French Me s'il vous plaît

AUTHENTIC FOOD? I THINK OUI!

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My friends Priscilla Ferguson and Pampille tell me in their hoity-toity manner that to have an authentic food experience you must be born there!

I refuse to believe them! My most authentic French food experience was in Melbourne thanks to my Parisian exchange student, Justine. I got to practice French, but bonus – she could cook! Her grandpa is from France’s northwesternmost region, Brittany, where salted-butter plays a key role in cuisine. She made for us Kouign-Amann, a delicious caramelised pastry made of layers of dough mixed with sugar and salted-butter. Justine explained that Kouign-Amann is to Brittany like the croissant is to Paris! She told me it actually came about by accident when a baker in the 19^th century attempted to save a failed batch of bread-dough by adding sugar and salted-butter.

I questioned its name because to me it’s so obviously not French. Juju explained that Brittany claims it as their own as they have named it with the Breton words for “butter” (kouign) and “cake” (amann). She compared this to Carème (French cooking royalty) who emphasised the importance of naming food as a way of claiming it. I understand that naming this dish in Breton stamps it as belonging to this region. Not only this, but they claim it reflects the kind of people who come from Brittany: this thick, heavy, no-nonsense pastry reflects proud Bretons; their strong attachment to land and hearty meals indicative of their Celtic influence.

I found it at Lune in Fitzroy – look! https://www.lunecroissanterie.com/

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