Lyon City Blog

Quenelles de brochet- Pike Dumplings

Preparation time: 40 min
Cooking time: 30 min

Beaujolais Nouveau is a red wine made from the unique Gamay grapes produced in the Beaujolais region in the north west of Lyon city.
Beaujolais Nouveau must be drunk immediately since it is fermented for just a few weeks, but it is possible to drink AOC Beaujolais wines that can be kept for 1 year. 

Beaujolais Nouveau is an immature wine with fruity, banana and pear aromas. About 1 400 000 bottles are produced every year on the 22 500 ha of the Beaujolais vineyards grown in a temperate climate. About half of the production is exported to Germany, Japan and the United-States.

In 1951, the local Beaujolais wines became Beaujolais Nouveau wines that could be released and celebrated on the 15th of November. “The New Beaujolais has arrived” was the new slogan to celebrate the event in France, and then in the world, especially in New York and California by 1973, and in Japan by 1971 as Paul Bocuse promoted the French wine by associating it with the Japanese cuisine.

The “pot Lyonnais” (46 cl) is the traditional bottle that contains Beaujolais Nouveau celebrated in the villages of the Beaujolais region from the first week of October to the beginning of December in Lyon.
There are many celebrations and feasts in Tarare, Beaujeu and Villefranche situated in the North of Lyon. People taste Beaujolais Nouveau in the caves of the winegrowers while enjoying the traditional menus of the region in the villages or in the “bouchons” Lyonnais.

Beaujolais Nouveau is usually served with a platter of pork sausages and meat , hot sausage with lentils, rooster in red wine sauce, goat’s cheeses, pears in spiced red wine…
Many painters and art designers from Lyon painted frescoes about Beaujolais Nouveau in Lyon as it is really part of the local culture in Lyon.

When did the silk production begin?

As early as the 12th century, the Chinese were the first to produce silk. They used it to make winter clothes, bow-strings, fishing-nets since silk was a very cheap product in China.

Yet, silk was introduced as a luxury fabric in the western countries when Japan became dominant in the silk production by the late19th century as China started to decline. 

Today, China has been exporting large quantities of silk again.

The Silk production in Lyon

In Lyon, the silk production started in 1536 and became an industry when the first weaving machines were invented. Then , the silk industry in Lyon was so popular that it was exported everywhere in the world.
Unfortunately, the Canuts’riots in 1831 and 1834 (the Canuts were the silk workers) in the Croix-Rousse area and the invention of the industrialized silk put an end to the golden age of the silk production in Lyon at the end of the 19th century.

The Marché de la Soie is going to show some of the best-quality silk works made by the silk workshops in Lyon from 26th to 29th November in Palais de la Bourse, Lyon 2.

Lyon is well-known as the capital of gastronomy that has many colorful and family –friendly uncovered markets where you can buy high-quality and fresh products like meat, cheese, fruit and vegetables. 

Here is the list of the main markets in Lyon:

The Croix-Rousse Market, in the boulevard de la Croix-Rousse (Lyon, 1st district)) and market in the small square of the Croix-Rousse (Lyon, 4th district), every day except on Mondays, 6.00 a.m.-1.00 p.m. with a bio market on Saturdays.

Saint Antoine Market, quai Saint Antoine (Lyon 2nd district), from to Fridays, 6.00-12.30 a.m. and 8.00 a.m.- 1.00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
Carnot Market (Lyon 2nd district), Place Carnot near the Perrache railway station on Sundays, 6.30 to 12 a.m. You can buy fruit, vegetables and pets. Marché des producteurs fermiers, place Carnot (Lyon 2e), le mercredi de 16h-19h.
 
Augagneur Bio Market, Augagneur quay (Lyon 3rd district), on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, 6- 12.30 a.m. and on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays from 6.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. 
 
The Halles Paul Bocuse

• The Halles Paul Bocuse have 58 shops with food producers and artisanal craftsmen in a colorful atmosphere.
• The Halle Paul Bocuse represent the high-quality French cuisine from Lyon.
• All the professionals and the lovers of the French cuisine consider the Halles Paul Bocuse as the greatest symbol of the traditional high cooking in Lyon.   

Contact
• Les Halles Paul Bocuse, also known as The Halles de Lyon

102, cours Lafayette
Part-Dieu
69003 Lyon

How to translate a French menu ? That is a kind of magic.

1. The French gastronomy is considered as the highest quality and most refined cuisine in the world.

In 2008 French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he wanted to see French gastronomy classed as a world heritage by UNESCO.

 

"We have the best gastronomy in the world," he declared. (AFP)

Trish Deseine’s Nobody Does It Better: Why French Home Cooking is Still the Best in the World will teach you how to master French cuisine and understand why the French are definitely the best at cooking.


 

So, everybody seems to consider the French cuisine as the most appreciated cuisine in the world. Food and cooking are so much associated with the French that many cooking phrases are not translated into a foreign language.

2. The English-speaking people do not usually translate the most typical and traditional cooking expressions since they convey the magic of poetry to the French dishes.

Examples:
“au pistou” means a basil, garlic and olive-oil sauce from the Provence region.
In the menu, the French word “pistou” is never translated:
Petits légumes au pistou: baby vegetables “au pistou” (in basil, garlic and olive-oil sauce)

"chaud-froid" means a cold, glazed sauce.
Chaud-froid de volailles: chaud-froid of poultry (breast filled in a cold, glazed sauce)

When you eat French cuisine you do not only taste delightful dishes, but you also feel like you are travelling in the French regions.

 

Paul Bocuse is an international French chef and one of the best chefs in Lyon to promote French cuisine. 

Born in 1926 in Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or in the North of Lyon, he contributed to nouvelle cuisine, which is lighter than the traditional haute cuisine and the cuisine in Lyon said to be rather calorific. Nouvelle cuisine is made from fresh products of the highest quality that you can find in the covered market of the Halles of Lyon, near La Part-Dieu mall. 

What is more, Bocuse was very famous for his Soupe VGE, a truffle soup he made in 1975 for the former French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.

Some of his students became prestigious chefs as they were awarded the three Michelin stars. Bocuse himself received many awards and created the Bocuse d’Or in 1987 to award the best chefs in the world.

His traditional and luxury restaurant l’Auberge du Pont de Collonges and his chain of brasseries, Le Nord in the center of Lyon, l’Est, Le Sud and l’Ouest in the West of Lyon, contribute to the French gastronomy as they offer traditional and modern French cuisine.

His official site is http://www.bocuse.fr

The vaccinations campaign has started since 12 November in France in order of priority. 

6 million vaccination letters are to be sent to the first people to be vaccinated. The vaccination center will be mentioned on the reverse of the document that will include a vaccination coupon the doctor will fill in.

The first people to have vaccination shots are the health professionals, the pregnant women, the relatives who look after children under the age of 3, the staff working in play schools and then, all the people who have health problems and are part of the high-risk groups, especially the young and the elderly.

You may call 0825 302 302 (0.15 Euros/ minute) or your consulate if you’re an expat. 

According to the CSA poll, 76 % of the French do not want to be vaccinated, even though health minister Roselyn Bachelot got her vaccination shot on Thursday. 

"Ma vaccination est un symbole de la confiance que j'ai dans la vaccination (et dans les) personnes qui vont assurer cette vaccination", she said to symbolize her trust in the flu shots and the health professionals.

Unfortunately, one Guillain-Barre syndrome case was reported on 12th November. It was caused by H1N1 vaccination that may disorder one person's immune system which damages the nerve cells in some very rare syndrome cases due to vaccination.

Of course, the French health officials will take needed action if more cases were reported during the vaccination campaign.
 
 

How to fight obesity has become a public concern.

Obesity means that body fat has become so excessive that it can have bad consequences on your health. If your BMI (Body mass index) is between 25 kg/m2 and 30 kg/m², you are an overweight person, then, you become obese when the BMI is over 30 kg/m². Obesity is caused by dietary calories, lack of sport practice and genetic susceptibility.

The effects on health can be very dangerous and increase heart diseases, osteoarthritis, type 2 diabetes and respiratory difficulties during sleep.
In France, obesity has been regularly increasing since 1997. The French have put on weight and they have put on 1.7 kg from 1997 to 2003, especially the children, the over 65 and the pregnant women.

Today, there are 5.3 million obese people in France and 300 million in the world according to WHO so that it has become a public health problem.

Losing weight, changing one’s dietary habits and practicing sport are not enough to treat obesity. Obese people should consult their doctor every 4 or 6 weeks to have medicine treatment, surgery when it is necessary and psychological help and advice.

In Lyon, you may consult the endocrinology department in Lyon Sud hospital and contact Chef de Service ou du Département : Charles THIVOLET
04 78 86 14 87
charles.thivolet@chu-lyon.fr

In addition, if you want to cook without fat: use Maizena flour and add skimmed milk to make delicious sauces.