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 ninth of these sheets I’d like to introduce is Champagne Ardennes.
Champagne and Ardennes is a combination of two vastly but very rich regions of France.
“South” Champagne first made ist place in history for the City of Rheims where French Kings had to be crowned to get official recognition. It later became famous for its Champagne sparkling wines. Contrary to many other viniferous regions, Champagne Houses do not conduct cultivation but buy their grapes before processing them. As for the claims of some that Dom Perignon was a blind monk who invented sparkling wines, they have never been proved. At least one sparkling wine, Blanquette de Limoux, saw its birth before the emblematic monk was born!
Champagne count other gastonomic specialties such as:
-Chaource cheese, a creamy white mold cheese reminiscent of Camembert but with a vastly different taste and aroma. Created in the Middle Ages, Marguerite de Bourgogne made it her staple food!
-Biscuit rose de Reims is a must-buy souvenir!

Ardennes is renown for its great forests providing noble families with abundant game.
You can see samples on the sheet:
-Wild boar is still widely hunted there for its meat.
-Andouillette/Chitterlings in Troyes is probably my favourite dish there. Great cooked in beer with apples!

Both rich lands, which unfortunately saw innumerous wars until the very XXth Century!

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

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 eighth of these sheets I’d like to introduce is Centre.
Centre is actually a vague term to describe a region that covers land between Paris and Auvergne and the western shores. It has a rich history and shares many castles with Pays de La loire. In the Renaissance French Kings had extravagant castles built there to escape dirty and noisy Paris in Blois (my own father’s hometown), Chambord, Chenoncy and many others across the River Loire.
You might just be able to discern the following on the sheet:
-Cheese. This region has innumerable splendid goat cheeses!
-Fruit and fruit cakes
-Vegetables.
-Venison. As it includes the vast Forest of Sologne, venison, wild boar and other game are plentiful!
Like the rest of the Loire area its climate is the mildest in France making a great place to visit any time of the year!

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

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 seventh of these sheets I’d like to introduce is Bretagne.
This is most Cetic region of France and Celtic language is taught at all levels from kindergarten to university. It is a land battered by the seas and the winds and its people are among the hardiest in France.
A land with many legends (Lancelot, witches and so on), it was an independent until in the late Middle Ages.
It is renown for some of the best butter in France, but also for, as seen on this particular sheet:
-Lobsters, especially the “blue tail/Queue bleue” and all kinds of seafood.
-Galettes and Crepes.
-Kouig Anan.

It is a region worth visiting with its many islands still retaining their original wilderness and magnificent natural environments! Ask the British!

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

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 sixth of these sheets I’d like to introduce is Bourgogne.
In a sense Lou Ann might say it is not fair to introduce this region so early (I do them in alphabetical order!) because this is my “home region”!
This is an enormously rich land, in history, industry and gastronomy.
It is renown for its superlative gastronomy, but many forget that photography was invented there (Nicephore Niepce in Chalon sur Saone), that it counts major companies (Areva, which produces 74% of all electricity in France), a traditional first-class Carnaval and an International Air Ballon Meeting (Chalon sur Saone again! My “hometown”!), and that it used to be a Dukedom in the Middle Ages more powerful than France!

On this particular sheet you can discover:
-Charolais beef.
-Cheese: Epoisses
-Wine: Clos de Vougeot
-Ginger bread/Pain d’epices
-Mustard (of course! Dijon where I was born!)
-Escargots/Snails

I can guarantee there are plenty more!

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

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 fifth of these sheets I’d like to introduce is Basse Normandie.
Interestingly enough The French Post has decided to depict the gastronomy of Basse Normandie (Lower Normandy) but to ignore Haute Normandie (Upper Normandy). Normandie, as it name says, is the land given to the Normans, Northmen, Vikings by a crafty Frnec King to keep them off Paris and guard the access to the Seine River.
It has since then been one of the richest gastronomic regions of France feeding Paris and many invaders during the Hundred Years War.

One can see the following specialties on the stamp sheet:
-Petit sale/Small salted mutton. Sheep grazing grass along the shores of Normandie ingest a good amount of salt blown by the winds, making their flesh extremely tasty and rid of the “usual smell”.
-Milk and Cheese (ever heard of Camembert?)

Other specialties include cider, calvados, omelettes (Mont Saint-Michel) and all kinds of cakes, biscuits and sweets (bonbons).
Oh, I forgot to mention that it lays along one of the richest fishing seas in France (Dover Sole for example that the English steal from us! LOL)

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

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 fourth of these sheets I’d like to introduce Auvergne.
Auvergne is an ancient land made famous by the Celtic tribe’s, the Avernes, resistance to Julius Caesar when he conquered Gaul.
It is also remarkable for a plethora of natural mineral water sources and spas first exploited by the Romans (who loved their baths).
It is still considered as the last wild region of France with its extinct volcanoes, bitter winters and hardy people.

One can see the following specialties on the stamp sheet:
-Salers Cheese from the Cantal
-Perigord black truffles
-Vichy sweets made in the same city of Vichy renown for its spas and mineral water.
-Salers cows which for great cheese and meat.
-innumerable fruit and nuts including chestnuts.

Plenty more, I guarantee you!
I almost forgot: One of the best trekking areas with plenty of inns and small restaurants vying for the best local food!

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-