Bonjour à tous and
welcome to Terre à table!
I’m Mariia and I’ve been living in the Netherlands for the past 6 years. Don’t worry, the extra “i” in my name isn’t a typo, but a choice that Russian bureaucracy didn’t want to burden me with when deciding how Мария will appear in all international documents. For the rest of my life. Forever. I guess two ‘I(s)’ is better than one. Anyway, nice to meet you :)
Terre à table is created from my passion for France’s regional culinary diversity and my desire to eat natural in the globalised world.
Why France?
For someone growing up on on the terrain of the ruined Soviet Union, France has been the image of unattainable chic, beauty and joy in the every day. I absorbed it in my childhood through the films starring Louis de Funès, Bourvil and Les Charlots.
The allure of France deepened during my university years in the efforts of becoming the teacher of French and English languages in my hometown of Kaluga - our solemn, Soviet-bred professors, who had ventured “there” in the 70s and 80s when not many people could, brought back a mystique and elegance that no other faculty could match.
The first trip to France (and Europe) happened in 2010 in the company of my adventurous group-mates - the language was put to test mainly with “Public transport” and “Doing groceries” lexicon, the taste-buds were spoilt with “Les formules midi” at 8 eur per head served by a look-a-like of Nicolas Cage and the cheap wine on Les Champs de Mars made us dig deeper in the lexicon to remember “tire-bouchon” we needed to borrow; the eyes were captivated with the mix of noble grey stone, omnipresent flowers and the European anarchy in architectural shapes and sizes - everything seemed wild yet harmonious (we tend to be very geometrical in the east). Even the sun reflected differently with its salmon hue on limestone. And what about the air in France, that feels as if you are starting a new life every day?
As lot of time passed since that first impression, a lot of places in Europe have charmed me with their curiosities, people, spectacles and tastes, yet somehow my relationship with France have been always more intimate than with any country, with discoveries more spontaneous and situationist, with sudden acquaintances more mystical and with interactions more providential.
And that’s not unexpected. France does tend to be more tactile, intimate and connected in the modern world. When globalisation and corporations dominate, France continues worshipping its soil and treating its harvest with culinary imagination this pure product deserves.
With Terre à table, I hope to bring France, its tastes and artisanal savour-faire to our everyday. Let’s explore together the imaginative products from the French soil, the regional culinary diversity and traditions that keep our nutrition pure.
Bonne dégustation à tous,
Mariia of Terre à table
