The second half of the Cook's Tour was based in Brive-la-Gaillarde, a prosperous town four hours south of Paris by train. Its setting in a rural countryside dotted with small farms is best described by the expression, la France profonde. Roman settlers undoubtedly sensed the potential of this location when they arrived in the 1^st century. Brive grew to become a major trading crossroads linking Paris with Toulouse and Geneva with Bordeaux by road, river and rail. The Brive tourist office staff admitted that the arrival of eight American tourists on a culinary adventure was a ‘first’ for them, but the arrangements they made for our stay exceeded our expectations.

On our first day, we drove forty minutes south to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Lascaux. This cave is the third iteration and most exacting facsimile of a rarified space in which Cro-Magnon man drew images of the roving herds of animals in his environment repeatedly over a period of 700 years some 17,000 years ago. The one hour immersive tour through this replica is an unforgettable experience. Visitors are left to conjure up the beliefs and emotions that inspired this compelling animalscape.

The following day we drove further south to a small farm on a hillside surrounded by acres of dormant orchards. Small signs along the road had guided us there, but the buildings on the property were unmarked. It took a few minutes for us to find the owner's daughter in the farm’s small auberge. When she opened a wooden box filled with truffles, much as a jeweler would present a collection of diamonds, we knew we had arrived at the right place. Her father soon showed up driving a small truck with a golden retriever in the passenger seat. We followed him in our van to a field of young trees we soon learned were truffle oaks.

The process of harvesting truffles hasn’t changed since it began. In the Dordogne, the hunter requires a dog with a trained nose, a trowel and a basket to contain his harvest. The job description includes patience and the willingness to spend time kneeling on the cold ground in the middle of winter. Truffles mature during the growing year and are collected from December through March.

The farmer sent his dog among the trees with the cry, “Allez, Allez!” The dog wandered, nose to the ground like a vacuum cleaner, sniffing around the trees near their drip line. When he stopped and pawed at the ground, the farmer knelt, scooped out about two inches of soil, gathered a handful, held it to his nose and inhaled deeply. If it smelled of truffles, he continued to carefully feel around in a six inch circle with the trowel and a bare hand until he felt a hard, round object. He wiped off his black gem, the size of a shooter marble, and placed it in a basket. After every truffle find, the dog was given a small cube of gruyère cheese from a jar in the basket. (If the hunted failed to quickly reward the dog, it gently brushed his leg with its paw to remind him.) This ritual continued for an hour as we followed in a freezing, lightly falling rain

A multi-course truffle lunch awaited us back at the auberge. A starter course of two French bread slices generously covered with truffle butter was followed by an omelet studded with truffles, and, after that, a plate of truffled potatoes and sausage. The cheese course consisted of a slim disk of tart goat cheese covered with truffle honey. Dessert was a chocolate brownie accompanied by a small scoop of truffle ice cream and a dab of truffle tiramisu on either side.

On Saturday morning, we walked through the Foire de Foie Gras held in Brive’s Georges-Brassens market hall just a few steps away from our hotel and the tourist office. When I last attended this event almost twenty years ago, all the edible parts of ducks and geese (except the quack) were laid on tables outdoors with just a tent cover overhead. Brive’s current fair is held in this well-it space, and each farmer now displays tins of his signature foie gras pate alongside fresh whole ducks and parts. We dispensed with ceremony in the market’s relaxed atmosphere and held a quick tasting of goose foie gras on fresh bread before wandering outside to stroll the weekly farmers’ market.

From the market we were driven to a hands-on cooking class in a nearby kitchen design shop equipped with a large professional kitchen. We prepared a Michelin-inspired menu under the direction of a local chef which began with a lesson on deveining duck liver for a foie gras mi-cuit starter course. Other highlights include a sauce for roasted duck breasts flavored with the local red wine mustard and a five layer entrement for dessert.

Later that afternoon we enjoyed a digestive tasting at the Denoix Distillery in downtown Brive. Since 1839, this family-owned business has been producing a line of walnut flavored liqueurs with an Armagnac base. The distillery’s polished copper equipment reflects its owner’s commitment to traditional artisanal practices which includes boiling sugar syrup in a copper cauldron over a wood fire. Change is evident in the variety of other flavored Armagnacs such as orange, fennel and chocolate. The limited production of Denoix's liqueurs means it will remain a local specialty. It also distributes the region's red wine mustard.

What’s my takeaway from this Cook’s Tour to France? When traveling off the tourist track, it’s wise to bring an extra bag, with one’s appetite, and gather local food treasures to share and savor at home. By the way Denoix's red wine mustard is available, you guessed it, from Amazon. Its awkwardly translated name is French Purple Mustard.

February is the perfect time to escape the winter doldrums. Why then would I choose to visit to a cold, rainy Paris, presently under construction for the summer Olympics?  The end of the month just happens to bookend two fascinating culinary events not listed in tourist guides. They are the annual Salon de l'Agriculture in Paris and the final foire de foie gras in Brive-la-Gaillarde.  Eight intrepid food lovers couldn't resist this opportunity to experience french cuisine before it reaches the table. What follows is the first of a two part report of our discoveries.

The tour began with a visit to the exposition center at the Porte de Versailles, the country’s largest convention center and a mere 15 minute taxi ride from the Eiffel Tower. This annual Salon’s opening weekend had been disrupted by protesting farmers during President Macron’s scheduled visit. Their outburst exposed frustrations farmers face as they try to make a living wage under the EU’s current environmental regulations.  French presidents are adept at calming protesters, but we visitors were put on notice that the rich culinary heritage we were about to experience was under stress.  

The Salon had returned to normal by Monday morning when we arrived and made our way past exhibits of well-groomed farm animals to the building at the far end of the expo center. Our destination was  devoted to the regional foods and wines of France. Much to our surprise, we were virtually alone, free to wander from booth to booth, tasting samples of sausage, cheese, foie gras and truffle specialities. We chatted with workers manning the booths and purchased small, easy to pack treats such as nougat, pâte de fruit and honey..  At 1pm, like clockwork, the French visitors arrived en masse for lunch. They purchased plates of the food we had tasted and made themselves comfortable in the dining areas set up near the building’s walls. The noise level rose and competing smells of fried food filled the air. That was our cue to leave having seen a world of French specialty foods and tasted our fill.

At 3:30am the next morning we traveled the dark streets of Paris to suburban Rungis, the region’s wholesale market that covers an area the size of Monaco. We donned white coats and hairnets before stepping into this brightly lit, impeccably clean and frigid world. We would spend the next four hours walking through pavilions filled with fresh seafood, meat, dairy products and flowers.  Our first stop in the seafood pavilion came at the end of their selling day. We peered into the remaining crates of fish carefully packed in ice, many we barely recognized having seen them only as fillets at the supermarket. Boxes of fish from the North Atlantic were displayed next to exotic sea urchins and whole sharks, heads rising menacingly above the rim of their containers. They all glistened as if they had just been pulled from the water into the cold unscented air. Our highly informative guide estimated that 80% percent of the fish that arrives here from all over the world would be delivered to markets and restaurants in the Paris region.

We followed our guide through the meat pavilion past rows of hanging animal carcasses, boxes filled with the severed animal heads and packaged viscera. Every part of an animal is sold here. In the dairy pavilion, stacked rounds of cheeses the size of truck tires lay next to boxes filled with delicate rounds of goat cheese. Our view of the produce pavilion from a second story balcony gave us the most awesome sight of the morning. We had a panoramic view of seemingly endless stacks of crated fruits and vegetables, both local and tropical.  Rungis is reportedly the world's largest produce market.  At 9am, cold but exhilarated, we sat down to a multi-course breakfast served with wine and coffee in one of Rungis many restaurants. Then it was time to return to the hotel for a nap.

On our third day we experienced the Parisian food supply at the consumer level as we strolled the an outdoor market in a fashionable Paris neighborhood. Here was produce that had been purchased at Rungis during the night. Whole fish lay spread out on beds of ice ready to be filleted. Butchers had broken down the hanging carcasses into primal cuts then into steaks and roasts for customers. Street food vendors were mixed in among those selling fresh ingredients as were merchants displaying attractive table linen and scarves.

After a short taxi ride from the market across town, we entered a small private apartment equipped with a luxurious kitchen, donned aprons and prepared a multi-course lunch with purchases we had made at the market. Our starter course was a simply delicious mix of vegetables, braised in water, then lightly dressed in crème fraîche. Our instructor led us through the process of searing duck breasts that she had purchased from a farm near her Normandy residence. These were sliced and served with a refreshing beet and shallot condiment. A green salad, cheese board and succulent chocolate mousse completed a  meal in traditional French fashion.

After a stop at our hotel to pick up luggage, we boarded the train to Brive-la-Gaillarde. The four hour train ride south gave us time to digest and anticipate the second half of our journey in the Perigord. To be continued.

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