Showing posts with label Piolenc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Piolenc. Show all posts

Monday, August 27, 2012

Sunday in Provence - Garlic Festival and a new War Memorial



We just love to go to local food festivals and village fêtes and although we had already been to the Garlic Festival in Piolenc having visitors was reason enough to go again. Arriving there we were astonished to see quite a few American Flags beside our French BleuBlancRouge and respectfully joined the crowd of spectators to find out what this was all about.

 
Alongside local dignitaries and highly decorated military men members of the "Confrerie d'Ail" (Garlic Brotherhood) were watching the inauguration of a memorial commemorating the liberation of Piolenc on this very day 68 years ago by the soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division of the US Army. A very touching ceremony!

 Confrerie d'Ail
 
 Commemorating the liberation of Piolenc
 
But then  of course we concentrated on the garlic - the displays were so tempting that my kitchen is well stocked now. And I paid close attention when one of my culinary heroes - the Michelin starred Chef  Christian Etienne  from Avignon gave a cooking demonstration. I was quite flattered when he asked me to come up onto the stage to have a closer look. And best of all, my brother was real quick and took a photo!
 
Beautifully presented: garlic, garlic and more garlic

 Cute but maybe a bit heavy: Garlic Earrings
 
Chef Christian Etienne and me

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Garlic Festival in Piolenc


The Garlic Festival in Piolenc is one of the nicest food festivals in Provence. A true village affair it centers around a beautiful market and starts with a mass that is held in the Provençal dialect. Then the Confrerie de l'Ail (loosely translated: the Club of the Garlic Brothers) leads a procession of carnival floats through the village. Today even Christian Etienne  a very well known French chef came to Piolenc and held a cooking demonstration. If you are in Avignon and feel really flush go to his restaurant right next to the Pope's Palace. But do have a look at the prices first!  And since pictures talk more than a thousand words, have a look at the ones I took this morning.


One of the carnival floats

Obélix was there, too 

Marinated Garlic

Garlic made pretty

Nice Price - 3 Euros per Kilo

Flavors of Provence

Cooks with Garlic: Chef Christian Etienne