I’ll start at home in the Franche-Comté and the Alps where Maman Blanc ignited my passion for food. Above all this is dairy country, great cheeses abound from nutty Gruyere de Comté, to the now famous Vacherin Mont D’or and not forgetting the ash streaked Morbier.

The crisp dry mountain air is also ideal for smoking and drying all kinds of sausages and hams. Best known is the Saucisse de Morteau, but fantastic hams are made in Montbéliard as well as Brési smoked salt beef served in paper thin slices.

The Alpine forests are also famous for the king of mushrooms, the morel. In Spring my father and I would sneak off to clearings to pick them, these places were jealously guarded secrets. We would return in autumn to find Cépes.

The distance from the sea is not a problem as the many clear lakes and rivers fed by the Alps yield trout, pike, carp, perch, crayfish and the local Omble Chevalier a fish similar to salmon trout.

For dessert, the valleys are decked with cherries in spring and walnuts. In Grenoble actually walnuts have an appellation controlee like wine.