Les membres de Zhong Breizh prêts à payer de leur personne pour promouvoir la Betagne à Pékin!

En page 100 du numéro de janvier de That's Beijing, vous pouvez lire une courte introduction à la gastronomie bretonne.

http://www.thatsbj.com/blog/index.php/2006/01/07/p2802#more2802

En exclusivité mondiale, et pour ceux que ça intéresse, voici la version intégrale du papier envoyé à Ann Mah. Très modestement, précisons qu´il s´agit de beaucoup de copié-collé, glané ça et là sur la toile. C´est aussi une vision personnelle qui n´engage que son auteure. Par exemple ? Tout le monde ne sera pas d´accord pour appeler une crêpe salée une crêpe salée. J´en connais qui appellent ça une galette. Mais en tant que native de la seule ville au monde a organiser une Fête de la Crêpe (fetedelacrepe.free.fr/c´est à Gourin tous les ans à la fin du mois de juillet), je suis prête à engager le débat...

Amicalement, Hélène

Brittany (Bretagne) is the most Western land of the European continent. It is a wide peninsula located in the west of France, hugged by the English Channel at the north and the Atlantic Ocean at the west and south. This Northwest corner of France has long been culturally and geographically distinct from the rest of the country. Brittany became part of France relatively late (1532) and under a special status of "foreign province" which was not abolished until the French revolution. Together with Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, Wales, Cornwall, and the Spanish Galicia, it is part of the Celtic fringe of Western Europe. Brittany's past is entwined with the legends of cities lost beneath the waves and Arthurian forests.

Modern Brittany is a French region with a difference. The Bretons still have a strong sense of belonging to a well-defined community; and there are few people in France as staunchly proud and protective of their culture, their language and traditions as the Bretons. This feeling results in a vivid cultural life, especially as regards music, but also literature, dance, theatre, costume and of course gastronomy. Breton solidarity can be gauged in the Breton Diaspora, which has been organised for a very long time: Bretons have had a union in Canada for fourty years! People from Brittany have long been travelers by necessity but also by taste and choice. In Beijing too, Bretons have their association, called Zhong Breizh (‘Breizh’ is the name for Brittany in Breton)

When it comes to culinary traditions, there are roughly two Brittanys, with two distinct cuisines: one for the 1,200km-long coast, known as Armor (meaning 'Land of the Sea') and the other one for its more secretive interior, Argoat ('Land of the Woods').

Surrounded on three sides by water, Brittany is a veritable mine of fish and shellfish, home of French seafood cuisine. These aquatic delights, not surprisingly, dominate coastal Breton cuisine, starting off with the famed homard à l'armoricaine (lobster with cream). Other maritime headliners include coquilles St-Jacques (scallops); cotriade, a distinctive fish soup with potatoes, onions, garlic, and butter; oysters, crabs, stingray and langoustines, which are something between a large shrimp and a lobster. Breton cuisine also starts to make use of one of the world’s richest variety of marine algae existing along Breton coasts.

Brittany is a leading European region for food industries. Cuisine from interior Brittany therefore makes full use of its main agricultural resources: vegetables, pork, dairy products and poultry. Popular meals include smoked ham and lamb, frequently served with green kidney beans. The regional ragoût de mouton (lamb baked for five hours under a layer of roots and herbs) is a must while visiting Brittany. Fried eel is a traditional dish in Nantes, the historical capital of Brittany.

But Brittany's national dish remains the Crêpe (pancake), its most famous food export. You can find a Breton Crêperie (pancake restaurant) virtually anywhere in the world, including two of them in Beijing. The dark salt crepe, a thick, buckwheat pancake, is served as a main course. It has a deeper flavor best paired with savory fillings -- like lobster and mushrooms, or the more traditional egg, ham and cheese. A sweet plain and simple crêpe is wafer-thin and made with a lighter batter, served with strawberries and cream, apples in brandy, or chocolate, for example. Accompanied by a glass of Breton cider, they are an ideal light, inexpensive meal; as crêpes dentelles (lace crepes) they make a delicious dessert. Kouign Ammann are delectable sugar cakes made from yeast dough, with butter or cream. A far breton is a warm or cold flanlike dessert made with prunes.

Cider is the traditional drink of Brittany, either a rough, still cider, or the cidre bouché, a naturally sparkling cider, sold in tightly-corked bottles. It is available dry (brut) or sweeter (doux). Both are made on the farms where the apples are grown - my grand-father used to make his cider, the best in the world of course. The apple-juice ferments naturally, clouding over and then clearing as it matures. The type of apple, the growing conditions and the way in which the juice is treated after pressing all affect the flavour of the finished product. Cider is still difficult to find in Beijing, and once you have managed to find it, it should be enjoyed rapidly.