Fabulously Delicious: The French Food Podcast

Andrew Prior

Fabulously Delicious: The French Food Podcast is your ultimate guide to the world of French cuisine, culture, and culinary history — served with a generous helping of storytelling and fun. Ever wondered what really sets a macaron apart from a macaroon (and even Macron)? Why the croissant has its iconic crescent shape? Or whether a true boeuf bourguignon must be made with Burgundy wine? Curious about the legendary chefs who shaped French gastronomy, or the influential “Mères Lyonnaises” who changed the course of culinary history? Join host Andrew Prior — a passionate Francophile and food lover — as he dives into everything that makes French food so fabulously delicious. From iconic dishes and regional specialties to artisan ingredients, culinary traditions, and the fascinating stories behind France’s greatest chefs, this podcast brings French gastronomy to life. Whether you're a foodie, a Francophile, a home cook, or simply dreaming of your next trip to France, Fabulously Delicious: The French Food Podcast will transport you straight to the heart of French cuisine.

  1. Eau de Treignac: The Purest Water in France Nobody Has Heard Of

    22h ago

    Eau de Treignac: The Purest Water in France Nobody Has Heard Of

    Eau de Treignac: The Purest Water in France Nobody Has Heard Of | Food Tour de France Eau de Treignac — the extraordinary natural mineral water from a source above a village of 1,389 people in the Corrèze — is one of the most remarkable and most overlooked food products in this entire series. Today's Food Tour de France episode finishes in Ussel, deep in the heart of the Corrèze plateau, and tells the full story of a water that filters for fifteen years through granitic sand soil in the Millevaches regional nature park before emerging from its source at a constant temperature of 9.5 degrees Celsius with a dry residue of just 20 milligrams per litre — among the lowest mineral content of any naturally occurring water in Europe. For context, Evian has a dry residue of 309 milligrams per litre. Volvic sits at 130. Treignac at 20 is in a different category entirely. And it is now being poured at the Plaza Athénée in Paris, the Negresco in Nice and the Chabichou in Courchevel. The episode tells the full story of how Eau de Treignac came to be bottled — from the family discussion led by Michelle Sainte-Laudy in 2002 that began the process, through the eight years of work required to move from idea to commercial production, to the 3,200-metre pipeline installed by the commune of Treignac connecting the source to the bottling plant at a cost of 130,000 euros. The commune of Treignac — population 1,389 — owns the source. The municipality receives a royalty per litre. And the water's extraordinary purity — a silica content that gives it a barely perceptible mineral dryness, a gentiane note that the head sommelier at Georges Blanc's three-star restaurant described as elegant, dry and mineral in the most delicate possible sense — has made it the water of choice for some of the finest tables in France. A water that does not interfere with the flavour of food. Which in the context of French gastronomy is exactly what is required. The Food Tour de France is a daily series running alongside the 2026 Tour de France on Fabulously Delicious — one episode for every stage start and finish. The Treignac water episode connects directly to the Évian episode earlier in the series — two French mountain waters at opposite ends of the mineral content spectrum, both finding their audience in the finest restaurants in France through the same fundamental quality of not imposing themselves on the food alongside them. Search Fabulously Delicious on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for the full series. As Fabulously Delicious steps into its sixth year, one thing is clearer than ever: five years of French food culture has taught Andrew that the subject is genuinely inexhaustible. My book Paris: A Fabulous Food Guide to the World’s Most Delicious City is your ultimate companion. This is a new 2026 update for the book and you’ll find hand-picked recommendations for the best boulangeries, patisseries, wine bars, cafés, and restaurants that truly capture the flavor of Paris. You can order it online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠andrewpriorfabulously.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  For those who want to take things further, why not come cook with me here in Montmorillon, in the heart of France’s Vienne region? Combine hands-on French cooking classes with exploring charming markets, tasting regional specialties, and soaking up the slow, beautiful pace of French countryside life. Find all the details at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠andrewpriorfabulously.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can help keep the show thriving by becoming a paid subscriber on substack where you'll also get fabulous extra content. Every contribution makes a huge difference. Join here at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Merci beaucoup! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #FrenchFoodPodcast #FabulouslyDelicious #foodpodcast #EauDeTreignac #FrenchMineralWater #FoodTourDeFrance #TourDeFrance2026 #CorrèzeFood

    9 min
  2. The Liqueurs of Brive-la-Gaillarde: The Secret Drinks Capital of the Corrèze

    1d ago

    The Liqueurs of Brive-la-Gaillarde: The Secret Drinks Capital of the Corrèze

    The Liqueurs of Brive-la-Gaillarde: The Secret Drinks Capital of the Corrèze | Food Tour de France Brive-la-Gaillarde — the largest city in the Corrèze, sitting at the point where the Massif Central meets the Dordogne Valley — has been making artisan liqueurs since 1839 and is one of the most underrated drinks destinations in France. Today's Food Tour de France episode starts in Malemort, right next to Brive, and tells the full story of a city that turned its extraordinary geographical position — close to the Cognac and Armagnac country, surrounded by walnut orchards, rich in aromatic plants from the edge of the Massif Central — into a liqueur-making tradition that has been running for nearly two centuries. At the heart of that tradition is the Maison Denoix — founded in 1839, now in its fifth generation, designated a Living Heritage Company by the French state — and its most celebrated creation, the Suprême Denoix walnut liqueur, made from green walnuts harvested around the city every mid-July and still produced from the same ancestral recipe in the same building in the centre of Brive. The episode tells the full story of the Maison Denoix — from its foundation by Pierre Lacoste in 1839 through the creation of the Quinquinoix walnut wine, aged for five years in oak barrels, to the extraordinary story of the Moutarde Violette de Brive — the violet mustard made from grape must and fine mustard seeds whose purple colour and sweet-sharp balance connects the city to a fourteenth century Pope who was born in the Corrèze and summoned a mustard maker from Turenne to his court in Avignon. We also cover the Distillerie Bellet, founded in 1922 and now in its fourth generation, whose chestnut liqueur, gentiane, pastis and absinthe draw on the botanical richness of the Massif Central edge in a completely different register to Denoix. Two distilleries. Two philosophies. One city with an extraordinary liqueur-making tradition. The Food Tour de France is a daily series running alongside the 2026 Tour de France on Fabulously Delicious — one episode for every stage start and finish. The Brive liqueurs episode connects to the broader picture of Corrèze and Dordogne food culture this part of the series has been building — from the pâté de Périgueux in Périgueux to the Monbazillac wines of Bergerac — and sits alongside these as part of one of the richest stretches of food country in the whole of France. Search Fabulously Delicious on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for the full series. As Fabulously Delicious steps into its sixth year, one thing is clearer than ever: five years of French food culture has taught Andrew that the subject is genuinely inexhaustible. My book Paris: A Fabulous Food Guide to the World’s Most Delicious City is your ultimate companion. This is a new 2026 update for the book and you’ll find hand-picked recommendations for the best boulangeries, patisseries, wine bars, cafés, and restaurants that truly capture the flavor of Paris. You can order it online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠andrewpriorfabulously.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  For those who want to take things further, why not come cook with me here in Montmorillon, in the heart of France’s Vienne region? Combine hands-on French cooking classes with exploring charming markets, tasting regional specialties, and soaking up the slow, beautiful pace of French countryside life. Find all the details at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠andrewpriorfabulously.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can help keep the show thriving by becoming a paid subscriber on substack where you'll also get fabulous extra content. Every contribution makes a huge difference. Join here at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Merci beaucoup! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #FrenchFoodPodcast #FabulouslyDelicious #foodpodcast #BriveLaGaillarde #FrenchLiqueur #FoodTourDeFrance #TourDeFrance2026 #CorrèzeFood

    8 min
  3. Monbazillac: The Sweet Wine of the Dordogne That Was There From the Very Beginning

    1d ago

    Monbazillac: The Sweet Wine of the Dordogne That Was There From the Very Beginning

    Monbazillac: The Sweet Wine of the Dordogne That Was There From the Very Beginning | Food Tour de France Monbazillac — the extraordinary sweet white wine of the Dordogne and one of the oldest protected appellations in France — has a story that begins at the very birth of the French AOC system. In 1936, six wines in France received the very first controlled designations of origin — the first AOCs in French history. Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Cognac. Tavel. Arbois. Cassis. And Monbazillac. A sweet white wine from five villages on the south bank of the Dordogne, just outside Bergerac, considered important enough to be among the first six things France ever decided were worth protecting. Today's Food Tour de France episode finishes in Bergerac and tells the full story of this remarkable wine — its botrytis-driven production, its extraordinary ageing potential and its perfect partnership with the foie gras and pâté de Périgueux we covered in yesterday's episode from Périgueux. The episode covers the full story of Monbazillac — from the legal dispute of 1934 that almost prevented the appellation from existing at all, through the extraordinary north-facing vineyards above the Dordogne where morning mists from the river create the humid conditions that noble rot needs to develop, to the harvest done entirely by hand in multiple passes through the vineyard selecting only the botrytised berries at the right moment of concentration. Made from Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris and Muscadelle — the same quartet that dominates the white wine vineyards of Bordeaux — Monbazillac at its best carries aromas of honey, acacia, peach blossom and mirabelle that deepen over decades into candied citrus, spices and beeswax. The great Monbazillacs can age for twenty to thirty years or more. Which puts them in the same company as the greatest sweet wines in the world. The Food Tour de France is a daily series running alongside the 2026 Tour de France on Fabulously Delicious — one episode for every stage start and finish. The Monbazillac episode connects directly to the pâté de Périgueux episode from Périgueux — the combination of this sweet Dordogne wine with the foie gras at the heart of the pâté is one of the great regional food and wine pairings in southwest France — and to the broader picture of Dordogne and Périgord food culture this part of the series has been building. Search Fabulously Delicious on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for the full series. As Fabulously Delicious steps into its sixth year, one thing is clearer than ever: five years of French food culture has taught Andrew that the subject is genuinely inexhaustible. My book Paris: A Fabulous Food Guide to the World’s Most Delicious City is your ultimate companion. This is a new 2026 update for the book and you’ll find hand-picked recommendations for the best boulangeries, patisseries, wine bars, cafés, and restaurants that truly capture the flavor of Paris. You can order it online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠andrewpriorfabulously.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  For those who want to take things further, why not come cook with me here in Montmorillon, in the heart of France’s Vienne region? Combine hands-on French cooking classes with exploring charming markets, tasting regional specialties, and soaking up the slow, beautiful pace of French countryside life. Find all the details at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠andrewpriorfabulously.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can help keep the show thriving by becoming a paid subscriber on substack where you'll also get fabulous extra content. Every contribution makes a huge difference. Join here at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Merci beaucoup! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #FrenchFoodPodcast #FabulouslyDelicious #foodpodcast #Monbazillac #Périgueux #Bergerac #FrenchFood #FoodTourDeFrance #TourDeFrance2026

    8 min
  4. Pâté de Périgueux: The Five-Hundred-Year-Old Pâté of the Dordogne

    2d ago

    Pâté de Périgueux: The Five-Hundred-Year-Old Pâté of the Dordogne

    Pâté de Périgueux: The Five-Hundred-Year-Old Pâté of the Dordogne | Food Tour de France Pâté de Périgueux — the extraordinary truffled foie gras pâté of the Dordogne and one of the most historically significant preparations in the whole of French charcuterie — has been made in Périgueux since at least 1498, when a group of pastry makers calling themselves fabricants de pâtés swore an oath before the Consuls of the city. Today's Food Tour de France episode starts in Périgueux — the capital of the Dordogne, capital of the Périgord Blanc — and tells the full story of a dish that began as a pastry case filled with red partridge, evolved over three centuries into the truffled foie gras terrine we know today, and is now protected by a Confrérie that requires a strict minimum of three percent black Périgord truffle in every pâté that bears the name. This is French food history at its most specific, its most luxurious and its most deeply rooted in a single place. The episode covers the full history of the pâté de Périgueux — from the medieval pastry makers of the city through the arrival of the Périgord truffle in the recipe in the eighteenth century, the earliest surviving description of a truffled foie gras pâté dating from 1750, and the Almanach des gourmands of 1803 which described it as food for the gods of the earth. We cover the strict composition rules that define a genuine pâté de Périgueux today — 57 percent grain-fed pork, 40 percent foie gras, a minimum of 3 percent black Périgord truffle — and the extraordinary culinary tradition that surrounds it, including its connection to sauce Périgueux, the classic Madeira and truffle sauce that Carême was already describing in his recipes at the turn of the nineteenth century and that Julia Child included in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The Food Tour de France is a daily series running alongside the 2026 Tour de France on Fabulously Delicious — one episode for every stage start and finish. The pâté de Périgueux episode sits at the heart of a remarkable stretch of food country — connecting to the Monbazillac wine episode from Bergerac, where the sweet white wine pairs perfectly with the foie gras at the heart of the pâté, and to the broader story of Périgord food culture that runs through this part of the series. Search Fabulously Delicious on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for the full series. As Fabulously Delicious steps into its sixth year, one thing is clearer than ever: five years of French food culture has taught Andrew that the subject is genuinely inexhaustible. My book Paris: A Fabulous Food Guide to the World’s Most Delicious City is your ultimate companion. This is a new 2026 update for the book and you’ll find hand-picked recommendations for the best boulangeries, patisseries, wine bars, cafés, and restaurants that truly capture the flavor of Paris. You can order it online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠andrewpriorfabulously.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  You can help keep the show thriving by becoming a paid subscriber on substack where you'll also get fabulous extra content. Every contribution makes a huge difference. Join here at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Merci beaucoup! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #FrenchFoodPodcast #FabulouslyDelicious #foodpodcast #PâtédePérigueux #Périgueux #FrenchFood #FoodTourDeFrance #TourDeFrance2026

    7 min
  5. Bouchon Bordelais: The Sweet That Looks Like a Cork

    3d ago

    Bouchon Bordelais: The Sweet That Looks Like a Cork

    Bouchon Bordelais: The Sweet That Looks Like a Cork | Food Tour de France Le bouchon bordelais — the small cylindrical confection shaped like a wine bottle cork that is the most distinctive sweet in Bordeaux — is one of those French regional confections that is almost impossible to find outside its home city and completely synonymous with it inside. Today's Food Tour de France episode finishes in Bordeaux — the UNESCO World Heritage city on the crescent of the Garonne — and tells the full story of a sweet invented by a single pastry chef who went for a walk in a vineyard in 1976 and came home with an idea that turned into a family business now in its third generation. A soft, chocolate-scented almond and raisin paste inside a thin crispy butter biscuit shell, flavoured with Fine de Bordeaux — a six-year-old grape brandy — presented in a round cork-shaped box with golden writing on a green background. A sweet that looks like Bordeaux before you have even opened it. The episode tells the full story of Jacques Pouquet — the maître pâtissier-chocolatier who created the bouchon bordelais in 1976 after noticing almond trees growing among the vines in a Lussac-Saint-Émilion vineyard and combining them with the raisins of the Bordeaux wine trade in a preparation that captured the identity of the city in a single bite. The name was registered as a trademark in 1977. Awards followed quickly — first prize at the Salon Intersuc in 1980, best petit four in France in 1988, the Cordon Bleu at Salon Intersuc in 1990. When Pouquet died in 1998 his daughter Véronique — a hairdresser by trade — took over rather than let it stop. In 2019 her daughter Julia joined her. Three generations of the same family, making the same recipe in the same workshop in Bruges on the outskirts of Bordeaux, from a closely guarded secret recipe that has never been written down outside the family. The Food Tour de France is a daily series running alongside the 2026 Tour de France on Fabulously Delicious — one episode for every stage start and finish. The bouchon bordelais episode closes this leg of the series through the southwest — from the Tomme des Pyrénées at Les Angles through the cassoulet of Carcassonne, the rouzole of Foix, the haricot tarbais of Lannemezan, the béarnaise and garbure of Pau, the mouton Barèges-Gavarnie above the Tourmalet and the Tursan wines of Hagetmau — arriving finally in Bordeaux with a sweet that tastes of the wine trade, the almond trees and the Fine de Bordeaux brandy that makes this city unlike anywhere else in France. As Fabulously Delicious steps into its sixth year, one thing is clearer than ever: five years of French food culture has taught Andrew that the subject is genuinely inexhaustible. My book Paris: A Fabulous Food Guide to the World’s Most Delicious City is your ultimate companion. This is a new 2026 update for the book and you’ll find hand-picked recommendations for the best boulangeries, patisseries, wine bars, cafés, and restaurants that truly capture the flavor of Paris. You can order it online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠andrewpriorfabulously.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  For those who want to take things further, why not come cook with me here in Montmorillon, in the heart of France’s Vienne region? Combine hands-on French cooking classes with exploring charming markets, tasting regional specialties, and soaking up the slow, beautiful pace of French countryside life. Find all the details at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠andrewpriorfabulously.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can help keep the show thriving by becoming a paid subscriber on substack where you'll also get fabulous extra content. Every contribution makes a huge difference. Join here at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Merci beaucoup! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #FrenchFoodPodcast #FabulouslyDelicious #foodpodcast #bouchonbordelais  #JacquesPouquet #Bordeaux #FrenchFood #FoodTourDeFrance #TourDeFrance2026

    6 min
  6. Vins de Tursan: The Secret Vineyard of the Landes

    3d ago

    Vins de Tursan: The Secret Vineyard of the Landes

    Vins de Tursan: The Secret Vineyard of the Landes | Food Tour de France Vins de Tursan — the AOC wine of the Landes that most people outside the southwest of France have never heard of — is one of the most distinctive and most underrated appellations in the whole of French wine. Today's Food Tour de France episode starts in Hagetmau, right in the heart of Tursan wine country, and tells the full story of a vineyard that covers 450 hectares of hillside between the Landes forest and the first foothills of the Pyrenees, produces white wine from the baroque grape — a variety grown almost nowhere else in the world — and whose revival in the 1980s was driven almost entirely by one man. A chef who became a winemaker. A man who already had three Michelin stars and decided that wasn't enough. Michel Guérard, the founding father of cuisine minceur, came to Eugénie-les-Bains in the Landes and changed what people thought about Tursan forever. The episode covers the full story of Tursan — from its first recognition as a wine of higher quality in 1958, through the fragmented landscape of small farm producers that earned it the name the secret vineyard of the Landes, to the AOC designation that came in 2011 following decades of work by Guérard and the producers who shared his belief in what this corner of the southwest could produce. The baroque grape that defines white Tursan — late-ripening, aromatic, structured, grown almost nowhere else on earth — is the heart of the appellation. Combined with Gros Manseng, Petit Manseng and Sauvignon Blanc in a blend that is specific to this landscape, it produces a white wine of genuine distinction that pairs beautifully with the fish of the Landes and the rich dishes of Gascon cuisine. The Food Tour de France is a daily series running alongside the 2026 Tour de France on Fabulously Delicious — one episode for every stage start and finish. The Tursan episode connects directly to the garbure episode from Pau — white Tursan is one of the finest wine companions to the great slow-cooked soup of Gascony — and to the broader picture of southwest French food and drink culture this series has been building stage by stage. Search Fabulously Delicious on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for the full series. As Fabulously Delicious steps into its sixth year, one thing is clearer than ever: five years of French food culture has taught Andrew that the subject is genuinely inexhaustible. My book Paris: A Fabulous Food Guide to the World’s Most Delicious City is your ultimate companion. This is a new 2026 update for the book and you’ll find hand-picked recommendations for the best boulangeries, patisseries, wine bars, cafés, and restaurants that truly capture the flavor of Paris. You can order it online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠andrewpriorfabulously.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  For those who want to take things further, why not come cook with me here in Montmorillon, in the heart of France’s Vienne region? Combine hands-on French cooking classes with exploring charming markets, tasting regional specialties, and soaking up the slow, beautiful pace of French countryside life. Find all the details at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠andrewpriorfabulously.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can help keep the show thriving by becoming a paid subscriber on substack where you'll also get fabulous extra content. Every contribution makes a huge difference. Join here at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Merci beaucoup! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #FrenchFoodPodcast #FabulouslyDelicious #foodpodcast #VinsdeTursan #MichelGuérard #Hagetmau #FrenchFood #FoodTourDeFrance #TourDeFrance2026

    6 min
  7. Mouton Barèges-Gavarnie: The Finest Mutton in France

    3d ago

    Mouton Barèges-Gavarnie: The Finest Mutton in France

    Mouton Barèges-Gavarnie: The Finest Mutton in France | Food Tour de France Mouton Barèges-Gavarnie — the extraordinary AOP mutton from the high mountain pastures above the Tour de France route today — is one of the most remarkable and most misunderstood meat products in France. Today's Food Tour de France episode finishes at Gavarnie-Gèdre at the foot of the Tourmalet, and tells the full story of the only mutton in France to hold an AOC designation — a distinction it earned in 2003 after eight years of applications, legal battles and the determination of a small group of Pyrenean farmers who refused to let their breed and their tradition disappear into the cheaper imported meat market. The Barégeoise sheep — hardy, fine-boned, a good walker — spends its summers grazing in total freedom on 25,000 hectares of wild alpine grassland between 1,600 and 2,600 metres. And the flavour of those high pastures — the wild thyme, the gentian, the dozens of aromatic mountain plants — ends up directly in the meat. The episode covers everything that makes Mouton Barèges-Gavarnie unlike any other mutton you have encountered — the specific Barégeoise breed that developed in isolation in the upper valley of the Gave de Pau, the precise breeding cycle that follows the mountain year from estive to valley and back again, and the two specific types of animal that produce the AOP meat. The jeune brebis — a young ewe between two and six years old — and the doublon, a castrated male that has spent at least two summers on the high pastures and is considered by those who know it best to be the finest expression of what this landscape can produce in a single piece of meat. Available from June through January and nowhere outside that window. Seasonal in the most absolute possible sense. The Food Tour de France is a daily series running alongside the 2026 Tour de France on Fabulously Delicious — one episode for every stage start and finish. The mouton Barèges-Gavarnie connects directly to the haricot tarbais episode from Lannemezan — the classic regional pairing of mountain lamb and Pyrenean beans is one of the finest in all of southwest French cooking — and to the broader picture of Pyrenean food culture this series has been building stage by stage. Search Fabulously Delicious on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for the full series. As Fabulously Delicious steps into its sixth year, one thing is clearer than ever: five years of French food culture has taught Andrew that the subject is genuinely inexhaustible. My book Paris: A Fabulous Food Guide to the World’s Most Delicious City is your ultimate companion. This is a new 2026 update for the book and you’ll find hand-picked recommendations for the best boulangeries, patisseries, wine bars, cafés, and restaurants that truly capture the flavor of Paris. You can order it online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠andrewpriorfabulously.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  For those who want to take things further, why not come cook with me here in Montmorillon, in the heart of France’s Vienne region? Combine hands-on French cooking classes with exploring charming markets, tasting regional specialties, and soaking up the slow, beautiful pace of French countryside life. Find all the details at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠andrewpriorfabulously.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can help keep the show thriving by becoming a paid subscriber on substack where you'll also get fabulous extra content. Every contribution makes a huge difference. Join here at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Merci beaucoup! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #FrenchFoodPodcast #FabulouslyDelicious #foodpodcast #MoutonBarègesGavarnie #GavarnieGèdre #Tourmalet #FrenchFood #FoodTourDeFrance #TourDeFrance2026

    7 min
  8. Garbure: The Great Slow-Cooked Soup of Gascony

    4d ago

    Garbure: The Great Slow-Cooked Soup of Gascony

    Garbure: The Great Slow-Cooked Soup of Gascony | Food Tour de France Garbure — the thick, slow-cooked cabbage and duck confit soup of the Gascon and Béarnais tradition — is one of the great dishes of southwest France and one of the most honest expressions of what French mountain cooking actually is. Today's Food Tour de France episode starts in Pau — the second of two consecutive episodes in this elegant Pyrenean city — and tells the full story of a dish that has been feeding the people of Gascony for centuries. Born in the farmhouses and field kitchens of the rural southwest, built from whatever the season provides — green cabbage, haricot tarbais beans, duck confit, dried pork, potatoes, leeks, garlic — and left to simmer slowly on the stove from morning until evening. Théophile Gautier put it in a novel. Alexandre Dumas gave recipes for it. And the rule for how thick it should be has never changed — thick enough to stand a spoon in. The episode covers the full history and tradition of garbure — from its Occitan origins and first written references in the sixteenth century, through its role as the daily food of Gascon peasants, to the modern fermes-auberges and village festivals where it is still served today in enormous shared pots. We cover the regional variations — the horse cabbage of the Landes version, the duck confit and tarbais beans of the Gers version, the slow reduction of the Béarnais version that Anatole France described as having remained twenty-four hours on the fire — and the wines that belong alongside it. Madiran, Irouléguy, Pacherenc-du-Vic-Bilh. And finally the great tradition of the chabrot — pouring red wine directly into the last of the broth in the bowl and drinking it together — which the etiquette books ignore and the Gascons have always done anyway. The Food Tour de France is a daily series running alongside the 2026 Tour de France on Fabulously Delicious — one episode for every stage start and finish. This episode connects directly to the haricot tarbais episode from Lannemezan — the bean that is essential to any serious garbure — and to tomorrow's béarnaise episode, which tells the story of the other great food associated with Pau. A city that has given two episodes and two very different expressions of southwest French food culture to this series. Search Fabulously Delicious on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for the full series. As Fabulously Delicious steps into its sixth year, one thing is clearer than ever: five years of French food culture has taught Andrew that the subject is genuinely inexhaustible. My book Paris: A Fabulous Food Guide to the World’s Most Delicious City is your ultimate companion. This is a new 2026 update for the book and you’ll find hand-picked recommendations for the best boulangeries, patisseries, wine bars, cafés, and restaurants that truly capture the flavor of Paris. You can order it online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠andrewpriorfabulously.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  For those who want to take things further, why not come cook with me here in Montmorillon, in the heart of France’s Vienne region? Combine hands-on French cooking classes with exploring charming markets, tasting regional specialties, and soaking up the slow, beautiful pace of French countryside life. Find all the details at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠andrewpriorfabulously.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can help keep the show thriving by becoming a paid subscriber on substack where you'll also get fabulous extra content. Every contribution makes a huge difference. Join here at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Merci beaucoup! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #FrenchFoodPodcast #FabulouslyDelicious #foodpodcast #garbure #goudale #chabrot #pau #FrenchFood #FoodTourDeFrance #TourDeFrance2026

    5 min
4.7
out of 5
16 Ratings

About

Fabulously Delicious: The French Food Podcast is your ultimate guide to the world of French cuisine, culture, and culinary history — served with a generous helping of storytelling and fun. Ever wondered what really sets a macaron apart from a macaroon (and even Macron)? Why the croissant has its iconic crescent shape? Or whether a true boeuf bourguignon must be made with Burgundy wine? Curious about the legendary chefs who shaped French gastronomy, or the influential “Mères Lyonnaises” who changed the course of culinary history? Join host Andrew Prior — a passionate Francophile and food lover — as he dives into everything that makes French food so fabulously delicious. From iconic dishes and regional specialties to artisan ingredients, culinary traditions, and the fascinating stories behind France’s greatest chefs, this podcast brings French gastronomy to life. Whether you're a foodie, a Francophile, a home cook, or simply dreaming of your next trip to France, Fabulously Delicious: The French Food Podcast will transport you straight to the heart of French cuisine.

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