The southeastern French Mediterranean cuisine of olive oil, herbs de Provence, garlic, and the bouillabaisse fish stew, less butter-heavy than its northern neighbors.
What it is
Provençal cooking is the French Mediterranean — Marseille, Nice, Aix, the Camargue — and it sits closer to Liguria and Catalonia than to butter-driven Paris. The region’s UNESCO-listed Mediterranean diet emphasizes olive oil, herbs, vegetables, and seafood. Marseille’s mass migration over centuries pulled in Greek, Italian, North African, and Levantine threads.
How it tastes
Sun-drenched and herb-driven. Thyme, rosemary, savory, and basil dominate; garlic is treated as a vegetable; anchovies are used like a seasoning rather than a fish course. Tomatoes are slow-cooked into rich Provençal bases.
Signature dishes & techniques
Bouillabaisse, the Marseille fisherman’s stew, requires a strict list of rockfish, saffron, and orange peel — served with toasted bread and rouille, a garlic-saffron mayonnaise. Ratatouille’s slow stew of summer vegetables, tapenade’s olive-anchovy paste, and pissaladière’s onion-anchovy tart make up the Provençal lunch table.