French Lentils, a Taste of Auvergne

In 2010, Unesco officials name the “gastronomic meal of the French” as part of the “intangible cultural heritage of humanity.” The UNESCO Intangible World Heritage designation seeks to protect cultural practices in the same way that UNESCO protects “sites of cultural value or great natural beauty.” The French gastronomic experience shares this status with 178 other practices, including the Royal Ballet of Cambodia and Mexico’s Day of the Dead.

We set out to make a French lunch on a Sunday afternoon in San Francisco, CA, and find out if we could recreate some of its “intangible” charm. Not being in France, we were already under time pressure to make a proper French meal, take photos, enjoy our meal in leisurely French manner, and then get the kids to a Little League game by 3:45. Our menu consisted of three courses, all specialties of the Auvergne region:

We decided to start our meal off with a green lentil salad prepared with lentils du Puy, a variety of green lentil from Le Puy, a city in Auvergne, brought directly from France by ANIS étoilé director Nathalie Gregoris. Lentils du Puy have been produced in Auvergne for over 2,000 years and because of their regional importance, are protected by French law with an AOC label, which stands for “controlled designation of origin.”

All three recipes from our French lunch can be found in Francine Claustres’ La Cuisine Auvergnate.

Salade de Lentilles Vertes du Puy au Cantal (Green lentil and cantal salad)

Serves 6 people

Cook (but do not overcook!) and drain the lentils. Crisp the bacon in a pan. Make the vinaigrette in a bowl using the mustard, oil, wine, shallots and salt and pepper. Season the lentils with the dressing. Mix the seasoned lentils with the bacon. Decorate the salad with the bacon and cheese.

Enjoy! In upcoming blog posts, we will share our experience preparing Pounti and Millard.