Meat

Traditionally, French dishes were not served with vegetables unless these were an integral part of the dish (such as Pigeon aux Petits Pois, Dinde aux Marrons). Vegetable dishes would be served as a separate course, although nowadays this is not as common as it once was. As a result, there are many traditional French vegetable-based dishes that can very easily be adapted as main courses for people who prefer not to eat meat or fish.

Living as I do with two strict vegetarians, I find that vegetable dishes play a much greater part in my life than they did in my mother’s. It’s very hard to be vegetarian in France – although the markets are filled with the most fabulous produce – because to most French people the ethos of vegetarianism is incomprehensible and foreign (my mother still looks at Anouchka with suspicion, and asks her if she is eating properly, although you’ve never seen such a disgustingly healthy child).