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FRANCE - Mother of the Culinary Arts - France, the Land of Food and Wine, is one of the most charming countries in the world.  Just the name evokes an inviting and homely table by the garden, or a cozy seat in a café with a terrace and a touch of romance. The French countryside is simply enchanting and captures the heart as well as the mind. It is pleasant to ride along the narrow country lanes, or to stroll through the fields, ramble through the woods by forest paths, enjoying the scents of fresh grass and sensing so many fragrant aromas.  Nowhere else in the whole world, from arid deserts to luxuriant gardens, from golden sandy beaches to breathtaking sceneries, can we find this particular sense of the exotic which takes the traveler directly from the countryside to the table! Dining here, wining there, discovering quaint little villages, marveling at the history, and simply eating and drinking your way through France, can be one of the most pleasant experiences that the “good life” can offer.  France has so much to propose to the sensual appetite of a food and wine lover: French breads and croissants in the morning taste like nothing else, the cheeses are absolutely phenomenal, the simple regional cuisine of the Country Inns is amazing and the local wines can be truly delightful… 

In France, every road leads to a splendid food experience. From the Flanders to the Pyrenean Mountains, From Normandy to Provence, this country is unequaled in its flavors.  Why is it so? What is it that makes France so special, so unique in that respect?  Every country has amazing beauty to offer to the traveler, but France has another dimension.  What makes it so unique is the incredible diversity of its countryside and rural environment; the variety of fields, woodlands, mountains, the different climates, and all of this contained in a territory smaller than Texas!   

France is indeed an agricultural paradise, growing more variety of plants, fruit, vegetable and vines than the rest of the planet put together.  The tradition behind all this goes back to the middle ages, when the road of the spices first came to France from Asia. At the start of the Renaissance, the flavors of exotic seasonings were complemented by those of indigenous herbs: onions, garlic, shallots, tarragon. Mushrooms were honored, truffles worshipped. The spicy, acidic medieval sauces gave way to more subtle flavors and smoother textures, as butter and cream from the Northern provinces entered into the Cuisine and the aromas of wines were refined to match these new tastes. Thus the French discovered the boundless treasures of traditional haute cuisine and the limitless resources of their country’s vegetable and fruit gardens.  And France became the most admired court of Europe for the quality of their foods, wines, fashions and arts of living.  If French cuisine is recognized today as a major art of life – a daily art, being constantly renewed – it owes this status to the riches of its countryside as well as the human tradition  The genius of the French culinary art, in food and in wine has never been richer than at the beginning of this 21^st century…