryside.
Annie and Andrew swap stories about their favorite French markets, local specialties, and the best ways to experience France through food. They also discuss how seasonality shapes French cooking and why simple dishes like omelets and soupe à l’oignon are timeless classics.
If you're passionate about French food, considering a move to France, or just love a great culinary story, this episode is for you. Hit play now and join the conversation!
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(00:15):
This is Join Us in France, episode537, cinq cent trente-sept.
Bonjour, I'm Annie Sargent, and Join Usin France is the podcast where we take
a conversational journey through thebeauty, culture, and flavors of France.
Today, I bring you a conversationwith Andrew Prior about his incredible
journey from Australia to France,his culinary adventures, and his
(00:40):
experiences on MasterChef Australia.
Join us as we dive into hisfoodie adventures, his podcasts
'Fabulously Delicious', and discoverhidden French culinary gems.
Whether you're an avid listener ofFrench food podcasts or looking for
some inspiration in the kitchen, thisepisode is packed with delightful
stories and invaluable and wonderfulinsights, and I love talking
(01:04):
about food, you know that, right?
This podcast is supported by donorsand listeners who buy my tours and
services, including my ItineraryConsult Service, my GPS self-guided
tours of Paris on the VoiceMap app,or take a day trip with me around the
Southwest of France in my electric car.
You can browse all of that at myboutique: joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
(01:27):
And remember, Patreon supporters getthe podcast ad-free and as soon as
it's ready, click on the link in theshow notes to enjoy this Patreon reward
for as little as three bucks a month.
For the magazine part of the podcast,after my chat with Andrew today,
I'll discuss a type of accommodationthat doesn't come up a lot on the
(01:47):
podcast, but is wonderful for families.
Bonjour, Andrew Prior, andwelcome to Join us in France.
Oh, bonjour and mercibeaucoup for having me on.
I'm fangirling or fanboying at the moment.
(02:09):
I've been a avid listener ofyour podcast for a long time.
And, in fact, you inspired mea bit to create my own podcast.
So, yes, thank you very much.
Thank you.
So what's the name of your own podcast?
Oh, well, Fabulously Delicious: The French Food Podcast, and so it (02:21):
undefined
literally is as the name suggestsabout delicious French food.
Just French Food.
Yeah, that's it.
Lots to talk about, lots to talk about.
So what inspired you, because youmoved from Australia to France, right?
Oui, that's correct, yes.
We moved here in 2016, andwe've been happily living here.
(02:45):
We had four years in Paris and nowwe're living in the French countryside,
and we've been here since the firstday of confinement of COVID, so
that was an experience in itself.
So you did not decide to movebecause of COVID, you had
decided to move before COVID.
That's correct, yeah.
So the dream with coming to Francewas always to have a place in Paris
(03:05):
and have a place in the countryside,because I love French food, we wanted
to get out, explore the differentregions and et cetera, with food.
And I wanted to move from- I wasdoing food tourism at the time, so I
wanted to move from doing food toursto actually doing cooking classes.
And so that was part of that move to thecountryside, was to do cooking classes.
(03:25):
But of course, at that time thingschanged, there was a little thing
called COVID and that- especiallywith Australians, it meant that they
couldn't travel to France for a good twoyears, so that was a bit of a problem.
Yeah, yeah.
And obviously because you arekind of famous in, in Australia.
You did MasterChef Australia.
(03:45):
So I assume most of yourcustomers are from Australia.
Tell us about that a little bit.
Yeah, they were definitely, it'schanged a little bit now, but definitely
they used to be from Australia.
So as you've said, I was on MasterChefAustralia, back in the fifth season of it.
I think they're now on their13th or something like that.
It's unbelievable.
But yeah, the fifth season of MasterChefAustralia, back in 2013, I had just the
(04:09):
year before, I had spent a year in Paris.
My husband, now husband, he wasn'tmy husband then, but my now husband,
was doing his PhD at Seance po.
And so I went over with him and we had,it was a bit of a big change for me.
I'd never done that before, so I sortof had my gap year when I was 39.
Hence, went to Paris and just walkedaround Paris and discovered a love
(04:34):
for Paris and a love for French food.
I mean, I already had a love forFrench food but, it really cemented it.
Went back to Australia, I didn'treally want to go back to insurance,
which I'd done for 20 years, andI really wanted to move to France.
That's what we both reallywanted to move to France then.
But one day I saw an ad on the televisionand, yeah, I applied and that was for
(04:56):
MasterChef Australia, and got on, whichwas a big rigorous process, just in
getting on, and it was a great experience.
I say often that it was the bestexperience of my life and the
worst experience of my life.
So, the best because it literallychanged my life, it really cemented
my love of food and wanting to workin the food industry in some way,
(05:17):
also was just a fabulous experienceto be on a TV show, you know?
The behind-the-scenes partof it really intrigued me.
I used to love the cameramen andthe mic people and all of that
sort of stuff, and I loved jokingaround with them and the producers.
And the worst part of my life wasthat I wasn't really a big fan of the
competition, so to speak, the fellowcontestants, it was quite competitive,
(05:40):
and I didn't really like that.
I had this dream of it being thefamily, you know, the MasterChef
family, which is what they sort ofsay on the telly, but in reality
everybody was quite competitive and Ijust didn't go into it thinking that.
Despite the fact that my husbandsaid when he dropped me off at the
hotel, "If you don't come home withour $100,000, don't come home."
(06:01):
Oh, nice husband you have.
Yes, that's okay.
He's a- you know, he has his- hehas his, sometimes he says the
right things, sometimes he doesn't,like most husbands, you know?
And also because I happened to be theonly contestant on MasterChef Australia
in the world, and I think it's stillthe case, who was medically retired.
(06:21):
So I wasn't eliminated for my cooking,they loved my food, I was actually
eliminated because I hurt my knees onthe show, so I got bilateral stress
fractures in my knees and I fractured myleft kneecap, so I wasn't allowed to walk
for 10 weeks after being on the show.
Oh dear.
Yeah.
I know.
I know.
It was quite funny, actually, I say thisall the time because we had to keep it
(06:43):
a secret that I was on the show, andthey filmed before, but then they, now
they actually film from my understandingthe whole season before it goes to air.
But back then they filmed half itand then whilst it was on air they
were still filming, so, I was awayfilming the show and then, that was
eight weeks, and then I had 10 weekswhere I wasn't allowed to walk.
(07:05):
So I just stayed at home.
And we kept it a secret from everybody, soI literally just stayed home, no one came
over, friends, family, we only told myparents really, and really close friends.
So, by the time it actually got ontothe telly people were going, "Oh,
we haven't seen Andrew for 18 weeks!
He must have done really, really wellon the show!" And then four weeks
(07:29):
into watching it they then found outthat I'd hurt myself and then everyone
was going, "Oh my God, are you OK?
All right, all right.
That's great.
So, tell us about your life in France now.
Is there places thatyou particularly love?
And then we'll get to thefood a little bit later.
I want to hear about the places you love.
(07:51):
Yes.
Well, I mean the first placethat I love would have to be my
hometown here in Mont-Morillon.
So it's... I'm desole formy French accent, it is...
You're going to have to spell that.
Mont-Morillon?
Mont-Morillon.
So it's M-O-N-T-M-O-R-I-L-L-O-N,Mont-Morillon.
(08:12):
And so it is located in the Vienne.
We're sort of halfway inbetween Poitier and Limoges.
And so we found the house hereand fell in love with the house.
And we have fallen in love with the town.
It's a great town.
It's got about 6,000 people.
It has its own macaron museum, becausethere specifically is a Macaron Memorial.
(08:33):
It's quite different actually, it's likea macaroon, but instead of being made
from coconut, it like the macaroon is,it's made from almond, like a macaron is.
So the museum gets busloads ofpeople coming to it, which is often
quite fun because that's literallyright next door to our house.
And so there's buses pull up withpeople getting off to go to the Macaron
(08:55):
Museum, but it's quite handy becausethey make delicious chocolates as well.
So we can pop over to there.
But it is a great town.
It's on a train line.
So we're two and a half hoursfrom Paris, on the train.
And we have a hospital here.
We have lots of schools, whichis, I think, important when you're
looking for a place to live if youwant it to be lively and active.
(09:16):
There's four schools in the town.
Two of them are boarding schools.
So, that's really great for jobs andall of those things, so that's great.
And then lots of littletowns around to explore.
So I quite like that.
I love Paris of course, and I tryto go there at least once a month.
It really is our second home,we're still looking for that idea
(09:37):
of getting another place in Paris.
So hopefully maybe alittle pit of tear, there.
And then just exploring France.
I just love to explore Franceand there's so much of it to do.
So that's why I'm an avid listenerto your podcast, and hearing the
stories of people that have explored.
I think, since listening to your podcast,my list has gone from about 20 odd
places about four or five years ago,to now I think the list is too big.
(10:02):
I don't know if I'll everdo it in my lifetime.
Yeah, that's the same as my list.
Oh my God, there's so many places thatsound really, really fascinating but,
you know, you have... That's anotherthing that I hope the podcast helps
people do is to prioritize, you know,okay, this one is great for me, but
maybe this one, ah, maybe later, put itdown the list a little further or so.
(10:24):
So the food, the cooking, so wealready know about the macarons
that they do in your town.
What other local specialtieshave you enjoyed?
Are there any, I'm not even sure?
Oh, there he is.
There is.
So I find it fascinating, thecheese in France, and how there's
so many different local cheeses.
(10:44):
I had a guest on the podcastthat once told me that there was
more than 1500 French cheeses.
So I don't know if there's, if that'scorrect, but if it is, I'm hopefully
in my lifetime, I'll get to eat everyone of them that would be fabulous.
But, I didn't, I never really likedgoat's cheese before I moved here.
I don't know why, but it was alwayssomething that I just wasn't.
(11:05):
And of course, the area is known foranybody that knows cheese and is a
fan of goat's cheese, they'll knowthat the Poitou-Charentes is one of
the areas for goat's cheese in France.
That is a really special favorite.
Especially I love when you go to theweekly market, so we have a market here
every Wednesday, and so at the weeklymarket, we have two vans that are
(11:27):
fromageries that come to the market.
One is actually staffed by a veryhandsome Frenchman, not the reason
why I go, he has good cheese aswell, but I do spend a bit of time.
I'm always, especially if there'sa big line and I can chat to the
ladies at the line, whilst lookingat the handsome cheesemonger.
Yeah, why not?
Then I get a call from my husbandsaying, "Where are you? How long
(11:49):
does it take to go to the market?"
Just looking, just looking.
Yes.
And so, but we also have another,sometimes actually up to four, but usually
always two cheese suppliers from thearea, so local farmers, et cetera, that
have come and are selling their cheeses.
So that must be a pretty bigmarket to have that many...
(12:11):
On Wednesday, it has its upsand downs in when it's very much
a... We have a nearby town calledChauvigny which is definitely bigger.
They have a much bigger market.
But here, the weekly one, it's atown of 6,000 people, so it gets
a decent amount of people goingto the market every Wednesday.
I would say the busiest time is actuallyaround about now, so sort of this sort
(12:35):
of October, November, and then in thebeginning of the year, it's always
around about, I would say April, May,that it's quite busy with people, with
locals and nobody's gone away, et cetera.
But sometimes yeah, you can goto the market and there can be
two cheesemongers and four othercheese suppliers just there.
(12:55):
We get two boucheries... butchers,boucheries, and there's even a permanent
one in the square, so that'll bethree, two poissoniers, fishmongers.
So yeah, it's quite a good market.
Yeah, that's good, that's good.
So, are there specific dishes thatyou recommend people try if they go?
Like, what should theyorder in the restaurants?
(13:17):
Well, yes.
Well, just getting back to the... Just tofinish with the market, one of the things
that I would suggest is to, and it is
a dish, is the farcie poitevin.
So, Poitevin being the area thatwe're in, the Poitou, that's
where it gets its name from.
And it's a stuffed cabbage, andit's stuffed with all the good
things, so that's bacon lardons,and it is quite delicious.
(13:41):
And even with the cheese, the thingthat I really love about being
here in the French countryside, andespecially because of my love of French
food, is this idea of older dishes.
Some people might think that astuffed cabbage is a really old dish.
It's something that our, like, mygrandparents would have had, and
my mum would never have had it.
You know, she would have said that.
(14:02):
But here it is, everybody has it.
And why?
Because it's delicious.
We don't care that this dish is,like, you know, 200-300 years old and
grandmothers were making it, and motherswere making it, et cetera, et cetera.
Right.
there's couple of things that youcan do with pork products and,
what do you call these things?
(14:23):
The choux.
How do you say choux in...?
Oui, oui, oui, oui, oui, chou, so cabbage.
Cabbage.
Cabbage.
So cabbage and pork dishes, so youcan have the farci that you mentioned.
The farci poitevin being one of them.
But you can also have a potée, whichjust means you cut up your cabbage
and you put some sausages, and youusually put something like a little
(14:47):
sweet, so maybe apple juice orapple slices, and a few potatoes.
And you just slow cookthat, and a miracle happens.
It's delicious.
You don't really need a recipe.
It just needs to be slow cooked, youknow, you set it in the morning and
forget it, and slow, slow, slow, slow.
(15:08):
So it used to be when I cooked withgas, I always worried about having
the gas too low, that it would gooff, you know, just flame would burn
out, and then I would have a problem.
But now that I cook with induction,I find that much better because I can
just set it on two or three for likethree hours, four hours, it's not a
(15:30):
problem, and I don't worry about it.
It's almost like aCrock-Pot sort of cooking.
You could put that in the Crock-Pot foreight hours and it would be delicious.
What was the original crockpot?
I've got, like, three of them here.
So just your Dutch oven, just popeverything in there, exactly like
you said, on a stove, on a reallylow setting, or in your oven on
(15:53):
a really, really low setting.
I love that.
Pretty much every Sunday, if it's nota roast, it's something that's just
slow cooking in oven, 150 degrees,and it's just cooked for five, six
hours, and then you just open thepot, and miraculously, wow, I've
created something really delicious.
Yeah.
So the farcie Poitevine is amazing.
(16:13):
Also I love, because it canbe used in, you know, and had
in so many different ways.
So it's the same... I gotthis tip actually firstly
from when I was in Melbourne.
I was doing food tours inMelbourne, and I had an all-day
French food tour in Melbourne.
And I used to take people around.
We started at 9:00 in the morning,picked them up in a bus, 22 people,
(16:36):
and drove them all around Melbourneand we just ate French food all day,
and then dropped them back off at 5:00.
And one of the places that we went to was,in Melbourne is called the Parisian Paté.
And Muriel there, she had beenmaking patés, with her husband,
and terrines and all these sort ofthings, so we'd go and taste that.
And so she gave me this tip withterrine because, for me, it was just
(16:59):
like you had terrine and that was it.
You know, just had it coldand usually with cheeses is
what we would do in Australia.
We wouldn't have it any other way.
We'd just have it on a big cheese platter.
But she taught me to have it as a dish,you know, by itself with salad and potato.
But then she said, you know,also that they would chop it
up and pop it in the fry pan.
(17:20):
And I was like, "Oh my gosh, I would neverhave thought to do that." And she said,
"Yes, we always, like, always would dothat, for just, like a week night meal.
When it was just her and her husbandby herself, the kids were, had
soccer or gone off to wherever, shewould just dice it up and then pop
it in the fry pan and fry that up.
And so I tried that with the farciePoitevine, thinking that this was
(17:42):
something that I could, that I waslike, "Oh my God, I'm going to teach
the French something. I'm going to dothis." And then I spoke to my French
neighbor and, because I did it, I friedthe farcie comes in a big slab, and I
fried it in the fry pan and then ate itlike that, because we'd had it before
cold, and it was still delicious.
But fried, it was just amazing.
(18:02):
And so I thought I was telling myFrench neighbor something really, you
know, amazing that I'd created becauseof this tip from... And she said,
"That's how we always have it, Andrew.
Always fried.
We've been doing thatforever." "Oh, okay."
There you go.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, there's very few thingsFrench people won't try in the
kitchen other than spicy food.
(18:23):
They won't do spicy food.
But other than that, theywill try a lot of things.
A lot of foods that maybe Australianswould object to, like, oh, I don't
know, some strange cuts of pork...
There are a few things the tête de boeufand the... what's the sausage again?
The...
Is andouille.
You know, is not that I object to it, it'sjust that we didn't grow up eating it, and
(18:46):
so you're just not used to those things.
But I will say, you know, weare, as I said, we live in
between Poitiers and Limoges.
Now, Limoges is known for many things.
It's got the ceramics,which is pretty amazing.
And it also is known in thearea for the limousin beef.
And the actual Limoges market isone of my favorite places to visit.
(19:07):
We go there in October, on the thirdweekend of October, there is always a
big beef festival, and there's the oldpart of town, in Limoges used to, this
old quarter, and it's actually whereall the butcheries and the, what's the
word, when they slaughter the beef?
I've forgotten what that word is.
(19:27):
L'abattoir.
Oui, they were located in this area.
What they do is they have a bigfair, a big market over the weekend,
on the third weekend in October.
But you go to the actual Les Halles......the market in Limoges, the butchers there,
there's three of them specifically thatI know, and I go there and you look at
it, and it's just that the way they dothe tête de boeuf do like a layered,
(19:51):
sort of terrine type way of serving it.
So they serve it in a terrineand they slice it see all
the different layers of it.
When artisan butchers do this andthey've put, like, they've got
these recipes they've been doingforever and they're putting a lot
of effort, it looks beautiful.
When a food looks good, it makes youwant to taste it, even despite the fact
(20:13):
that you know what it's made out of.
It might not be my favorite thingin the world, but when it looks
that good, you go, "Mm. Okay,well, I might give it a try."
It's really about what we're used to.
My daughter is away in Portugal forwork, and the first night she spent
in Porto, she sent us a picture ofa food that one of her coworkers had
(20:37):
ordered in a restaurant, and it was,she said it was cassoulet with tripes.
It was a photo and she says,"Cassoulet with tripes.
SOS." because she didn't growup with tripes and she's like,
"Oh, this is not happening."
(20:58):
Yes.
Well, I always prefer not to know what themenu is when I go to a posh restaurant.
When I go to a really, like, you know,a nice restaurant and they've got a
discovering menu, I just go, "Don'ttell me. I don't want to know. I will
eat it all." If it's something that Ireally, really, really dislike, I will
say that I'm allergic to it, but apartfrom that, I just go with the flow.
(21:19):
Because if it's made, if it's done welland it's made well, it should be tasty.
It just amused me, the tripe SOS.
She didn't order that.
She ordered something with pork andchestn- uh, walnu- um, chestnuts.
Oh, yes.
Les marron, which isprobably pretty good.
Yes, I'm sure it wouldhave been delicious.
(21:39):
Yeah.
So you... I'm sure you wrote...you have a cookbook, right?
Actually, no, I
don't have a
cookbook.
I actually have a, I have writtena book, but it wasn't a cookbook.
I've written a guideto Paris, a food guide.
Oh, okay.
A food guide to Paris.
Do tell.
So pretty much I lived in Paris forfour years, and as I like to say,
(22:01):
I had a year before then in 2012where I just walked around eating
at markets and things like this.
And I like to say that I atemy way around Paris, for people.
And so I wrote a book about it.
So it's called Paris (22:14):
A Fabulous Food Guide to the World's Most Delicious City.
I will send you a copy.
I'm literally just in the throesof updating it for the new year.
That's my plan, is to update it everyyear so that it is very much up-to-date.
And it's a mixture of places to go toas well as stories and facts and things
(22:34):
like this about Paris and its food.
So there's more than 370 recommendationsin the book and every single
one I've been to and eaten at.
They didn't give me any money to recommendthem, they're just all good food places.
Obviously, I went to more thanthat, because there was places
that I didn't put in the book.
Yeah.
Well, and I'm assuming that if theyare, you know, a good traditional French
(22:59):
restaurant, the turnover isn't great.
Like, the... If you update it yearafter year, are there a lot of changes?
Well, actually, that's interesting.
So, I wrote the book just before COVID.
Ah, well...
That happened and I didn't release it.
And so then I updated it lastyear before releasing it, well,
actually just, in 2023 I updated it,before releasing it for the year.
(23:24):
And when I went through everything,because I also had to... it was two years
old, so I had to go, first of all checkto make sure that every place that I'd
recommended was still there and they stillhad the reviews, and things like that
were still good from what I remembered.
And I did, I really went into it, Iwent into... if I hadn't been to the
place because of us moving, over theCOVID period to the countryside, if
(23:47):
I hadn't been to the place, I reallywent into researching and looking
at photos of the food, et cetera.
I, even to the point that I sent friendsin Paris to say, "Have you been here
since, you know, in the last few months?"Because knowing that there was these
places that they might have been to.
So I put a lot of effort into that.
It's not just French food, it's all foods.
(24:07):
So I've got sections for Frenchbistros, there's a section for
restaurants, there's a section forMichelin-starred restaurants, but
then there's also a section for cafes.
So the best coffee as well, thebest breakfast, brunch places,
fromageries, bakeries, pretty muchtried to get it all covered in there.
And so even now, I mean, as I said,we've been back to Paris in this
(24:30):
last year pretty much every month, infact, a couple of times, especially
with the Olympics twice a month.
And I made an effort to make sure thatI go back to a lot of the places and
try things, and also to find new places.
So... that's been my joy and... Look,if I can do that, and the podcast,
for the rest of my life thanI'll be a very very happy person!
(24:51):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah.
How about that?
So, hey, darling, we got to go, weneed to go back to Paris and try
restaurants because it's my work.
Yes, pretty much.
Not bad, right?
It's not bad.
So... and there's also little thingsin there, I try to give tips on things,
so, you know, one of the things thatI've said in there is about where to
(25:15):
go to eat, especially in areas whereit can be a little bit touristy.
That's a bit of a, you know, it'sa bit of a... not... I want to...
what is the word I should say?
I don't want to say dodgy, but itis a bit of a... you know, they're
catering to the mass market.
Right.
And, you know, for me, when I'mgoing on a holiday, the first thing
(25:36):
I look for is where I'm going to eat.
But that's not the priorityfor everybody, is it?
Some people it's art or, you know,some people it's architecture.
It might be comedy.
You know, they might be going to seea show or something like that for the
reason why they're going somewhere.
Whereas for me it's usually food.
So I wanted to make sure that I hadsome, you know, just some words of
(25:57):
advice in there about that, about...you know, I do think that it's important
to look at who's in a restaurant.
If you go past a, especially in France,if you go past a place in Paris and
you've had enough of French food andyou want to have something, you know,
Japanese, Asian, Chinese, for example,you go past the restaurant and it's full
(26:17):
of French people, you're not going toget the most authentic Chinese dish.
If you go past a restaurant and it'sfull of Chinese people, we know there's
a really great Sichuan restaurantaround the corner from Saint-Lazare
and it's literally the only place thatI've ever had real chili in Paris.
And it came out hot.
It was delicious, andit was full of Chinese.
(26:39):
Mm-hmm.
They know.
Whereas if I went past a Frenchrestaurant and it was full of Chinese,
I think, I might think twice about it.
"Well, it might be a bittouristy. What's the reason why?"
Yeah.
Well, you know, there are places inParis where definitely I struggle a
little bit, because I write walkingtours of Paris on the VoiceMap app,
and I always recommend restaurantswhere people can stop along the way.
(27:04):
There are some areas that are a littlebit challenging, like for instance,
right around Shakespeare and Company,is so touristy that, you know...
ugh, mm. So if you walk a little bitfurther to the Cluny Museum, then
you have good choices around there.
But right ar- I mean, there might besome, I just don't know about them.
(27:27):
Do you know of one around there?
Yes.
Well, I mean, the one I can think offirst off when you say that, because it's
every time I go to Shakespeare and Co, Imake my way there, is the Poilane bakery.
Yes.
Yeah that one, yes!
Is just, oh, delicious!
And, you know, this is one of my, oneof my tips for Paris, is that it doesn't
(27:47):
have to be all about restaurants.
The reason why I included bakeriesand fromageries in my book was that
it's like, you really should have thatParisian... especially if you go in
summer, have that Parisian experience.
Go get some bread, some baguette, goget some cheese and some, usually you'll
probably find some charcuterie somewhere.
I even found... and then go and get abottle of wine and go sit by the river
(28:09):
or sit in the Jardins du Luxembourg orthe Jardin des Plantes and have a...
Any bench really.
There's a lot of benches.
Yes.
Any bench.
Exactly.
I once... I'm always talking tostrangers and I once met a Australian
couple, just by the chance of it,sitting in the Jardins du Luxembourg
and they were eating vegan cheese.
(28:30):
And it was, like, fabulous.
They looked like they're having theirtypical French experience, and they were,
it was just that their cheese wasn'treal cheese, or there was no cheese!
Well, France has made lot of progresswhen it comes vegan everything.
I mean, we're not quite to the levelof, say, India, where the vegan
food is out of this world, but inFrance we're trying, you know...
(28:50):
No, you're right.
Yeah.
No.
And so, Sheakspeare andCo. is the fifth, sixth.
Fifth or sixth?
The fifth.
Oui.
Ah-hah.
You're probably... It's one of those.
Let's see.
Fifth?
Okay.
If you want good coffee and agood bit of breakfast, there's
Dose, D-O-S-E, Dile de Cafe.
(29:12):
And then, where else?
What was that place?
Oh,
Café Dose Paris, maisc'est rue Mouffetard.
That's far away.
Ah, well, yes, you're right, yes.
You know, that's like a,more than a mile away.
Oh, I'm all about walkingin Paris, you are right.
Yes, no, you're right.
(29:32):
Well, you're right because Ialways, I kind of give that area a
little bit of a miss, specificallythrough what you just said.
Around the Cluny there's one, I can'tremember the name of it, but it's
really close to the Cluny Museum.
There's one that's pretty good.
Yeah, Poilanes, of course.
Yes, that's... that's a very good... yeah.
And there are places like thatin Paris where, you know, eh,
(29:54):
not sure what to recommend.
So, I do the exact same thing youdo for my tours, I just go and try.
I got to try at least... you know,if I'm in Paris for two weeks writing
a tour, well, every lunch and somenights I try different restaurants,
because I'm going to stay out all dayand I get to try, you know, 15, 20
(30:16):
restaurants, while I'm writting the tour.
And then at the end, I just say, "Okay,here are my favorites in this area."
And I also go by recommendationsfrom other people, like other
people tell me, "Oh, you shouldtry this one or that one." Yeah.
And it's interesting because I alsowrote a food tour of Les Halles.
Yeah, yeah, Rue Montorgueil hasa lot of very interesting food.
(30:38):
And I really enjoyed doing thatbecause you know, I got to try all
these iconic, like, Au Pied du Cochon,places like that where I... I mean, I
had seen them before, but now I had areason to really go, you know, I need
to try a couple of times to make sure.
We lived in Sentier for four yearswhen I was in Paris, so we had our dog
(31:03):
walking parc was the Palais Royale.
And, oui, Lenny, one of myGolden Retrievers, he was very
popular at the Palais Royale.
And yes, Rue Montorgueil was literallymy local street and, oh my gosh, it's
just the best in that whole area.
I mean, there's so much food historythere, Les Halles, and even modern
(31:23):
food history, what the chef at Frenchy,an owner at Frenchy, has done there
with Frenchy at Rue du Nile, there hascompletely changed that whole area.
We even now to this day because ourneighbors, we've very much kept in
touch with our neighbors from Paris.
We go there often, weoften stay with them.
(31:44):
And even now to see it changedfrom when we were there four
years ago, it's just fabulous.
And yeah, it plays a very big part inthe book, the second arrondissement.
It's one of my favoritearrondissements in Paris.
Yeah it is a wonderful place and lots ofchoices, I mean so many choices for food.
So, if you had to give some adviceto somebody who wants to start
(32:07):
cooking French things at home,what are some they could try?
I'm going to have to pitch my own book,since you don't have one, I'll do mine.
It's called Join Us at the Table,and it was very much a pandemic book.
I'm not really a cookbookwriter, but during the pandemic
I found solace in food.
And so I wanted to try all of thesedifferent things and write down, make
(32:30):
it, you know, just like an experiment.
Let's see if I can improve on this,the way my mother cooked really.
My mother's French, so you know, Ihad classic French recipes from her.
I had written down some of her recipes.
And so I wanted to try them and just,you know, really measure everything,
make sure... you know, play with thetemperatures, play with this and that
(32:53):
to see what would work really well.
What I ended up with wassimplifying a lot of stuff.
Because especially, people whogrew up with Julia Child, she is
wonderful, but she has a knackfor making everything impossible.
You have to have so many things,you have to have all day, really.
(33:14):
Yes.
Yes, and I think that... well,just a touch on there with Julia
Child, again, love Julia Child.
You know, it really, she's played animportant part in French food history,
bringing it to the audiences that she did.
I like to say that I'm theAustralian Julia Child.
That's what I aim to be in life withthe podcast, you know, because, the
(33:37):
podcast, just to briefly chat on thatfor a sec, is every episode is about
a specific dish, an ingredient, ora cooking technique, or it could be
a profile of a chef from the past.
The idea for me was thatit was evergreen content.
It was something that was goingto be available in five to ten
years' time and it doesn't age.
(33:58):
It's just part of that history.
You could add to it forthat five or ten years.
But in doing the research for the episodesthat I've done, and one of the things
that I've found that I really loveabout French food now, and it's... I
think it's something that's really lost,it's the seasonality of French food.
(34:19):
Whether this is the haute cuisine orthe traditional French dishes, they
are all very seasonal, very regional.
And for me, that's about sustainability.
When you're eatingseasonally, it's sustainable.
And I think that's somethingthat's really being missed.
When most people think about a Frenchdish and when you say to me, "Well,
(34:42):
what could you start to begin, like,you know, a French dish?" I would go
with the most simplest one and probablythe one that is going to get you the
best results if you keep on practicingit and doing it all the time, and it's
something that you could practice and doall the time, and that's just an omelet.
Make an omelet.
Because that's somethingthat is, it's all year round.
(35:04):
Chickens are always laying eggsas far as I'm aware, and you can
add seasonal ingredients to it.
And it will give you technique.
And it might not be a technique thatis something that you're going to use
in lots of other dishes, but by justsimply focusing on it and doing it,
you're going to get that confidencethat can lead to other dishes and
(35:25):
send you on a journey for French food.
I love a coq au vin.
I love a boeuf bourguignon.
There's a lot of dishes that I love.
They're not, you know... You can't makea boeuf bourguignon... Well, you can,
but you shouldn't be making it in summer.
In France you can'teven find a cut of beef.
They start putting it out inSeptember, October, November, where
you can buy this... in a littlepacket, you can buy your kilo of
(35:48):
beef to make boeuf bourguignon.
In July and August, they don'teven... you'd have to go to your
butcher and specifically order, forsome reason you want to make a boeuf
bourguignon in July, who knows?
Not going to happen.
Yeah, and you know, and thatcan be even said for vegetables.
I mean, even here in Montmorillon,when it's changed a little bit now,
(36:13):
I don't know why, but I have foundthat we still have, last year, in
February there were still tomatoes,but they were all from Spain.
Right.
But the years before that, andeven in Paris, you couldn't find
tomatoes in many of the supermarkets.
If you did, they were going tobe just one small little section.
(36:35):
Right.
Right.
I'm sure, you know, audiences fromAmerica and from Australia, we
know that we get it all year round.
Yeah.
Yeah.
If you want to make a charlotte auxfraises, which is classic French
dessert, well, you make that in thespring or summer, because there are some
strawberries that come back in the summer,les remontantes is what we call them.
(36:57):
But, you wouldn't do that in... forChristmas unless you want to import
your strawberries from far away.
And I suppose you could find them,but they're not going to be as
nice as the ones grown locally,that you can get from the Tarn or
Tarn-et-Garonne near me in the Southwest.
We have a lot of fruitproducers, but just in season.
(37:18):
One thing I can think of that youcould get year round is like soupe
a l'oignon because onion soup, thereare... I mean, you get fresh onion
and then you get the dry onion later.
Well, not dry, but I mean, theyare like the... they get the brown
outer layer, you know, but theseare still onions from that year.
(37:38):
It's a vegetable that'smade to be kept year round.
So you could make different...
Do you use Roscoff onions whenyou do your soupe a l'oignon?
I have not, I don't think.
I use whatever onions are,whatever onions are out there.
Like I don't... it would be Roscoff onionshave a very specific flavor kind of to
(38:02):
them, but you know, in the Southwestyou don't find them everywhere, so...
So if you're lucky, if the listenersare lucky enough to be here at... And
they can get them, because they come inseason, and then they're pretty much sold.
Like, we would have them, I think wehad them at the market for about, mm,
I want to say eight weeks, nine weeks,and then that was it, you couldn't get
them anymore, because they just sell out.
(38:24):
But it is, when you make a soupe d'oignonwith a Roscoff onion, it's in my opinion
and from, I have done an episode onthem, is that you just add water.
Just water.
Water and a bay leaf andsome herbs if you like.
But just the sweetness from the onion andthe flavor in that onion, and it's great.
You still get a great soupe d'oignonwhen you make it with all the other
(38:47):
onions there are in the world.
But if you have that opportunityto make it from a Roscoff, a
Roscoff onion, it is just fabulous.
And have you lookedinto the Onion Johnnies?
No, I have not.
Tell me about that.
So the onion Johnnies, come from,again, from this, originally
from this Roscoff onion.
So they were, onion Johnnieswere men, French men.
(39:10):
What they were doing in the,I think it was the mid 1800s.
Okay.
It was more dangerous to take theironions to Paris to sell at the market
than it was from Normandy, from up north.
It was more dangerous to takethe onions to Paris to sell at
the market than it was to go overthe water to the UK and to Wales.
(39:34):
I don't know why it was more dangerous.
I'm assuming it was possibly themcoming back with money, they would be
robbed or something along those lines.
So what they would do is they wouldtake their harvest over to the
UK and over to Wales and the UK.
And on bikes, ride around, sellingdoor to door pretty much, their onions
(39:55):
to the English and to the Welsh.
And of course, the English came up withthe great idea of, as they do, you know,
just calling all French people "Johnny"because you know, usually every Frenchman
that they met was Jon, J-O-N, Jon.
And so they, they called him Johnny,and that's where they would drive around
on their bicycles with their typical...It's that look that you see in old French
(40:20):
photos and things like that of the menon their bicycles with their striped
shirts and their beret and they've got,like, onions or garlic wrapped around
their necks and bikes is the thing.
That was the Onion Johnnies.
And up until, yeah, up until I thinkit was 2012 was the last, they moved
from being doing it through theirbikes to actually having stalls.
(40:43):
And then I'm pretty sure that the last...they had a whole association to them,
and the last member of the Onion Johnnieswas finished in 2012, I think at the, I
want to say, the Borough Markets, but itmight be a different market in London.
But they were selling them up till then.
They used to take the onions overand sell them to the English.
(41:04):
Interesting.
This is not something we do in the South.
And France, that is one of the thingsabout France, is that there's a lot
of to the local food culture that's...grounded in the local history and
habits and what have you, so...
So, it's important to get know them.
I had a gentleman on the podcast, so thefirst two seasons I used to interview a
(41:28):
lot of people on the podcast that wereexperts, so to speak, on the topics.
But then as I wanted to do more andmore episodes, it was time-consuming
to find the expert, so I did theresearch and became the expert.
I found a wonderful gentleman down souththat makes France's only flatbread.
Now did you know thatFrance made a flatbread?
(41:48):
No.
No.
It's called the foue.
F-O-U-E it's made from a wood fire.
He actually takes it, he actuallygoes around in his area with a wood
fired oven, on the back of a trailer.
La fouée au mogettes.
So that's a local southern bean, andthen you fill it up in the bread.
(42:10):
Oh, never-
Yes.
You put it in the fouée, whichis the bread made flour from...
It puffs up bit
...Exactly like a flatbread.
And you can put stuff in it.
Yeah.
They say it comes from the Moorishinfluence, they think, from that way.
And who knew?
And I love that about France.
I love finding out this little things.
(42:31):
We have a lot of different thingsand if you're looking for like odd,
unique, you know, you don't have todig very far to find those things.
I tend to just specialize more inthe stuff that you can find anywhere.
You know, in my cookbook, I don't haveanything that's impossible to find.
I would rather give people recipes thatthey can make at home, even if they live
(42:52):
in the US or in Australia or wherever.
And I've adapted, you know, because Ilived in the US for a long time, so I'm
used to buying US ingredients and so Ijust said, "Okay, crème fraîche, here's
a suitable substitute for the US." It'snot perfect, but you know, there are a
lot of people who live in areas wherethey can't find fancy French ingredients,
(43:16):
you know, but they still want to try it.
No, exactly.
It's like I can't find sour cream here.
But, you know, I just have toadapt and I have to make it.
And, you know, sure, I'm used toputting sour cream on Mexican food,
because that's what we do in Australia.
But that's not Mexican.
That's Tex-Mex, you know?
It's like it's not the same.
(43:36):
So all of these things go all the way.
And it's like we're getting backto the Julia Childs of it all.
You know, she was making and spent thatmuch time and amazing, just an amazing
experience in my mind, to spend that muchtime on all of these French dishes and
making them for an American audience.
So, at that time, in the '50s, whenshe says to boil the bacon before
(44:01):
frying it, it's because of what wasin the bacon at that time to keep it.
Now they don't put that in the baconanymore here in France or pretty much
anywhere, I don't think, in the world.
You don't need to boil thebacon when you're making a boeuf
bourguignon, or a coq au vin.
You know, it's not somethingthat we would do here in France.
But at that time, that's what you did.
And, you know, that's great, and oneof the things for me, for Fabulously
(44:25):
Delicious is I wanted to reallyfind out what these dishes, these
ingredients, and these things wereabout, what their history was, so
that there is a record of that.
Because I would hate to think that,I mean, not that I think that it's
going to be the end, be-all andend-all for a record for French food,
but I like the idea that it is arecord of what it's supposed to be.
(44:47):
And so yes, you can make it your way,and you can make it in America with the
ingredients that you can get there, butat least we know, and, you know, one of
my favorite things in the world is, andit takes me forever, because my French
isn't that great, but I get along.
But it's, what's helping myFrench is old French cookbooks.
I love them.
(45:07):
Whenever I'm going past a, you know...If your listeners know about the old
phone boxes and letterboxes that theyturn into libraries with free books.
So whenever I walk past one, we'vegot one in the town, I'm always
searching for people that haveleft behind cookbooks for free.
If I'm in a brocante, I'm always headingover to the book section, searching for
(45:28):
one euro, two euro old French cook books.
I just love them.
Yeah.
That's wonderful.
All right, Andrew, we'vebeen talking a long time.
I am sorry to say our time is up,but it's been lovely meeting you and
I will put links to your podcast,and you have a website too, surely.
(45:49):
I do, yes.
Andrew Prior Fabulously.
So, the podcast is Fabulously Delicious,it's the French food podcast, and the
website is Andrew Prior Fabulously.
The book is Paris (45:57):
A Fabulous Food Guide to the World's Most Delicious City.
So there's a theme there.
That's because, my motto is "whateveryou do, you should do it fabulously."
So people can do that.
Lots of links to all of that onthe show notes for this episode.
And thank you, thank you somuch for coming on the podcast.
(46:19):
It's been a delight talking to you.
Merci Beaucoup for having me on.
It's been a absolute pleasure.
And I hope to one day getyou on Fabulously Delicious.
It would be lovely.
I would love to get your cookbook as well.
I will send you my address becauseI want to see... I want to see
your recommendations for Paris.
That sounds really good.
Fabulous.
Merci beaucoup.
Au revoir.
Au revoir.
(46:46):
Again, I want to thank my patrons forgiving back and supporting the show.
Patrons get several exclusiverewards for doing that.
You can see them at patreon.com/joinus.
And a special shout out thisweek to my new Join Us in France
champions, Emily from Canada.
(47:06):
Bonjour, Canada!
Who joined at theGroupie du Podcast level.
Rebecca Wainwright, who alsojoined at Groupie du Podcast
level, and Marilyn Jane Miller.
Thank you, Elaine Donborgu, ChristineMoore, and Gwen Y for editing your
pledge up to Groupie du Podcast.
(47:28):
And welcome back as apatron, Carol Mellinger.
Would you join them too?
You can do it for as little as threebucks a month, but if you can afford
it, I would love to have you pledge moreso you can have access to more rewards.
And to support Elyse, goto patreon.com/ElysArt.
(47:50):
This week I chatted with mypatrons about my visit to Paris.
Shared some photos and somevideos and things like that.
It's always fun to share with themand get their insights as well.
And as you know, I'm in Paris writinga tour, a new tour, that will take
you to Notre Dame, inside and out.
(48:10):
That will also take you to theSainte Chapelle, inside and
out, and to the Conciergerie.
So big topics, lots to discussfor people who love gothic
architecture and Marie Antoinette.
This new tour is goingto be ready very soon.
I'll let you know as soon as it's ready.
I'm still trying to decide, the rest ofthe time I have in Paris, because I'm here
(48:33):
for a couple of weeks, once I'm done witha tour and it's going great, should I just
go do things that I want to do in Parisor should I try to write another tour?
Today, honestly, I've workedso hard that I'm thinking I
should just go visit things.
You know, there's so much to do in Paris.
Anyway, podcast listenersget a big discount for buying
(48:54):
these tours from my website.
And if you buy directly from me, it's amanual process, so give us a few days.
But if you don't hear within twoor three days, do pipe up because
occasionally email, you know, theycan get lost and things like that.
And if you want to read reviews of thesetours, go to joinusinfrance.com/vmr.
(49:14):
That stands for VoiceMap Reviews.
I'm still doing the itinerary planning.
Lots of people are telling me,oh, I tried this too late, I
can't get you help right now.
And yes, people do book in advance.
That's just how it goes.
You can choose the Bonjour servicefor a one hour Zoom call with tailored
recommendations that we just discussed.
(49:37):
Or VIP for the same call plusa detailed follow up guide.
So if you're ready to start, goto joinusinfrance.com/boutique
and follow the email instructions.
And for the day trip with Annie, well,that's pretty simple, I have this
wonderful electric car, it's not aTesla, it's actually a Chinese EV and
(49:57):
it's an awesome car, I've had it foralmost three years now and I still
love it as much as I did the first day.
I can take you around the Southwest.
Now people ask me for differentthings that they want to see, but
there are some marvellous thingsthat you can do in the Southwest.
And so, if you can't come to the bootcamp,because the dates won't work for you,
(50:19):
perhaps you can book a day trip with me.
These are private tours, so just youand me, and up to two guests, in my car.
We move at your pace.
We skip the stress.
We focus on what interests you the mostand I can make suggestions, of course.
And again, you can get all of thatat joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
(50:39):
All right, let's talk about away to experience France that
doesn't get mentioned oftenenough, but is actually wonderful.
And that's the French campsite experience.
If you think camping in Francemeans pitching a tent in the
middle of nowhere, think again.
You can rent a bungalow or a mobile homeat a French campsite and it's more like
(51:04):
booking a private holiday rental with theadded bonus of resort style amenities.
It's comfortable, it's budget friendly,I mean it's not super duper cheap,
it's not like pitching a tent in thewild, but it's not very expensive.
And you have a lot of modern conveniences.
You can rent a bungalow fortwo, three bedrooms, a bathroom,
(51:27):
a kitchen, a living space.
And of course, air conditioningis an essential feature if you're
heading south in the summer.
Most of those have a deck with seating.
You know, you can enjoy the summer,it's kind of like laid back.
It's outdoor meals, that sort of things.
But what sets these French campsitesapart, at least the luxury ones, they're
(51:48):
not all that good, but of course we dohave some that are just nothing but the
flat area and nothing else, but there areluxury ones for which you pay a little
more, but they have a lot of amenities.
So many of the four and five starcamping sites feel like resorts.
They feature large swimmingpools, often with water slides.
(52:09):
They have bars.
They have restaurants.
They have kids clubs.
Some have spas, golf courses.
Some campsites also offer thingslike ziplines, tennis courts,
lakes with a pedal boat rental.
They are an excellent choicefor families and, or anyone
looking for an active holiday.
And one of the best things is that youusually have an on site boulangerie,
(52:34):
little store, and that's where youcan get your pain au chocolat, or
chocolatine as we say in the Southwest.
Oh, it's funny, today I, in Paris, Istopped at a bakery and the guy was
making a joke about a strange customerthat he had seen there earlier,
and so I said, because this personhad used a word that doesn't exist.
(52:55):
And I said, oh, we don'teven say that in Toulouse.
And of course they picked up on myaccent and, then when it was my turn
to order, the lady said, oh, you couldhave, and I said, pain au chocolat.
And she said, oh, you could havesaid chocolatine, I understand.
I actually like it better becausepain au chocolat just means
bread with chocolate in it.
And I was like, yay!
You get us, you get us.
(53:15):
Anyway, but these campsites haveall of these amenities, including
a bakery and a little store.
I'm not saying these stores arelike the best and the cheapest in
the world, but they'll provide youwith what you need right there.
Most of these campsites where peoplelike most is that there's a swimming
pool, and sometimes they're by alake as well, but I think the kids
(53:36):
really love the swimming pools.
One of the things that's nice about thesecampsites is that you don't usually have
to arrive on a specific day of the week.
Apparently that's common in the UK.
In France, you can arrive whenever.
You can check in at 3 or 4 PM.
You can arrive later if you need to.
They want you to leave the bungalowclean, but you know, you don't need
(53:58):
to, like, spend hours scrubbingfloors, and things like that.
You can pay someone to do that.
At any rate, it's a very unique way tosee France and enjoy France, and I think,
if you've done this yourself, I wouldlove to talk to you about it because I
think for young families, it's absolutelyperfect and there are so, so many choices,
(54:21):
that really, they're all over France.
So, I think, you needto think about those.
Next week on the podcast, an episodewith Carol Handel about how to
plan a leisurely trip to France.
Very important.
Take it easy, folks.
And my thanks, of course, topodcast editors, Anne and Christian
(54:43):
Cotovan, who produce the transcriptsand make the audio sound good.
Thank you so much for listening,and I hope you join me next time so
we can look around France together.
Au revoir.
The Join Us in France travelpodcast is written, hosted, and
produced by Annie Sargent, andCopyright 2025 by AddictedToFrance.
(55:04):
It is released under a CreativeCommons attribution, non-commercial,
no derivatives license.
This is Join Us in France, episode537, cinq cent trente-sept.
Bonjour, I'm Annie Sargent, and Join Usin France is the podcast where we take
a conversational journey through thebeauty, culture, and flavors of France.
Today, I bring you a conversationwith Andrew Prior about his incredible
journey from Australia to France,his culinary adventures, and his
(00:40):
experiences on MasterChef Australia.
Join us as we dive into hisfoodie adventures, his podcasts
'Fabulously Delicious', and discoverhidden French culinary gems.
Whether you're an avid listener ofFrench food podcasts or looking for
some inspiration in the kitchen, thisepisode is packed with delightful
stories and invaluable and wonderfulinsights, and I love talking
(01:04):
about food, you know that, right?
This podcast is supported by donorsand listeners who buy my tours and
services, including my ItineraryConsult Service, my GPS self-guided
tours of Paris on the VoiceMap app,or take a day trip with me around the
Southwest of France in my electric car.
You can browse all of that at myboutique: joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
(01:27):
And remember, Patreon supporters getthe podcast ad-free and as soon as
it's ready, click on the link in theshow notes to enjoy this Patreon reward
for as little as three bucks a month.
For the magazine part of the podcast,after my chat with Andrew today,
I'll discuss a type of accommodationthat doesn't come up a lot on the
(01:47):
podcast, but is wonderful for families.
Bonjour, Andrew Prior, andwelcome to Join us in France.
Oh, bonjour and mercibeaucoup for having me on.
I'm fangirling or fanboying at the moment.
(02:09):
I've been a avid listener ofyour podcast for a long time.
And, in fact, you inspired mea bit to create my own podcast.
So, yes, thank you very much.
Thank you.
So what's the name of your own podcast?
Oh, well, Fabulously Delicious: The French Food Podcast, and so it (02:21):
undefined
literally is as the name suggestsabout delicious French food.
Just French Food.
Yeah, that's it.
Lots to talk about, lots to talk about.
So what inspired you, because youmoved from Australia to France, right?
Oui, that's correct, yes.
We moved here in 2016, andwe've been happily living here.
(02:45):
We had four years in Paris and nowwe're living in the French countryside,
and we've been here since the firstday of confinement of COVID, so
that was an experience in itself.
So you did not decide to movebecause of COVID, you had
decided to move before COVID.
That's correct, yeah.
So the dream with coming to Francewas always to have a place in Paris
(03:05):
and have a place in the countryside,because I love French food, we wanted
to get out, explore the differentregions and et cetera, with food.
And I wanted to move from- I wasdoing food tourism at the time, so I
wanted to move from doing food toursto actually doing cooking classes.
And so that was part of that move to thecountryside, was to do cooking classes.
(03:25):
But of course, at that time thingschanged, there was a little thing
called COVID and that- especiallywith Australians, it meant that they
couldn't travel to France for a good twoyears, so that was a bit of a problem.
Yeah, yeah.
And obviously because you arekind of famous in, in Australia.
You did MasterChef Australia.
(03:45):
So I assume most of yourcustomers are from Australia.
Tell us about that a little bit.
Yeah, they were definitely, it'schanged a little bit now, but definitely
they used to be from Australia.
So as you've said, I was on MasterChefAustralia, back in the fifth season of it.
I think they're now on their13th or something like that.
It's unbelievable.
But yeah, the fifth season of MasterChefAustralia, back in 2013, I had just the
(04:09):
year before, I had spent a year in Paris.
My husband, now husband, he wasn'tmy husband then, but my now husband,
was doing his PhD at Seance po.
And so I went over with him and we had,it was a bit of a big change for me.
I'd never done that before, so I sortof had my gap year when I was 39.
Hence, went to Paris and just walkedaround Paris and discovered a love
(04:34):
for Paris and a love for French food.
I mean, I already had a love forFrench food but, it really cemented it.
Went back to Australia, I didn'treally want to go back to insurance,
which I'd done for 20 years, andI really wanted to move to France.
That's what we both reallywanted to move to France then.
But one day I saw an ad on the televisionand, yeah, I applied and that was for
(04:56):
MasterChef Australia, and got on, whichwas a big rigorous process, just in
getting on, and it was a great experience.
I say often that it was the bestexperience of my life and the
worst experience of my life.
So, the best because it literallychanged my life, it really cemented
my love of food and wanting to workin the food industry in some way,
(05:17):
also was just a fabulous experienceto be on a TV show, you know?
The behind-the-scenes partof it really intrigued me.
I used to love the cameramen andthe mic people and all of that
sort of stuff, and I loved jokingaround with them and the producers.
And the worst part of my life wasthat I wasn't really a big fan of the
competition, so to speak, the fellowcontestants, it was quite competitive,
(05:40):
and I didn't really like that.
I had this dream of it being thefamily, you know, the MasterChef
family, which is what they sort ofsay on the telly, but in reality
everybody was quite competitive and Ijust didn't go into it thinking that.
Despite the fact that my husbandsaid when he dropped me off at the
hotel, "If you don't come home withour $100,000, don't come home."
(06:01):
Oh, nice husband you have.
Yes, that's okay.
He's a- you know, he has his- hehas his, sometimes he says the
right things, sometimes he doesn't,like most husbands, you know?
And also because I happened to be theonly contestant on MasterChef Australia
in the world, and I think it's stillthe case, who was medically retired.
(06:21):
So I wasn't eliminated for my cooking,they loved my food, I was actually
eliminated because I hurt my knees onthe show, so I got bilateral stress
fractures in my knees and I fractured myleft kneecap, so I wasn't allowed to walk
for 10 weeks after being on the show.
Oh dear.
Yeah.
I know.
I know.
It was quite funny, actually, I say thisall the time because we had to keep it
(06:43):
a secret that I was on the show, andthey filmed before, but then they, now
they actually film from my understandingthe whole season before it goes to air.
But back then they filmed half itand then whilst it was on air they
were still filming, so, I was awayfilming the show and then, that was
eight weeks, and then I had 10 weekswhere I wasn't allowed to walk.
(07:05):
So I just stayed at home.
And we kept it a secret from everybody, soI literally just stayed home, no one came
over, friends, family, we only told myparents really, and really close friends.
So, by the time it actually got ontothe telly people were going, "Oh,
we haven't seen Andrew for 18 weeks!
He must have done really, really wellon the show!" And then four weeks
(07:29):
into watching it they then found outthat I'd hurt myself and then everyone
was going, "Oh my God, are you OK?
All right, all right.
That's great.
So, tell us about your life in France now.
Is there places thatyou particularly love?
And then we'll get to thefood a little bit later.
I want to hear about the places you love.
(07:51):
Yes.
Well, I mean the first placethat I love would have to be my
hometown here in Mont-Morillon.
So it's... I'm desole formy French accent, it is...
You're going to have to spell that.
Mont-Morillon?
Mont-Morillon.
So it's M-O-N-T-M-O-R-I-L-L-O-N,Mont-Morillon.
(08:12):
And so it is located in the Vienne.
We're sort of halfway inbetween Poitier and Limoges.
And so we found the house hereand fell in love with the house.
And we have fallen in love with the town.
It's a great town.
It's got about 6,000 people.
It has its own macaron museum, becausethere specifically is a Macaron Memorial.
(08:33):
It's quite different actually, it's likea macaroon, but instead of being made
from coconut, it like the macaroon is,it's made from almond, like a macaron is.
So the museum gets busloads ofpeople coming to it, which is often
quite fun because that's literallyright next door to our house.
And so there's buses pull up withpeople getting off to go to the Macaron
(08:55):
Museum, but it's quite handy becausethey make delicious chocolates as well.
So we can pop over to there.
But it is a great town.
It's on a train line.
So we're two and a half hoursfrom Paris, on the train.
And we have a hospital here.
We have lots of schools, whichis, I think, important when you're
looking for a place to live if youwant it to be lively and active.
(09:16):
There's four schools in the town.
Two of them are boarding schools.
So, that's really great for jobs andall of those things, so that's great.
And then lots of littletowns around to explore.
So I quite like that.
I love Paris of course, and I tryto go there at least once a month.
It really is our second home,we're still looking for that idea
(09:37):
of getting another place in Paris.
So hopefully maybe alittle pit of tear, there.
And then just exploring France.
I just love to explore Franceand there's so much of it to do.
So that's why I'm an avid listenerto your podcast, and hearing the
stories of people that have explored.
I think, since listening to your podcast,my list has gone from about 20 odd
places about four or five years ago,to now I think the list is too big.
(10:02):
I don't know if I'll everdo it in my lifetime.
Yeah, that's the same as my list.
Oh my God, there's so many places thatsound really, really fascinating but,
you know, you have... That's anotherthing that I hope the podcast helps
people do is to prioritize, you know,okay, this one is great for me, but
maybe this one, ah, maybe later, put itdown the list a little further or so.
(10:24):
So the food, the cooking, so wealready know about the macarons
that they do in your town.
What other local specialtieshave you enjoyed?
Are there any, I'm not even sure?
Oh, there he is.
There is.
So I find it fascinating, thecheese in France, and how there's
so many different local cheeses.
(10:44):
I had a guest on the podcastthat once told me that there was
more than 1500 French cheeses.
So I don't know if there's, if that'scorrect, but if it is, I'm hopefully
in my lifetime, I'll get to eat everyone of them that would be fabulous.
But, I didn't, I never really likedgoat's cheese before I moved here.
I don't know why, but it was alwayssomething that I just wasn't.
(11:05):
And of course, the area is known foranybody that knows cheese and is a
fan of goat's cheese, they'll knowthat the Poitou-Charentes is one of
the areas for goat's cheese in France.
That is a really special favorite.
Especially I love when you go to theweekly market, so we have a market here
every Wednesday, and so at the weeklymarket, we have two vans that are
(11:27):
fromageries that come to the market.
One is actually staffed by a veryhandsome Frenchman, not the reason
why I go, he has good cheese aswell, but I do spend a bit of time.
I'm always, especially if there'sa big line and I can chat to the
ladies at the line, whilst lookingat the handsome cheesemonger.
Yeah, why not?
Then I get a call from my husbandsaying, "Where are you? How long
(11:49):
does it take to go to the market?"
Just looking, just looking.
Yes.
And so, but we also have another,sometimes actually up to four, but usually
always two cheese suppliers from thearea, so local farmers, et cetera, that
have come and are selling their cheeses.
So that must be a pretty bigmarket to have that many...
(12:11):
On Wednesday, it has its upsand downs in when it's very much
a... We have a nearby town calledChauvigny which is definitely bigger.
They have a much bigger market.
But here, the weekly one, it's atown of 6,000 people, so it gets
a decent amount of people goingto the market every Wednesday.
I would say the busiest time is actuallyaround about now, so sort of this sort
(12:35):
of October, November, and then in thebeginning of the year, it's always
around about, I would say April, May,that it's quite busy with people, with
locals and nobody's gone away, et cetera.
But sometimes yeah, you can goto the market and there can be
two cheesemongers and four othercheese suppliers just there.
(12:55):
We get two boucheries... butchers,boucheries, and there's even a permanent
one in the square, so that'll bethree, two poissoniers, fishmongers.
So yeah, it's quite a good market.
Yeah, that's good, that's good.
So, are there specific dishes thatyou recommend people try if they go?
Like, what should theyorder in the restaurants?
(13:17):
Well, yes.
Well, just getting back to the... Just tofinish with the market, one of the things
that I would suggest is to, and it is
a dish, is the farcie poitevin.
So, Poitevin being the area thatwe're in, the Poitou, that's
where it gets its name from.
And it's a stuffed cabbage, andit's stuffed with all the good
things, so that's bacon lardons,and it is quite delicious.
(13:41):
And even with the cheese, the thingthat I really love about being
here in the French countryside, andespecially because of my love of French
food, is this idea of older dishes.
Some people might think that astuffed cabbage is a really old dish.
It's something that our, like, mygrandparents would have had, and
my mum would never have had it.
You know, she would have said that.
(14:02):
But here it is, everybody has it.
And why?
Because it's delicious.
We don't care that this dish is,like, you know, 200-300 years old and
grandmothers were making it, and motherswere making it, et cetera, et cetera.
Right.
there's couple of things that youcan do with pork products and,
what do you call these things?
(14:23):
The choux.
How do you say choux in...?
Oui, oui, oui, oui, oui, chou, so cabbage.
Cabbage.
Cabbage.
So cabbage and pork dishes, so youcan have the farci that you mentioned.
The farci poitevin being one of them.
But you can also have a potée, whichjust means you cut up your cabbage
and you put some sausages, and youusually put something like a little
(14:47):
sweet, so maybe apple juice orapple slices, and a few potatoes.
And you just slow cookthat, and a miracle happens.
It's delicious.
You don't really need a recipe.
It just needs to be slow cooked, youknow, you set it in the morning and
forget it, and slow, slow, slow, slow.
(15:08):
So it used to be when I cooked withgas, I always worried about having
the gas too low, that it would gooff, you know, just flame would burn
out, and then I would have a problem.
But now that I cook with induction,I find that much better because I can
just set it on two or three for likethree hours, four hours, it's not a
(15:30):
problem, and I don't worry about it.
It's almost like aCrock-Pot sort of cooking.
You could put that in the Crock-Pot foreight hours and it would be delicious.
What was the original crockpot?
I've got, like, three of them here.
So just your Dutch oven, just popeverything in there, exactly like
you said, on a stove, on a reallylow setting, or in your oven on
(15:53):
a really, really low setting.
I love that.
Pretty much every Sunday, if it's nota roast, it's something that's just
slow cooking in oven, 150 degrees,and it's just cooked for five, six
hours, and then you just open thepot, and miraculously, wow, I've
created something really delicious.
Yeah.
So the farcie Poitevine is amazing.
(16:13):
Also I love, because it canbe used in, you know, and had
in so many different ways.
So it's the same... I gotthis tip actually firstly
from when I was in Melbourne.
I was doing food tours inMelbourne, and I had an all-day
French food tour in Melbourne.
And I used to take people around.
We started at 9:00 in the morning,picked them up in a bus, 22 people,
(16:36):
and drove them all around Melbourneand we just ate French food all day,
and then dropped them back off at 5:00.
And one of the places that we went to was,in Melbourne is called the Parisian Paté.
And Muriel there, she had beenmaking patés, with her husband,
and terrines and all these sort ofthings, so we'd go and taste that.
And so she gave me this tip withterrine because, for me, it was just
(16:59):
like you had terrine and that was it.
You know, just had it coldand usually with cheeses is
what we would do in Australia.
We wouldn't have it any other way.
We'd just have it on a big cheese platter.
But she taught me to have it as a dish,you know, by itself with salad and potato.
But then she said, you know,also that they would chop it
up and pop it in the fry pan.
(17:20):
And I was like, "Oh my gosh, I would neverhave thought to do that." And she said,
"Yes, we always, like, always would dothat, for just, like a week night meal.
When it was just her and her husbandby herself, the kids were, had
soccer or gone off to wherever, shewould just dice it up and then pop
it in the fry pan and fry that up.
And so I tried that with the farciePoitevine, thinking that this was
(17:42):
something that I could, that I waslike, "Oh my God, I'm going to teach
the French something. I'm going to dothis." And then I spoke to my French
neighbor and, because I did it, I friedthe farcie comes in a big slab, and I
fried it in the fry pan and then ate itlike that, because we'd had it before
cold, and it was still delicious.
But fried, it was just amazing.
(18:02):
And so I thought I was telling myFrench neighbor something really, you
know, amazing that I'd created becauseof this tip from... And she said,
"That's how we always have it, Andrew.
Always fried.
We've been doing thatforever." "Oh, okay."
There you go.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, there's very few thingsFrench people won't try in the
kitchen other than spicy food.
(18:23):
They won't do spicy food.
But other than that, theywill try a lot of things.
A lot of foods that maybe Australianswould object to, like, oh, I don't
know, some strange cuts of pork...
There are a few things the tête de boeufand the... what's the sausage again?
The...
Is andouille.
You know, is not that I object to it, it'sjust that we didn't grow up eating it, and
(18:46):
so you're just not used to those things.
But I will say, you know, weare, as I said, we live in
between Poitiers and Limoges.
Now, Limoges is known for many things.
It's got the ceramics,which is pretty amazing.
And it also is known in thearea for the limousin beef.
And the actual Limoges market isone of my favorite places to visit.
(19:07):
We go there in October, on the thirdweekend of October, there is always a
big beef festival, and there's the oldpart of town, in Limoges used to, this
old quarter, and it's actually whereall the butcheries and the, what's the
word, when they slaughter the beef?
I've forgotten what that word is.
(19:27):
L'abattoir.
Oui, they were located in this area.
What they do is they have a bigfair, a big market over the weekend,
on the third weekend in October.
But you go to the actual Les Halles......the market in Limoges, the butchers there,
there's three of them specifically thatI know, and I go there and you look at
it, and it's just that the way they dothe tête de boeuf do like a layered,
(19:51):
sort of terrine type way of serving it.
So they serve it in a terrineand they slice it see all
the different layers of it.
When artisan butchers do this andthey've put, like, they've got
these recipes they've been doingforever and they're putting a lot
of effort, it looks beautiful.
When a food looks good, it makes youwant to taste it, even despite the fact
(20:13):
that you know what it's made out of.
It might not be my favorite thingin the world, but when it looks
that good, you go, "Mm. Okay,well, I might give it a try."
It's really about what we're used to.
My daughter is away in Portugal forwork, and the first night she spent
in Porto, she sent us a picture ofa food that one of her coworkers had
(20:37):
ordered in a restaurant, and it was,she said it was cassoulet with tripes.
It was a photo and she says,"Cassoulet with tripes.
SOS." because she didn't growup with tripes and she's like,
"Oh, this is not happening."
(20:58):
Yes.
Well, I always prefer not to know what themenu is when I go to a posh restaurant.
When I go to a really, like, you know,a nice restaurant and they've got a
discovering menu, I just go, "Don'ttell me. I don't want to know. I will
eat it all." If it's something that Ireally, really, really dislike, I will
say that I'm allergic to it, but apartfrom that, I just go with the flow.
(21:19):
Because if it's made, if it's done welland it's made well, it should be tasty.
It just amused me, the tripe SOS.
She didn't order that.
She ordered something with pork andchestn- uh, walnu- um, chestnuts.
Oh, yes.
Les marron, which isprobably pretty good.
Yes, I'm sure it wouldhave been delicious.
(21:39):
Yeah.
So you... I'm sure you wrote...you have a cookbook, right?
Actually, no, I
don't have a
cookbook.
I actually have a, I have writtena book, but it wasn't a cookbook.
I've written a guideto Paris, a food guide.
Oh, okay.
A food guide to Paris.
Do tell.
So pretty much I lived in Paris forfour years, and as I like to say,
(22:01):
I had a year before then in 2012where I just walked around eating
at markets and things like this.
And I like to say that I atemy way around Paris, for people.
And so I wrote a book about it.
So it's called Paris (22:14):
A Fabulous Food Guide to the World's Most Delicious City.
I will send you a copy.
I'm literally just in the throesof updating it for the new year.
That's my plan, is to update it everyyear so that it is very much up-to-date.
And it's a mixture of places to go toas well as stories and facts and things
(22:34):
like this about Paris and its food.
So there's more than 370 recommendationsin the book and every single
one I've been to and eaten at.
They didn't give me any money to recommendthem, they're just all good food places.
Obviously, I went to more thanthat, because there was places
that I didn't put in the book.
Yeah.
Well, and I'm assuming that if theyare, you know, a good traditional French
(22:59):
restaurant, the turnover isn't great.
Like, the... If you update it yearafter year, are there a lot of changes?
Well, actually, that's interesting.
So, I wrote the book just before COVID.
Ah, well...
That happened and I didn't release it.
And so then I updated it lastyear before releasing it, well,
actually just, in 2023 I updated it,before releasing it for the year.
(23:24):
And when I went through everything,because I also had to... it was two years
old, so I had to go, first of all checkto make sure that every place that I'd
recommended was still there and they stillhad the reviews, and things like that
were still good from what I remembered.
And I did, I really went into it, Iwent into... if I hadn't been to the
place because of us moving, over theCOVID period to the countryside, if
(23:47):
I hadn't been to the place, I reallywent into researching and looking
at photos of the food, et cetera.
I, even to the point that I sent friendsin Paris to say, "Have you been here
since, you know, in the last few months?"Because knowing that there was these
places that they might have been to.
So I put a lot of effort into that.
It's not just French food, it's all foods.
(24:07):
So I've got sections for Frenchbistros, there's a section for
restaurants, there's a section forMichelin-starred restaurants, but
then there's also a section for cafes.
So the best coffee as well, thebest breakfast, brunch places,
fromageries, bakeries, pretty muchtried to get it all covered in there.
And so even now, I mean, as I said,we've been back to Paris in this
(24:30):
last year pretty much every month, infact, a couple of times, especially
with the Olympics twice a month.
And I made an effort to make sure thatI go back to a lot of the places and
try things, and also to find new places.
So... that's been my joy and... Look,if I can do that, and the podcast,
for the rest of my life thanI'll be a very very happy person!
(24:51):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah.
How about that?
So, hey, darling, we got to go, weneed to go back to Paris and try
restaurants because it's my work.
Yes, pretty much.
Not bad, right?
It's not bad.
So... and there's also little thingsin there, I try to give tips on things,
so, you know, one of the things thatI've said in there is about where to
(25:15):
go to eat, especially in areas whereit can be a little bit touristy.
That's a bit of a, you know, it'sa bit of a... not... I want to...
what is the word I should say?
I don't want to say dodgy, but itis a bit of a... you know, they're
catering to the mass market.
Right.
And, you know, for me, when I'mgoing on a holiday, the first thing
(25:36):
I look for is where I'm going to eat.
But that's not the priorityfor everybody, is it?
Some people it's art or, you know,some people it's architecture.
It might be comedy.
You know, they might be going to seea show or something like that for the
reason why they're going somewhere.
Whereas for me it's usually food.
So I wanted to make sure that I hadsome, you know, just some words of
(25:57):
advice in there about that, about...you know, I do think that it's important
to look at who's in a restaurant.
If you go past a, especially in France,if you go past a place in Paris and
you've had enough of French food andyou want to have something, you know,
Japanese, Asian, Chinese, for example,you go past the restaurant and it's full
(26:17):
of French people, you're not going toget the most authentic Chinese dish.
If you go past a restaurant and it'sfull of Chinese people, we know there's
a really great Sichuan restaurantaround the corner from Saint-Lazare
and it's literally the only place thatI've ever had real chili in Paris.
And it came out hot.
It was delicious, andit was full of Chinese.
(26:39):
Mm-hmm.
They know.
Whereas if I went past a Frenchrestaurant and it was full of Chinese,
I think, I might think twice about it.
"Well, it might be a bittouristy. What's the reason why?"
Yeah.
Well, you know, there are places inParis where definitely I struggle a
little bit, because I write walkingtours of Paris on the VoiceMap app,
and I always recommend restaurantswhere people can stop along the way.
(27:04):
There are some areas that are a littlebit challenging, like for instance,
right around Shakespeare and Company,is so touristy that, you know...
ugh, mm. So if you walk a little bitfurther to the Cluny Museum, then
you have good choices around there.
But right ar- I mean, there might besome, I just don't know about them.
(27:27):
Do you know of one around there?
Yes.
Well, I mean, the one I can think offirst off when you say that, because it's
every time I go to Shakespeare and Co, Imake my way there, is the Poilane bakery.
Yes.
Yeah that one, yes!
Is just, oh, delicious!
And, you know, this is one of my, oneof my tips for Paris, is that it doesn't
(27:47):
have to be all about restaurants.
The reason why I included bakeriesand fromageries in my book was that
it's like, you really should have thatParisian... especially if you go in
summer, have that Parisian experience.
Go get some bread, some baguette, goget some cheese and some, usually you'll
probably find some charcuterie somewhere.
I even found... and then go and get abottle of wine and go sit by the river
(28:09):
or sit in the Jardins du Luxembourg orthe Jardin des Plantes and have a...
Any bench really.
There's a lot of benches.
Yes.
Any bench.
Exactly.
I once... I'm always talking tostrangers and I once met a Australian
couple, just by the chance of it,sitting in the Jardins du Luxembourg
and they were eating vegan cheese.
(28:30):
And it was, like, fabulous.
They looked like they're having theirtypical French experience, and they were,
it was just that their cheese wasn'treal cheese, or there was no cheese!
Well, France has made lot of progresswhen it comes vegan everything.
I mean, we're not quite to the levelof, say, India, where the vegan
food is out of this world, but inFrance we're trying, you know...
(28:50):
No, you're right.
Yeah.
No.
And so, Sheakspeare andCo. is the fifth, sixth.
Fifth or sixth?
The fifth.
Oui.
Ah-hah.
You're probably... It's one of those.
Let's see.
Fifth?
Okay.
If you want good coffee and agood bit of breakfast, there's
Dose, D-O-S-E, Dile de Cafe.
(29:12):
And then, where else?
What was that place?
Oh,
Café Dose Paris, maisc'est rue Mouffetard.
That's far away.
Ah, well, yes, you're right, yes.
You know, that's like a,more than a mile away.
Oh, I'm all about walkingin Paris, you are right.
Yes, no, you're right.
(29:32):
Well, you're right because Ialways, I kind of give that area a
little bit of a miss, specificallythrough what you just said.
Around the Cluny there's one, I can'tremember the name of it, but it's
really close to the Cluny Museum.
There's one that's pretty good.
Yeah, Poilanes, of course.
Yes, that's... that's a very good... yeah.
And there are places like thatin Paris where, you know, eh,
(29:54):
not sure what to recommend.
So, I do the exact same thing youdo for my tours, I just go and try.
I got to try at least... you know,if I'm in Paris for two weeks writing
a tour, well, every lunch and somenights I try different restaurants,
because I'm going to stay out all dayand I get to try, you know, 15, 20
(30:16):
restaurants, while I'm writting the tour.
And then at the end, I just say, "Okay,here are my favorites in this area."
And I also go by recommendationsfrom other people, like other
people tell me, "Oh, you shouldtry this one or that one." Yeah.
And it's interesting because I alsowrote a food tour of Les Halles.
Yeah, yeah, Rue Montorgueil hasa lot of very interesting food.
(30:38):
And I really enjoyed doing thatbecause you know, I got to try all
these iconic, like, Au Pied du Cochon,places like that where I... I mean, I
had seen them before, but now I had areason to really go, you know, I need
to try a couple of times to make sure.
We lived in Sentier for four yearswhen I was in Paris, so we had our dog
(31:03):
walking parc was the Palais Royale.
And, oui, Lenny, one of myGolden Retrievers, he was very
popular at the Palais Royale.
And yes, Rue Montorgueil was literallymy local street and, oh my gosh, it's
just the best in that whole area.
I mean, there's so much food historythere, Les Halles, and even modern
(31:23):
food history, what the chef at Frenchy,an owner at Frenchy, has done there
with Frenchy at Rue du Nile, there hascompletely changed that whole area.
We even now to this day because ourneighbors, we've very much kept in
touch with our neighbors from Paris.
We go there often, weoften stay with them.
(31:44):
And even now to see it changedfrom when we were there four
years ago, it's just fabulous.
And yeah, it plays a very big part inthe book, the second arrondissement.
It's one of my favoritearrondissements in Paris.
Yeah it is a wonderful place and lots ofchoices, I mean so many choices for food.
So, if you had to give some adviceto somebody who wants to start
(32:07):
cooking French things at home,what are some they could try?
I'm going to have to pitch my own book,since you don't have one, I'll do mine.
It's called Join Us at the Table,and it was very much a pandemic book.
I'm not really a cookbookwriter, but during the pandemic
I found solace in food.
And so I wanted to try all of thesedifferent things and write down, make
(32:30):
it, you know, just like an experiment.
Let's see if I can improve on this,the way my mother cooked really.
My mother's French, so you know, Ihad classic French recipes from her.
I had written down some of her recipes.
And so I wanted to try them and just,you know, really measure everything,
make sure... you know, play with thetemperatures, play with this and that
(32:53):
to see what would work really well.
What I ended up with wassimplifying a lot of stuff.
Because especially, people whogrew up with Julia Child, she is
wonderful, but she has a knackfor making everything impossible.
You have to have so many things,you have to have all day, really.
(33:14):
Yes.
Yes, and I think that... well,just a touch on there with Julia
Child, again, love Julia Child.
You know, it really, she's played animportant part in French food history,
bringing it to the audiences that she did.
I like to say that I'm theAustralian Julia Child.
That's what I aim to be in life withthe podcast, you know, because, the
(33:37):
podcast, just to briefly chat on thatfor a sec, is every episode is about
a specific dish, an ingredient, ora cooking technique, or it could be
a profile of a chef from the past.
The idea for me was thatit was evergreen content.
It was something that was goingto be available in five to ten
years' time and it doesn't age.
(33:58):
It's just part of that history.
You could add to it forthat five or ten years.
But in doing the research for the episodesthat I've done, and one of the things
that I've found that I really loveabout French food now, and it's... I
think it's something that's really lost,it's the seasonality of French food.
(34:19):
Whether this is the haute cuisine orthe traditional French dishes, they
are all very seasonal, very regional.
And for me, that's about sustainability.
When you're eatingseasonally, it's sustainable.
And I think that's somethingthat's really being missed.
When most people think about a Frenchdish and when you say to me, "Well,
(34:42):
what could you start to begin, like,you know, a French dish?" I would go
with the most simplest one and probablythe one that is going to get you the
best results if you keep on practicingit and doing it all the time, and it's
something that you could practice and doall the time, and that's just an omelet.
Make an omelet.
Because that's somethingthat is, it's all year round.
(35:04):
Chickens are always laying eggsas far as I'm aware, and you can
add seasonal ingredients to it.
And it will give you technique.
And it might not be a technique thatis something that you're going to use
in lots of other dishes, but by justsimply focusing on it and doing it,
you're going to get that confidencethat can lead to other dishes and
(35:25):
send you on a journey for French food.
I love a coq au vin.
I love a boeuf bourguignon.
There's a lot of dishes that I love.
They're not, you know... You can't makea boeuf bourguignon... Well, you can,
but you shouldn't be making it in summer.
In France you can'teven find a cut of beef.
They start putting it out inSeptember, October, November, where
you can buy this... in a littlepacket, you can buy your kilo of
(35:48):
beef to make boeuf bourguignon.
In July and August, they don'teven... you'd have to go to your
butcher and specifically order, forsome reason you want to make a boeuf
bourguignon in July, who knows?
Not going to happen.
Yeah, and you know, and thatcan be even said for vegetables.
I mean, even here in Montmorillon,when it's changed a little bit now,
(36:13):
I don't know why, but I have foundthat we still have, last year, in
February there were still tomatoes,but they were all from Spain.
Right.
But the years before that, andeven in Paris, you couldn't find
tomatoes in many of the supermarkets.
If you did, they were going tobe just one small little section.
(36:35):
Right.
Right.
I'm sure, you know, audiences fromAmerica and from Australia, we
know that we get it all year round.
Yeah.
Yeah.
If you want to make a charlotte auxfraises, which is classic French
dessert, well, you make that in thespring or summer, because there are some
strawberries that come back in the summer,les remontantes is what we call them.
(36:57):
But, you wouldn't do that in... forChristmas unless you want to import
your strawberries from far away.
And I suppose you could find them,but they're not going to be as
nice as the ones grown locally,that you can get from the Tarn or
Tarn-et-Garonne near me in the Southwest.
We have a lot of fruitproducers, but just in season.
(37:18):
One thing I can think of that youcould get year round is like soupe
a l'oignon because onion soup, thereare... I mean, you get fresh onion
and then you get the dry onion later.
Well, not dry, but I mean, theyare like the... they get the brown
outer layer, you know, but theseare still onions from that year.
(37:38):
It's a vegetable that'smade to be kept year round.
So you could make different...
Do you use Roscoff onions whenyou do your soupe a l'oignon?
I have not, I don't think.
I use whatever onions are,whatever onions are out there.
Like I don't... it would be Roscoff onionshave a very specific flavor kind of to
(38:02):
them, but you know, in the Southwestyou don't find them everywhere, so...
So if you're lucky, if the listenersare lucky enough to be here at... And
they can get them, because they come inseason, and then they're pretty much sold.
Like, we would have them, I think wehad them at the market for about, mm,
I want to say eight weeks, nine weeks,and then that was it, you couldn't get
them anymore, because they just sell out.
(38:24):
But it is, when you make a soupe d'oignonwith a Roscoff onion, it's in my opinion
and from, I have done an episode onthem, is that you just add water.
Just water.
Water and a bay leaf andsome herbs if you like.
But just the sweetness from the onion andthe flavor in that onion, and it's great.
You still get a great soupe d'oignonwhen you make it with all the other
(38:47):
onions there are in the world.
But if you have that opportunityto make it from a Roscoff, a
Roscoff onion, it is just fabulous.
And have you lookedinto the Onion Johnnies?
No, I have not.
Tell me about that.
So the onion Johnnies, come from,again, from this, originally
from this Roscoff onion.
So they were, onion Johnnieswere men, French men.
(39:10):
What they were doing in the,I think it was the mid 1800s.
Okay.
It was more dangerous to take theironions to Paris to sell at the market
than it was from Normandy, from up north.
It was more dangerous to takethe onions to Paris to sell at
the market than it was to go overthe water to the UK and to Wales.
(39:34):
I don't know why it was more dangerous.
I'm assuming it was possibly themcoming back with money, they would be
robbed or something along those lines.
So what they would do is they wouldtake their harvest over to the
UK and over to Wales and the UK.
And on bikes, ride around, sellingdoor to door pretty much, their onions
(39:55):
to the English and to the Welsh.
And of course, the English came up withthe great idea of, as they do, you know,
just calling all French people "Johnny"because you know, usually every Frenchman
that they met was Jon, J-O-N, Jon.
And so they, they called him Johnny,and that's where they would drive around
on their bicycles with their typical...It's that look that you see in old French
(40:20):
photos and things like that of the menon their bicycles with their striped
shirts and their beret and they've got,like, onions or garlic wrapped around
their necks and bikes is the thing.
That was the Onion Johnnies.
And up until, yeah, up until I thinkit was 2012 was the last, they moved
from being doing it through theirbikes to actually having stalls.
(40:43):
And then I'm pretty sure that the last...they had a whole association to them,
and the last member of the Onion Johnnieswas finished in 2012, I think at the, I
want to say, the Borough Markets, but itmight be a different market in London.
But they were selling them up till then.
They used to take the onions overand sell them to the English.
(41:04):
Interesting.
This is not something we do in the South.
And France, that is one of the thingsabout France, is that there's a lot
of to the local food culture that's...grounded in the local history and
habits and what have you, so...
So, it's important to get know them.
I had a gentleman on the podcast, so thefirst two seasons I used to interview a
(41:28):
lot of people on the podcast that wereexperts, so to speak, on the topics.
But then as I wanted to do more andmore episodes, it was time-consuming
to find the expert, so I did theresearch and became the expert.
I found a wonderful gentleman down souththat makes France's only flatbread.
Now did you know thatFrance made a flatbread?
(41:48):
No.
No.
It's called the foue.
F-O-U-E it's made from a wood fire.
He actually takes it, he actuallygoes around in his area with a wood
fired oven, on the back of a trailer.
La fouée au mogettes.
So that's a local southern bean, andthen you fill it up in the bread.
(42:10):
Oh, never-
Yes.
You put it in the fouée, whichis the bread made flour from...
It puffs up bit
...Exactly like a flatbread.
And you can put stuff in it.
Yeah.
They say it comes from the Moorishinfluence, they think, from that way.
And who knew?
And I love that about France.
I love finding out this little things.
(42:31):
We have a lot of different thingsand if you're looking for like odd,
unique, you know, you don't have todig very far to find those things.
I tend to just specialize more inthe stuff that you can find anywhere.
You know, in my cookbook, I don't haveanything that's impossible to find.
I would rather give people recipes thatthey can make at home, even if they live
(42:52):
in the US or in Australia or wherever.
And I've adapted, you know, because Ilived in the US for a long time, so I'm
used to buying US ingredients and so Ijust said, "Okay, crème fraîche, here's
a suitable substitute for the US." It'snot perfect, but you know, there are a
lot of people who live in areas wherethey can't find fancy French ingredients,
(43:16):
you know, but they still want to try it.
No, exactly.
It's like I can't find sour cream here.
But, you know, I just have toadapt and I have to make it.
And, you know, sure, I'm used toputting sour cream on Mexican food,
because that's what we do in Australia.
But that's not Mexican.
That's Tex-Mex, you know?
It's like it's not the same.
(43:36):
So all of these things go all the way.
And it's like we're getting backto the Julia Childs of it all.
You know, she was making and spent thatmuch time and amazing, just an amazing
experience in my mind, to spend that muchtime on all of these French dishes and
making them for an American audience.
So, at that time, in the '50s, whenshe says to boil the bacon before
(44:01):
frying it, it's because of what wasin the bacon at that time to keep it.
Now they don't put that in the baconanymore here in France or pretty much
anywhere, I don't think, in the world.
You don't need to boil thebacon when you're making a boeuf
bourguignon, or a coq au vin.
You know, it's not somethingthat we would do here in France.
But at that time, that's what you did.
And, you know, that's great, and oneof the things for me, for Fabulously
(44:25):
Delicious is I wanted to reallyfind out what these dishes, these
ingredients, and these things wereabout, what their history was, so
that there is a record of that.
Because I would hate to think that,I mean, not that I think that it's
going to be the end, be-all andend-all for a record for French food,
but I like the idea that it is arecord of what it's supposed to be.
(44:47):
And so yes, you can make it your way,and you can make it in America with the
ingredients that you can get there, butat least we know, and, you know, one of
my favorite things in the world is, andit takes me forever, because my French
isn't that great, but I get along.
But it's, what's helping myFrench is old French cookbooks.
I love them.
(45:07):
Whenever I'm going past a, you know...If your listeners know about the old
phone boxes and letterboxes that theyturn into libraries with free books.
So whenever I walk past one, we'vegot one in the town, I'm always
searching for people that haveleft behind cookbooks for free.
If I'm in a brocante, I'm always headingover to the book section, searching for
(45:28):
one euro, two euro old French cook books.
I just love them.
Yeah.
That's wonderful.
All right, Andrew, we'vebeen talking a long time.
I am sorry to say our time is up,but it's been lovely meeting you and
I will put links to your podcast,and you have a website too, surely.
(45:49):
I do, yes.
Andrew Prior Fabulously.
So, the podcast is Fabulously Delicious,it's the French food podcast, and the
website is Andrew Prior Fabulously.
The book is Paris (45:57):
A Fabulous Food Guide to the World's Most Delicious City.
So there's a theme there.
That's because, my motto is "whateveryou do, you should do it fabulously."
So people can do that.
Lots of links to all of that onthe show notes for this episode.
And thank you, thank you somuch for coming on the podcast.
(46:19):
It's been a delight talking to you.
Merci Beaucoup for having me on.
It's been a absolute pleasure.
And I hope to one day getyou on Fabulously Delicious.
It would be lovely.
I would love to get your cookbook as well.
I will send you my address becauseI want to see... I want to see
your recommendations for Paris.
That sounds really good.
Fabulous.
Merci beaucoup.
Au revoir.
Au revoir.
(46:46):
Again, I want to thank my patrons forgiving back and supporting the show.
Patrons get several exclusiverewards for doing that.
You can see them at patreon.com/joinus.
And a special shout out thisweek to my new Join Us in France
champions, Emily from Canada.
(47:06):
Bonjour, Canada!
Who joined at theGroupie du Podcast level.
Rebecca Wainwright, who alsojoined at Groupie du Podcast
level, and Marilyn Jane Miller.
Thank you, Elaine Donborgu, ChristineMoore, and Gwen Y for editing your
pledge up to Groupie du Podcast.
(47:28):
And welcome back as apatron, Carol Mellinger.
Would you join them too?
You can do it for as little as threebucks a month, but if you can afford
it, I would love to have you pledge moreso you can have access to more rewards.
And to support Elyse, goto patreon.com/ElysArt.
(47:50):
This week I chatted with mypatrons about my visit to Paris.
Shared some photos and somevideos and things like that.
It's always fun to share with themand get their insights as well.
And as you know, I'm in Paris writinga tour, a new tour, that will take
you to Notre Dame, inside and out.
(48:10):
That will also take you to theSainte Chapelle, inside and
out, and to the Conciergerie.
So big topics, lots to discussfor people who love gothic
architecture and Marie Antoinette.
This new tour is goingto be ready very soon.
I'll let you know as soon as it's ready.
I'm still trying to decide, the rest ofthe time I have in Paris, because I'm here
(48:33):
for a couple of weeks, once I'm done witha tour and it's going great, should I just
go do things that I want to do in Parisor should I try to write another tour?
Today, honestly, I've workedso hard that I'm thinking I
should just go visit things.
You know, there's so much to do in Paris.
Anyway, podcast listenersget a big discount for buying
(48:54):
these tours from my website.
And if you buy directly from me, it's amanual process, so give us a few days.
But if you don't hear within twoor three days, do pipe up because
occasionally email, you know, theycan get lost and things like that.
And if you want to read reviews of thesetours, go to joinusinfrance.com/vmr.
(49:14):
That stands for VoiceMap Reviews.
I'm still doing the itinerary planning.
Lots of people are telling me,oh, I tried this too late, I
can't get you help right now.
And yes, people do book in advance.
That's just how it goes.
You can choose the Bonjour servicefor a one hour Zoom call with tailored
recommendations that we just discussed.
(49:37):
Or VIP for the same call plusa detailed follow up guide.
So if you're ready to start, goto joinusinfrance.com/boutique
and follow the email instructions.
And for the day trip with Annie, well,that's pretty simple, I have this
wonderful electric car, it's not aTesla, it's actually a Chinese EV and
(49:57):
it's an awesome car, I've had it foralmost three years now and I still
love it as much as I did the first day.
I can take you around the Southwest.
Now people ask me for differentthings that they want to see, but
there are some marvellous thingsthat you can do in the Southwest.
And so, if you can't come to the bootcamp,because the dates won't work for you,
(50:19):
perhaps you can book a day trip with me.
These are private tours, so just youand me, and up to two guests, in my car.
We move at your pace.
We skip the stress.
We focus on what interests you the mostand I can make suggestions, of course.
And again, you can get all of thatat joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
(50:39):
All right, let's talk about away to experience France that
doesn't get mentioned oftenenough, but is actually wonderful.
And that's the French campsite experience.
If you think camping in Francemeans pitching a tent in the
middle of nowhere, think again.
You can rent a bungalow or a mobile homeat a French campsite and it's more like
(51:04):
booking a private holiday rental with theadded bonus of resort style amenities.
It's comfortable, it's budget friendly,I mean it's not super duper cheap,
it's not like pitching a tent in thewild, but it's not very expensive.
And you have a lot of modern conveniences.
You can rent a bungalow fortwo, three bedrooms, a bathroom,
(51:27):
a kitchen, a living space.
And of course, air conditioningis an essential feature if you're
heading south in the summer.
Most of those have a deck with seating.
You know, you can enjoy the summer,it's kind of like laid back.
It's outdoor meals, that sort of things.
But what sets these French campsitesapart, at least the luxury ones, they're
(51:48):
not all that good, but of course we dohave some that are just nothing but the
flat area and nothing else, but there areluxury ones for which you pay a little
more, but they have a lot of amenities.
So many of the four and five starcamping sites feel like resorts.
They feature large swimmingpools, often with water slides.
(52:09):
They have bars.
They have restaurants.
They have kids clubs.
Some have spas, golf courses.
Some campsites also offer thingslike ziplines, tennis courts,
lakes with a pedal boat rental.
They are an excellent choicefor families and, or anyone
looking for an active holiday.
And one of the best things is that youusually have an on site boulangerie,
(52:34):
little store, and that's where youcan get your pain au chocolat, or
chocolatine as we say in the Southwest.
Oh, it's funny, today I, in Paris, Istopped at a bakery and the guy was
making a joke about a strange customerthat he had seen there earlier,
and so I said, because this personhad used a word that doesn't exist.
(52:55):
And I said, oh, we don'teven say that in Toulouse.
And of course they picked up on myaccent and, then when it was my turn
to order, the lady said, oh, you couldhave, and I said, pain au chocolat.
And she said, oh, you could havesaid chocolatine, I understand.
I actually like it better becausepain au chocolat just means
bread with chocolate in it.
And I was like, yay!
You get us, you get us.
(53:15):
Anyway, but these campsites haveall of these amenities, including
a bakery and a little store.
I'm not saying these stores arelike the best and the cheapest in
the world, but they'll provide youwith what you need right there.
Most of these campsites where peoplelike most is that there's a swimming
pool, and sometimes they're by alake as well, but I think the kids
(53:36):
really love the swimming pools.
One of the things that's nice about thesecampsites is that you don't usually have
to arrive on a specific day of the week.
Apparently that's common in the UK.
In France, you can arrive whenever.
You can check in at 3 or 4 PM.
You can arrive later if you need to.
They want you to leave the bungalowclean, but you know, you don't need
(53:58):
to, like, spend hours scrubbingfloors, and things like that.
You can pay someone to do that.
At any rate, it's a very unique way tosee France and enjoy France, and I think,
if you've done this yourself, I wouldlove to talk to you about it because I
think for young families, it's absolutelyperfect and there are so, so many choices,
(54:21):
that really, they're all over France.
So, I think, you needto think about those.
Next week on the podcast, an episodewith Carol Handel about how to
plan a leisurely trip to France.
Very important.
Take it easy, folks.
And my thanks, of course, topodcast editors, Anne and Christian
(54:43):
Cotovan, who produce the transcriptsand make the audio sound good.
Thank you so much for listening,and I hope you join me next time so
we can look around France together.
Au revoir.
The Join Us in France travelpodcast is written, hosted, and
produced by Annie Sargent, andCopyright 2025 by AddictedToFrance.
(55:04):
It is released under a CreativeCommons attribution, non-commercial,
no derivatives license.
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