Determined to bring you French onion soup for the cover of our French-themed Cuisine, I won’t go into the challenges of working with melted cheese for a photo shoot, but rest assured I am extremely grateful to our talented production team, and melted cheese now goes onto my list of never- agains. However, French onion it is: a glorious soup that has been associated with France for so long that it is difficult to know where the recipe truly originated. Some credit King Louis XV who supposedly returned from a hunt in a ravenous state and ransacked his cupboards to find only onions, butter and Champagne (lucky for some), while others believe that it was simply a ‘poor man’s soup’ made with onions, bread and broth. Either way, it evolved to become a popular breakfast for the workers in the Paris market and a sure-fire hangover remedy for Parisian party-goers leaving the cabarets late at night. A much-loved classic, rich in flavour and comfort, it has stood the test of time and it was the addition of a heavy handful of grated cheese before placing under a grill to serve ‘au gratin’ that elevated the soup beyond class distinctions. I wonder who it was that had that brilliant idea? Whoever it was, at this cover shoot I was beginning to wish they hadn’t.

In the making of this issue we have been thinking hard about French cuisine and its influence on our New Zealand food-and-drink story. What makes it so special? How is it evolving? What is particular to French food that sets it apart from other cultures? Can we define where French influence begins and ends in our cooking today? Nick and Sina Honeyman of Michelin-starred restaurant Le Petit Léon have helped us unpack.

Trying to sum up the enormous French influence within our culinary landscape in one edition of Cuisine is impossible. As Kenneth Nars of World of Mouth says in his article, “France is a country obsessed by quality,” and this shines through in our work here. From Jack Foster’s not-so-humble French onion soup at Cardrona Distillery to Ginny Grant’s chicken and pork terrine with hazelnuts and feijoa relish, Apéro’s green-lipped mussel beignets by Leslie Hottiaux, or Alex Davies of Gatherings with his preserved pear soufflé, the recipes we’ve developed and curated for you are going to set you up for a super-delicious autumn in Aotearoa, and the stories alongside will remind you just how much the time-honoured traditions, techniques and tastes of France continue to inspire.

Read on and cook, eat and travel well.
Kel