With such staggering Renaissance follies and wines, it seems greedy for a region to want more, but it does. However, unlike their famous castles, the good folk of the Loire like their food simple, letting the raw produce shine with little or no embellishment.

The Loire is one large market garden and orchard; white asparagus, artichokes, leeks, green peas, salads, parsnips, mushrooms, plums, apricots and melons. Here the art of pruning trees was invented by a 14th century Bishop later to become Saint Martin, not it has to be said for his role in horticulture.

The longest river in France is home to eel, pike, carp and even sturgeons. To ease the pain of such bony fish, the quenelle was invented, a delicate fish dumpling.

What once attracted French nobility to the region, hunting is still popular but no longer completely wild. Gamekeepers provide deer, duck, hare, and pheasant for wealthy Parisiens who come down during the hunting season. No change there then, except they don’t build many castles.

Charcuterie, pâtés and baking is a battle ground between towns, possible won by the Pithivier named after the town of its origin, a wonderful almond paste puff pastry concoction. Look out for the partridge pâté of Chartres, and the many versions of rillons and rillette. Though they sound similar, rillon are pork steeped in white wine and vegetables and cooked in fat whereas, rillettes are simply the trimmings of pork and sometimes rabbit cooked in fat. Both are served as a pâté cold with gherkins and bread.

There is also boudin noir and boudin blanc, the latter made with veal, chicken and even sweetbreads.

With a lot of land given to fruit and vegetables, it is not surprising that the Loire is not famous for cheese. They do however quietly sneak in a good selection, the tangy goats Ste Maure, Port Salut or the Olivet available covered in Ash.

Bored with fruit tarts, try Cotignacs a quince jelly, or the fantastically medieval pain d’épice, a spiced honey bread. One can’t really talk about the Loire without mentioning Tarte Tatin the most famous culinary mistake in the world. Legend has it that this tart was the result of the Tatin sisters trying to save an apple pie. I of course believe that it was the result of inspiration and perspiration from two great chefs.