As a love letter to France, Edible Manhattan writers set out to explore French culinary culture in partnership with Taste France. An initiative of the French Ministry of Agriculture, Taste France celebrates the rich landscape of French food and beverages. It is their mission to bring to the world the essence of French gastronomy—the tradition and know-how; the exceptional regional diversity; the freshness, sustainability, and responsible growing methods championed in France that bring to French products their unmistakable excellence. Taste France invites France to your table every day.
READ MORE | Taste France: Délicieux!
Giving Fruits and Vegetables the Respect They Deserve
Sometimes a kiwi is not just a kiwi. A shallot is not just a shallot. For the most nutrition and flavor, fruits and vegetables need care. Chefs know this, food lovers know this, and the goal at Interfel is for everyone to taste the difference.
From the grower to your table, when it comes to fresh fruits and vegetables every step of the way matters. In France, the journey starts with terroir, a region’s unique terrain and soil that imparts a specific character to everything from a wine grape to a head of broccoli. The terrain is carefully maintained to cultivate the freshest, healthiest, and most delicious produce. If it is harvested at just the right moment and quickly conveyed to the marketplace, the consumer reaps the benefits of the care taken all along the way. That’s particularly true for seasonal fruit.
Take the Siberian kiwi. Small and soft, this luscious berry grew wild in Asia for 1,000 years, but was too delicate to be conserved. That is, until the 1990s—when New Zealand botanists crossed the hearty native kiwi with the Siberian variety, producing a small, firm, and deliciously sweet fruit packed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber. They dubbed it the Nergi. Since 2013, the Nergi baby kiwi has been sustainably cultivated and harvested in France with meticulous care. Nergi growers use no chemicals during fruit production and every fruit is picked by hand to assure that this beautiful and delectable berry reaches the market shelves in full freshness from late summer to mid-fall.
Same for the humble shallot. Nearly 1,000 years of French know-how has perfected this tiny bulb, so essential to the flavor of everything from a vinaigrette to a Bavette à l’échalote. First cultivated in the 12th century in Brittany and the Loire Valley, the two varieties of French shallot are still produced according to tradition. Each bulb is planted by hand, harvested a few months later, then left in the sun to dry before being sorted and stored. The rarer gray shallot, with white flesh and stronger notes, has a limited production and is available only from July to December. The softer, mellower pink shallot can be bought year-round.
Freshness, origin, and French expertise: Interfel makes sure that fresh fruits and vegetables get the respect they deserve, and the consumer gets the best product possible.
INTERFEL
@fruitvegfromfr / LinkedIn
French Winemaking at Its Finest
Tradition, respect for the land, excellence in all endeavors . . . these are the hallmarks of Famille Perrin, Rhône Valley winemakers for five generations.
Sun-dappled lavender fi elds, silvery olive trees, captivating villages perched high above rolling vineyards, a refreshing glass of wine on a shady terrace… Whether you’re sipping a La Vieille Ferme red, white, or rosé, each glass conjures all the magic of the Southern Rhône Valley. This sense of place is fundamental to Famille Perrin, producers of La Vieille Ferme for 40 years and some of the Southern Côtes du Rhône’s finest wines for more than a century.
Five generations of family collaboration and French know-how go into every Famille Perrin wine, coupled with a deep appreciation for all the richness and diversity of this sun-drenched land. The family has deep roots in the Rhône Valley, with vineyards spanning the region’s most famous villages and communes and their namesake appellations including Châteauneuf-du Pape, Cairanne, Gigondas, Vinsobres, Vacqueyras, and Côtes du Rhône. As the Southern Rhône’s largest organic producer, Famille Perrin knows that to coax the wines’ truest character from each distinct terroir requires absolute respect for the soil. That’s why the family has pioneered organic viticulture since 1950, and introduced biodynamic practices as early as 1974.
Famille Perrin wines run the gamut from prestige vintages—like the renowned Château de Beaucastel featured on the world’s best wine lists—to accessible and delicious wines found at quality grocers.
There is a Famille Perrin wine for every season, occasion, and cuisine: La Vieille Ferme’s festive Réserve Sparkling Rosé is perfect for festive moments or any celebration. The Réserve Rosé and white wines make for a refreshing apéro among friends and a well balanced, full-bodied red complements any meal. For quality, drinkability, and value La Vieille Ferme delivers every time.
LA VIEILLE FERME
@lavieilleferme
The Best of French Dairy in Your Grocery Aisle
Expressing a unique terroir—the climate, soil, and growing methods that impart a special character to food and wine—is fundamental to the superior quality of French products—French cheese and butter included!
Président butter
Rich, creamy, satisfying butter…the ultimate comfort food with the power to elevate even the simplest dishes. That’s why the quality of the butter matters. For decades, Président has transformed the best cultured cream from Normandy, the dairy of France, into the richest most flavorful cultured butter. Président’s higher fat content makes all the difference in texture and taste and, as every French baker knows, makes pastries lighter, flakier and utterly delicious. Try a dash of France’s number one premium butter on a radish, spread it on a baguette with ham for a French-style jambon-beurre, or enjoy it plain on a slice of bread for a satisfying taste of French goodness.
PRÉSIDENT
@presidentcheese
Société Roquefort
For 161 years Société Roquefort has used traditional methods and know-how to make their legendary Roquefort cheese. Blue mold from the cool limestone caves of Roquefort, combined with raw ewes’ milk from the famous Lacaune sheep, gives this world-famous cheese its intense flavor and luscious creaminess. Aged for a minimum of 90 days, Société Roquefort emerges from the caves ready to be enjoyed with pears, apples, or walnuts; melted in a gratin; or simply enjoyed on its own. Roquefort was the first French cheese to be honored with the PDO (Protected Designation of Origin), marking its unique region and traditional know-how. Société Roquefort is proud to showcase an exceptional PDO cheese in the U.S. and in 80 countries around the world.
SOCIÉTÉ ROQUEFORT
@roquefortsocieteworld
Valbreso
From the rugged, sun-baked terroir of France’s Mediterranean south, Valbreso cheese is crafted with care in the traditional way. Valbreso’s premium quality and superlative flavor comes from the milk of the Lacaune sheep, prized for its richly creamy milk, then matured in brine using the time-honored methods to produce a deliciously mild and velvety cheese. Valbreso’s salty tang and easy-to-crumble texture make this versatile cheese perfect for everything from pizza and salads to savory tarts.
OCababon offers New Yorkers a true French pantry.
Stop by for a meal (and stock up on your favorites).
OCabanon: A True French Kitchen in NYC
In the south of France, it’s common for houses to feature a second kitchen in an independent, cabin-like structure. Part pantry, part workshop, these cabanons are intimate spaces where family and close friends gather to eat, drink, and talk. Armel Joly, co-founder of OCabanon Restaurant, wanted to re-create the relaxed intimacy of a French cabanon in New York City. Joly says of the grandmother of his partner in
OCabanon, Alexandre Mur:
“Every time that you came to see her, she’d be going, ‘Oh, it’s you. I’m so happy to see you! You should be hungry—let me check in my cabanon,’” Joly recalls. To honor Mémé Guiguite’s hospitality, Joly and Mur’s OCabanon re-creates dishes from her recipe book, sourcing their meats from D’Artagnan and their produce from the Hudson Valley. Look for French classics—escargots de Bourgogne, homemade country pâté, onion soup—joined by Mur family favorites: Daube de Mémé Guiguite (wild boar stew served with mashed potatoes) and Poulet façon Monsieur Georges (chicken breast marinated in thyme and rosemary with fingerling potatoes, string beans, and mushroom sauce).
Plus, like a real cabanon, OCabanon Restaurant is also a French larder—there, you can find nearly 500 imported French products. (There are thousands more available on its website, frenchwink.com.) It’s the ideal source for the LU cookies that you can only find in France, not to mention mustards, jarred sauces, butter, lentils, pork rillettes, pâtés, sausages, cheeses, and so much more. If you want to visit France without leaving NYC, drop by OCabanon.
OCABANON
245 W 29th St (between 7th and 8th Ave), New York, NY
@ocabanon
La French Baguette
All the ingredients for the perfect loaf at your fingertips—a gift from France to the United States, with love.
Nothing says France like a perfectly baked baguette. Crisp on the outside, soft and airy on the inside, though it is composed of only four ingredients—flour, water, salt and leaven—every French baker makes a unique version. So essential is this artisanal skill to French life and culture that it’s inscribed on UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
La French Baguette brings this expertise to your home with a simple DIY experience for pleasant moments with family and friends. This award-winning mix combines the highest quality French flour and yeast—impossible to obtain outside of France—in a single packet. All you do is add water and salt, shape the loaf, fold it into the provided baking paper to rise on its own, and pop it into the oven for a guaranteed ooh la la moment every time.
The perfect authentic gift from France, you can find La French Baguette at the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe gift shops and at Paris airports. As an official choice of the Paris Olympics, it’s now available at Carrefour stores across France. Be on the lookout… La French Baguette is coming to the United States soon!
LA FRENCH BAGUETTE
@la.french.baguette
Maison Perrier
The world’s favorite sparkling water introduces an exciting new range of drinks.
Creativity, innovation, know-how…the hallmarks of Maison Perrier unite in a new range of zero-calorie, zero-sweetener sparkling waters designed to satisfy every craving and inspire you to feel elevated. Infused with six all-natural fruits, Maison Perrier Flavors offers just the right balance of sweetness and bubbles in juicy strawberry, rich blackberry, zesty lime or grapefruit, and lusciously fragrant peach.
For those seeking a boost of pure, unflavored refreshment, Maison Perrier’s calorie-free Ultimate sparkling water delivers an invigorating burst of bubbles packed with naturally occurring electrolytes. Maison Perrier Flavors and Maison Perrier Ultimate come in the perfect size bottles or cans to slip conveniently into handbags or backpacks for a thirst-quenching, super-hydrating and healthy drink on the go. For everyday moments and special occasions, discover these irresistible reinventions of a timeless French icon coming straight to you from the South of France.
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