What are they eating in Lyon?
La cuisine lyonnaise is a French regional cuisine from Lyon, France. In the sixteenth century, Catherine de Medici brought Florentine chefs to her court to accommodate the traditional French products. This revolution allowed the quality of the produce to develop and benefitted regional French cuisine, located at the crossroads of regional culinary traditions, which sources the majority of its resources locally : the farms of the Bresse and Charolais, game from the Dombes, fish from Savoyard lakes, produce from the Drôme, Ardèche and Forez and wines from Burgundy, Beaujolais and the Rhone Valley.
In the nineteenth century, cooks to the bourgeoisie, nicknamed the “Mères lyonnaises” left their employers to begin working for themselves. This gave birth to the culinary traditions still alive today.
In 1935, the gastronome Curnonsky did not hesitate to call the city of Lyon the “world capital of gastronomy”. In the twenty-first century, Lyon’s cuisine promotes an image of simplicity and quality and is exported around France and abroad. Boasting over a thousand places to eat, Lyon has one of the largest concentrations of restaurants per capita in France: the typical ”bouchons” rub shoulders with gourmet restaurants run by Michelin-starred chefs, including the famous Paul Bocuse.
Key vocabulary :
to accomodate : to accommoder/integrer
traditional French produce : les produits du terroir français
to allow : permettre
to benefit Lyon cuisine : bénéficier à la cuisine lyonnaise
located at the crossroads of/between : située au carrefour de
which sources the majority of its resources locally : qui va tirer le meilleur parti des ressources des alentours
game from the Dombes : gibier de la Dombes
traditions still alive today : traditions culinaires toujours vivaces
to promote an image of : défendre/promouvoir une image de
abroad : à l’étranger
boasting : jouissant de
per capita : par habitant
rub shoulders : voisinent
run by : tenus
gourmet : gastronomique
including : parmi lesquels
famous : renommé
An example menu from a Lyon Bouchon with translation in English:
Country terrine with Beaujolais and homemade onion preserve
or
‘Salade des Canuts’
(Fresh cream cheese + steamed potatoes + green salad) – vegetarian
or
Lyon-style Salad
(Green salad, diced bacon, croutons, poached egg)
or
The chef’s onion soup
********
Beef Steak tartare
(prepared by the chef)
or
Sea bream in Basque-style sauce
or
Pike Quenelle with shellfish sauce
or
Hot Lyon-style sausage with wine grower’s sauce
or
Chicken liver loaf, tomato coulis and baby quenelles
or
Pork meats casserole, steamed potatoes and tartar sauce
or
Andouillette (chitterling sausage) with mustard
********
Fresh cream cheese with faisselle soft cheese
or
Cervelle des Canuts
(fresh cream cheese seasoned with chopped herbs, shallots, salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar)
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