Hors D’oeuvre and Soups

First courses are a serious matter in Burgundy. Snails, nine or a dozen of them, are one of the lighter alternatives to eggs in red wine sauce, or a fish stew. Soups are hearty, based on vegetables and fortified with bread croûtes. Onion soup was listed by Rabelais as one of the typical soupes lionnaises during a stay in Lyon in the early 1500s.