dante al dente

I’ve been wandering around the exquisite countryside of Provence, driving down sun-dappled, tree-lined roads, eating fabulous one-star lunches, visiting Roman ruins, staring at old stones, admiring French fashions (especially shoes) in shop windows of beautiful little towns, sipping coffee on sunny patios, & shopping for food in the market in Uzes on Wednesdays.

If I ever move to Provence I want to live in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

I’ve been reading Dante’s Inferno, one of the heavy books I brought on this journey, and it didn’t surprise me when I learned that Dante passed through this region & visited Les Baux-de-Provence & the Val d’Enfer, just as I did a couple of days ago. The turbulent, dramatic landscape of this place surely inspired his descriptions of hell – except that this place is magnificent & there were no punishing fires or rivers of burning pitch. It was all astonishing visual pleasure.

At the Château of Les Baux I purchased a cookbook by the world-class chef of the Oustau de Baumanière, one of France’s great hotel & restaurant that I visited many years ago & where I wanted to return to eat lunch -- until I discovered the price -- 175 Euros!!

Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.

I was intrigued by this cookbook for many reasons: it is beautifully illustrated, it mentions Dante’s visit to the Val d’Enfer, and because all the recipes are about vegetables. In his introduction the chef, Jean-André Charial, says that on a trip to India, which he loved, he discovered the pleasure of vegetarian cuisine & that one can be satisfied with a meal without meat or fish. He added a menu to the Oustau’s “carte,” with vegetables we gather & cook on the very same day.”

I read the book as soon as I got back & can’t wait to try some of the recipes, in spite of all the cream & butter & truffles he likes to use. But there were mistakes: ie. he says “now add the potato,” when there is no potato in the list of ingredients; and I’m not familiar with xerxes vinager, & what exactly is star anise? He likes to use its fruit & seeds. So I called the Oustau & told them I had some questions for the chef. I was told M. Charial would certainly speak to me next Monday when he returns from a trip to Paris & that I should call around 9:30 in the morning.

I can’t wait to speak to the great man. I’ll tell him I ate the greatest peach of my life at the Oustau de Baumanière 35 years ago, and will relate the story about how, in one thousand nine hundred and eighty-fourteen, I challenged five of the great three-star Michelin chefs to prepare a meal for me with no meat or fish (or dairy!), and how gladly they accepted & brilliantly achieved the task. I have a fantasy about this phone call & all that will come of it: Falling in love! Writing a book together! France! India! Vegetables! Free lunch!!!

I can dream, can’t I?