The charms of le sud are many. The food culture is vibrant and season-focused; the tables are welcoming and convivial. In Le Sud, Rebekah Peppler distills these flavors, techniques, and spirit of the South of France into a never-before-seen collection of recipes, photographs, and stories.
The region—and its many culinary viewpoints—spans from the snowcapped Southern Alps in the north to the French Mediterranean in the south, the Rhône River to the west, and Italy along its eastern border. And like many regions where landscapes and people happily crash into each other, the food is dynamic and exciting. Here are recipes—from drinks to savory to sweet—that capture the modern tables and life lived around them in the south of France today.
Le Sud’s transporting photography expands our visual understanding of Provence outside solely lavender fields and endless summer holidays to showcase the geographically and culturally diverse region and its tables.
More than a recipe book, Le Sud is a dive into and a celebration of this abundant, enchanting region that has long captured the imaginations of many.
In this definitive book on French cooking and living, Rebekah Peppler—an American food writer and stylist who planted her roots in Paris—shares her secrets for cooking simple yet sophisticated meals and hosting soirées that embody that coveted French charm.
By hosting impromptu gatherings on a weekly basis, Rebekah developed a go-to repertoire of “new French” dishes that reflect a modern French table. Here are 125 recipes that are simultaneously simple, elevated, and peppered with smart techniques and easy-to-find ingredients deployed in entirely fresh ways . You’ll find the classics, such as Ratatouille and Crème Brûlée; regional dishes, such as Basque Chicken, Niçoise (for a Crowd), and Alsatian Cheesecake; as well as recipes born of the melding of the cultures and flavors that help define contemporary French eating, from Bigger Bánh Mì to Lamb Tagine to Green Shakshuka. Here, too, is a revolutionary Cornichon Vinaigrette that will profoundly upgrade your salads.
These pages are rich with atmospheric shots of French life—cobblestoned alleyways in Paris, picnics along the Canal Saint-Martin, Provençal markets overflowing with bright produce—as well as stories of French culture and helpful remarques on shopping, preparing food, and having people over. À Table is an inspiring guide to cooking stylish, easy, fresh French food for a whole new generation of Francophiles.
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The French have perfected the casual, pre-dinner practice of drinks and snacks. Not only that, they’ve devoted an entire bar cart of bottles to it: apéritifs. Think Suze, Lillet, Picon, Byrrh, Pastis, and so on with the beautifully designed bottles. Since the word apéritif refers to both the actual bottles as well as the drinks made with them, Apéritif: Cocktail Hour the French Way starts with a historical (but totally fun!) deep dive into the history of the greats before moving on to 60 drink recipes that put said bottles to good/delicious use. The book version of business in the front, party in the back, if you will.
Drink recipes are influenced by both Old World and New, but are always low fuss, low alcohol by volume (ABV), and served barely embellished—an easy feat to pull off for even the most anxious of home hosts. And, because no apéritif-peddling French person in their right mind would serve a glass sans bite, there are also plenty (40 if you’re counting) of simple, delicious snack recipes to pair at will.
Written and sized to be part of the home bar, Apéritif: Cocktail Hour the French Way is designed to take you deep into the heart of French apéritifs, highlighting the bottles, drinks, snacks, and French-inflected magic that transform an early evening drink into something enchanted.