Vegetables

In the not so distant days when Auvergne farms were virtually self-sufficient, the kitchen garden lived up to its name, providing a wide variety of vegetables for the stewpot. Things have not changed much today: most gardens, both in the countryside and, more surprisingly, in towns, are given over almost entirely to the growing of vegetables and fruit. Often there is no flower garden as such, though the kitchen garden, where the really serious business of growing vegetables takes place, may be adorned with a few token flowers on its periphery. This arrangement will often of course be found in many other French rural communities as well. Where the Auvergnat kitchen garden differs is in the predominance of some vegetables and herbs and the rarity of others.