The French are renowned for their passion for cooking and fine foods and for the next week the whole country will be donning their aprons. Rosie Khdir unearths the recipe for La Semaine du Goût.

It’s a celebration, an education for the young and it’s happening over the whole of the French the nation. Tasting Week, which is commemorating its 20th anniversary this year, will begin next week in cities and towns all over France, as chefs of all calibres put their hand to the whisk.

Markets and stalls will be popping up everywhere offering cider, wine, vegetables, seafood, and sweets, to mention but a few. Every year an initiative called des repas entre voisins – meals with neighbours- is practiced whereby people set up tables in their front gardens offering passers-by a taste of their own home cooking. Each region showcases its finest produce, puts on gourmet workshops and demonstrations and reveals its finest recipes.

Writers, professional chefs, restaurateurs and farmers all come together to celebrate the art of good cooking and bring ‘real food’ to the public. 400 restaurants nationwide put on special menus for children in honour of the event and even have reduced prices for students.

As part of the event, a team of 3500 chefs are sent to schools around France to introduce young children to healthy eating. National Tasting Week has been revered for its educational value and the affect that this has on the attitudes of children towards healthy food.

For nine days the whole of France can openly celebrate its obsession with great food and it is the perfect way to experience the delights of French cuisine in a friendly neighbourly environment.

The event runs from the 10th-18th October, for more details visit the official event website.

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Image credit: Tavallai

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