Instructions
To suggest that any country truly possesses its own cuisine is to miss the whole point of our human experience. For all the cities and monuments we build, humans are essentially a nomadic species. Travel is in our DNA, and as such we become inextricably linked with other communities.
We splice, blend, mingle and conflate, until a new dominant theme emerges, and we call this ‘the next big thing’. Not surprisingly it is usually based on ‘the last big thing’ as that is the part of our culture we are keenest to share.
So it was that in the early 14th century pizza came to France.
After the election of a French pope known as Clement V in 1305, politics and religion became deliberately entwined. King Philip IV of France refused to allow ‘his’ pope to move to Rome, and instead had the papacy installed at Avignon, near the Mediterranean city of Marseille. Philip wanted the power and wealth of the church kept close.
And so the Vatican emptied, as the clerks, scribes, courtiers and monks headed to France. With them came the palace cooks, and thus began the westward spread of Italian cuisine, and all manner of Italian food would soon meld into the French diet. Even in medieval times pizza was wildly popular with the Romans, and soon it was all the rage in Avignon.
After 70 years the popes returned to Rome, but the imprint of their time in France lingers, although it has become characteristically French. Today the signature dish of the Avignon region is ‘pissaladiere’ – an onion- and olive-themed pizza with a heavy dosing of anchovies. In some towns dried tomatoes are used as well.
Made with a simple olive oil pastry, it is richer and yet more delicate than its Italian cousin, although this observation could characterise French and Italian foods generally.
But best of all, there’s no yeast involved, and as such you can prepare a pissaladiere from scratch in just a fraction of the time it takes to make true pizza.
So grab a bowl, grab some onions, start cooking, and perhaps get creative. Who knows, maybe the time has come for you to start blending food cultures and create your own ‘next big thing’.
Pissaladiere with olive oil pastry