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Cooking With French Benedictine Nuns

A glorious new book explores the cuisine of an abbey in Provence

I mentioned in this space the other day that while in France, I met Ambroise Touvet, the co-author of a forthcoming book about the cooking done by the Benedictine nuns of the Abbey of Notre Dame de Fidélité de Jouques. It’s a coffee table-sized book, with text, recipes, and photographs. It’s a real stunner. It was so beautiful that I wanted to buy a copy and cook from it, even though I would have had to have translated the recipes into English measurements. Alas, it wasn’t on sale yet. Now it is.

The book talks about cooking and gardening at the abbey, and how this is integrated into the religious lives of the monastic community. Ambroise sent me some shots of the book’s interior. Check these out:

If you are in France, you can order a copy via Amazon.fr, or go to your local bookstore. Here’s more information from its publisher, Larousse. I am posting on it in this space for a very selfish reason: I want Invitation à l’Abbaye translated into English and sold in the US, so I can cook from it, learn from it, and treasure it always. If you know anyone interested in acquiring US rights for the book, please contact me at rod — at — amconmag — dot — com, and I’ll put you in touch with Ambroise.

This really and truly is a special book. The glories of France and its culture are endless.

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