Monday, September 21, 2015

Fête de la Gastronomie is Sept 25 to 27


The 5th-annual Fête de la Gastronomie takes place September 25 to 27 and an estimated 10,000 culinary-themed events are being staged across France and beyond. 

There are more than 1000 of them already listed in Paris alone...see a selection of those here

The loose theme this year is "creativity and daring" and Michelin three-star chef Anne-Sophie Pic is the honored "patron."  

The Fête was created to celebrate French cuisine in all its forms... and the "savoir faire unique to French gastronomy." Events include community banquets, picnics, tastings, special restaurant meals, farm visits, conferences, street fairs, cooking competitions, dine-arounds and more. 

The initiative is also designed to burnish the image of French food and gastronomy abroad. Last year, 232 Fête-related events took place outside France. 

So what's going on this year? Search the FDLG website for events in your area and check back often because the list is being updated daily. Or, visit your local Tourist Office or their website. (A list of Tourist Offices in Provence is here.)  

Meanwhile here's just a quick taste of events around Provence and elsewhere: 

The Bouches du Rhône department is staging numerous events, many of which you can see on their website here.  

Cassis has its sixth annual Vendanges Etoilées wine harvest festival with 27 top chefs participating. There's a cooking competition at the Port and on the Place de la Mairie. On Saturday and Sunday, there will be a large producers market on the Place Baragnon and a "showcooking" barbecue in the public garden. On Sunday afternoon there's also a picnic. For info, click here and here

In St. Remy, the Hotel Les Images is hosting a farm market and family picnic from 10 am to 6 pm on Saturday. Chefs will be cooking, local foods will be available for purchase and everyone can picnic on the grass. Chef Christophe Chiavola has invited some of his best local chef pals to join him, such as Glenn Viel of  L’Ousteau de Baumaniere. Admission is free. For info, contact the St. Remy Tourist Office, 04 90 92 05 22, info@saintremydeprovence.com. 

In the Camargue, the "Marais du Vigueirat" will feature local producers, a farm market, a picnic and activities for kids on Sunday from 10 am to 7 pm. 

In Châteauneuf du Pape on Saturday, there's a harvest picnic at the Domaine Chante-Perdrix, with grape picking, wine tasting and more on Saturday. To reserve, contact the Tourist Office at 04 90 83 71 08. Price: 25€ pp for adults, 15€ for kids under 12. Kids under 5 are free.

In Aix on Saturday, everyone is invited to stop by the Tourist Office for a tasting of local wines (11 am to 1 pm). In the evening (5 to 7:30 pm),  local chefs will be serving up their specialties in small portions and more local wines will be served. The event is free and more info is here

In Avignon on Saturday, a dozen chefs will be cooking at the Les Halles indoor food market, preparing dishes around the theme of "land and sea." There will be tasting of course, and plenty of local wine. The event starts at 11 am. For info, click here.

In Carpentras on Saturday (10:30 to 12:30 and 2 pm to 6 pm) three well-known chefs will be doing cooking demos and of course, offering tastes....the info is here and here.

And here's a tiny sample of what's going on elsewhere in France: 


The Burgundy region will feature 50 different "Fantastic Picnics" in châteaux, vineyards, windmills and abbeys and more. For info, click here.  


Rennes will once again host its the "Festival Gourmand" with demonstrations and contests featuring chefs and food producers at the Marché des Lices.

The villages of Alsace are staging a wide range of events...as are the villages of Normandy.


The main website for the Fête is here. To see some of the info in English, click here

For the press kit in English, click here


You can also follow the Fête on Facebook and on Twitter.

And if you want to stage an event under the FDLG umbrella, there's still time. The contact info is:  01 53 18 85 20, projet@fete-gastronomie.fr.

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