Cooking Dinner Like a French Girl on Holiday
There’s a romance surrounding the French way of life—an inherent enjoyment of beautiful things, delicious experiences, and the present moment that permeates daily rituals. French women possess an undeniable charm, wit, and sophistication beyond what they look like or wear. It’s their magnetic presence that captivates.
A central part of this is their obsession with food culture and the ability to appreciate it. To experience this, celebrated food writer and stylist Rebekah Peppler shares the food, drink, and lifestyle of the South of France in her new book, Le Sud.
“The thing is, all the clichés you’ve heard about the south of France are true,” says Peppler. “The light takes on new forms by the hour, casting beauty on the simplest pleasures.”
Open-air markets burst with sun-ripened produce, the surround sound of cicadas in late summer, acres of olive trees, lavender, sunflowers, cliffs dropping into turquoise coves. And the food? It’s not overrated—figs, ratatouille, aïoli, crispy panisse, pissaladière, braids of garlic, Provençal melons, local cheeses, and tapenades.
Peppler notes this is where the French themselves holiday, “doing their best French cosplay while lounging, flirting, apéro-ing in the sun.”
Cheers to French Girl Summer
If you think of French food as fancy or fussy, these recipes are not that. Instead, they are simple meals cooked from the freshest ingredients at home in Provence or on a picnic blanket on the Côte d’Azur—the places where the French holiday, “lounging, flirting, apéro-ing in the sun.” What better way to welcome summer than by cooking like a French girl on vacation? Invite a few friends and escape to a golden-lit reality with Rebekah Peppler’s South of France dinner party menu from Le Sud.
Rebekah Peppler’s Menu for a South of France Dinner Party:
La Grande Plage Cocktail
This spritz is perfect when you’re by the sea (or want to be) and desire something lightly bitter and bubbly, giving sunset in a cup.
Whole Roasted Fish
“For the most ease, ask your fishmonger to clean and scale whatever is freshest and make this version, prettily stuffed with lemon slices and a simple pistou,” says Peppler.
Bendita Entre los Melones
Literally “blessed between the melons,” this recipe title is inspired by a Spanish saying, “bendito entre las mujeres” or “blessed among the women.”