France has issued many stamps on food (not foodstamps!) on her own gastronomy for quite some time.
A new series will be issued on April 25th and wil be printed in the form of mini-sheets dedicated to a particular region with stamps, pics and explanations.
With the twenty-first of these sheets I’d like to introduce is Provence-Cote d’Azur.

Provence is called such because it was the first “provincia/colony” officially recognized by the Roman Empire. Cote d’Azur is called such for its blue skies altough Italy claims the same with justification. After all Nice was still Italian until the second half of the XIXthe Century!

On this sheet you can see culinary specialties univesally known:
-Bouillabaisse, although the original one was only fish soup served with toasts (and mayonnaise if your were lucky, as this was a poor man’s food!).
-Herbs of Provence both used for food and perfume.

Other produce include olive oils, lavender, thyme and other herbs, and wine of course.
This particular land was fought over the ages not so much for its wealth, but for its harbours and wood. The Roman in fact cut the whole forest extending all over it 2,500 years to build their ships.
Reforestation was only begun in very late XIXth century!

had it not been for its tourist industry that was launchd after WWII, it could have stayed one of the poorest regions of France!

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