île-de-France

The name Île-de-France first came into use in the fifteenth century when the kings of France spread their authority from this original “island” to the other parts of the nation we now know as France. Paris is, of course, at the center of this fertile basin, where the Marne and Oise rivers join the Seine. In Paris the regional foods of all of France have met and merged into the great recipes and menus constituting what is internationally known as haute cuisine. Many traditional dishes have thus lost their provincial identity, particularly those originating in the Île-de-France itself.