Les Plats de Tous les Jours

THE ACCOUNTS OF country life in the poorer areas of the South-West during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries reveal that diets were very simple, quantities meagre and, when grain harvests failed from time to time, the peasants were reduced to starvation point, even leaving the countryside for ever. Everyday cooking showed extreme resourcefulness; meat had to go a long way and could not possibly feature at every meal. Since the farm work was so arduous, particularly at harvest times, the men needed plenty of sustenance. After a bowl of soup in the early morning, there could be a snack at ten, followed by the main meal at noon. In the middle of the afternoon another snack would appear, then in the evening a light supper finished the day. With the narrow range of resources, it was difficult for a cook to ring the changes.