Learn French and Taste the Niçoise Gastronomy

Everyone knows and loves Nice for its beaches, the sea, its amazing old town,  « la promenade des Anglais »  but also for its culture. But do you know that Nice offers also a large selection of culinary specialities? In our post from last week we spoke about the different sorts of wine we have in Nice and our region, today we would like to present you some of the « must tastes » while you are in Nice.

• « La pissaladière »: The pissaladière is Nice famous onion cake. It’s made of a thin and crispy pizza dough. Toped by soft-boiled onions and a special fish sauce. These days the fish sauce is most of the time replaced by anchovies. The top of the tart is garnished with our special olives « les olives niçoises »
• « La soupe au pistou »: The soup au pistou is a composition of different summer vegetables, noodles and pesto. For those who don’t know what pesto is: it’s a paste made of garlic, olive oil and fine minced basil. In Nice, once every year, the castle party « fête du château » takes place. A famous city festival. It’s the ideal occasion to savor a tasty soupe au pistou, or an other culinary speciality.
• « Le pan bagnat »: One of our favorites. The pan bagnat is a sandwiches stuffed with tomatoes, radish, paprika, onions, basil, eggs, tuna and anchovies. Previously the pan bagnat was the typical lunch of the local fishermen. At alpha.b you can not only learn french, but also participate to one of our food tastings or food ateliers. Beside other ateliers where you can discover different specialities of Nice and the region, alpha.b offers an atelier pan bagnat, where you learn, prepare and eat :-).
• « La socca »: The most famous speciality of Nice. Socca is a kind of pancake, but it’s made of chickpeas and it’s salty. It’s to taste as long as it’s hot, just with a little pepper. It’s a must for all visitors of the French Rivera.
• « La tourte de blettes sucrée » : The tourte de blette is a tarte. A desert speciality of the region. The « blette » is a vegetable similar to spinach but prepared in to a sweet tart. The other two main ingredients are pine nuts and raisins. Toped of a frosting.

Are you hungry now :-)? This was just short overview of the specialities that Nice and the region offers. If you want to learn more about the French culinary specialities, don’t hesitate to participate to one of alpha.b’s tastings or ateliers. Learn more about the french culture beside of your french language course.