Cuisine of the Venise Verte

Close to the sea at La Rochelle and criss crossed by many canals and rivers, the menus are filled with freshwater and sea fish, mussels, oysters and eel often with puddles of buttery garlic sauce, so good you could eat it with a spoon. Still a very rural area of France you will be offered traditional dishes Farci Poitevin, pork, lettuce, sorrel and garlic cooked in a cabbage leaf, or Mojettes, little white, dried beans grown for winter dishes in the past, as well as excellent beef and lamb. Famous for its goats and their great variety of cheeses you would expect this region to be filled with goats, but as you cycle through you are much more likely to see sunflowers. French goats stay indoors. Try the Tourteau Fromager, a creamy cake with a delicious interior surrounded by a burnt shell resembling a tortoise or the Brioche Vendeene, a sweet bread originally baked for weddings.

The wines grow in little home grown gardens, just a few rows at a time with the largest production in the Haut Poitou. However, close by are the Loire wines to the north and the Cognac vineyards to the south.

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