C’est la vie!
What do women want?
If it’s a vacation heaped with gourmet food, exquisite wine, female friendship, sightseeing and loads of laughter, A Taste of France tours may have the perfect recipe.
And, it’s one cooked up in London.
The tours are organized by Londoners Nancy Evans and Carol Pancyk, owners of interior design company, Inside Inc. who with two other women, Brenda Innes and Mary-Anne Swire, bought an 18th Century stone house overlooking a tiny village in the south of France, in 2003.
They renovated the three-bedroom house and grounds, in the tiny village of Beaufort, about a 30-minute drive from the Mediterranean coast. They named it Maison Beaufort, and listed it for rent to help pay the bills. But they soon realized a lot of potential customers were intrigued but timid about going to France on their own.
“We knew we’d have to rent (Maison Beaufort) to make it worthwhile,” Evans said.
“People would call and inquire, but they wouldn’t call back. So, that’s when we got the idea of taking groups of women there to introduce them to France.”
Adding a foodie component to a French vacation was a natural.
Enter London’s foremost foodie, Jill Wilcox, who has joined forces with Evans and Pancyk.
The tours are specifically designed for people who want to combine their passions for food, wine, travel and, perhaps, history, or just escape the bustle of city living for a culinary and cultural experience they won’t soon forget.
Wilcox comes to her role honestly as the author of three cookbooks, a Free Press food columnist for more than three decades, and owner of Jill’s Table, an award-winning food and kitchenware store in downtown London.
As culinary host, Wilcox introduces the women to the cuisine, helps them shop at the markets and teaches how and what to buy and how to cook it.
“What’s really special about these trips is we’ll have mothers and daughters, sisters, or groups of friends and women who have never met come together and develop great friendships,” Wilcox said.
“We sit on a patio by the pool overlooking the village and watch the sunset and the lights come on. And the laughter around the table with 12 women is just magic. It’s really a lot of fun. And it’s a really relaxed pace. You have to read a book and relax by the pool and if there’s something on the itinerary you don’t feel like doing, you don’t have to.”
For Wilcox, the tours are all about the food -visiting markets in the morning, selecting the freshest produce and meats or seafoods and then returning home after touring the region to put on cooking demonstrations.
“What’s really interesting is showing people how to shop at a market, show them how to buy local, what is in season, or organic, and I stress the importance of no impulse buying,” Wilcox said, adding the groups usually dine out for lunch and at home for dinner.
Wilcox teaches the women to be flexible at the market, to look for the best and freshest ingredients before designing a menu.
“I might see a piece of meat that looks very good, or someone might want to know what to do with an artichoke, so we’ll pick one up, take it back and make something,” Wilcox said.
“The thing I love about the markets is the social element, seeing people greeting each and talking, socializing. It’s just a different way of life than we have here.”
The culinary experiences are varied, Wilcox said, and there have been surprises, such as going into a restaurant for lunch and discovering cheval -horsemeat on the menu.
“It’s on many menus and it’s been a part of their way of life for many centuries,” Wilcox said. “We’ve been able to expose the women to a lot of new foods. That’s not one of them.”
Even the mistakes can be turned into learning opportunities, Wilcox said, telling how she once bought what she thought was yeast at the market, only to discover it was corn starch.
“I had to get very creative, very fast to make us a dessert,” Wilcox said with a chuckle.
“It happens to everybody, but then I’ll show the women how to get out of it, what you can do to fix it and that shows people it’s not scary when it happens.”
The tours cost $5,500 per person (excluding airfare) for the 10-day experience, which includes transportation from the airport on arrival and departure. The price includes food and wine, tours and all other costs.
Each day begins with fresh croissants, baguettes, yogurt, fruits and coffee. Then they climb into one of two vans, first headed to market to pick up supplies for supper, then off for touring and sightseeing, perhaps a Cathar castle, a museum, art gallery or region.
The sightseeing opportunities are endless, such as a visit to the historic walled city of Carcassonne, lunch at a Michelin-rated restaurant in the port of Collioure overlooking the Mediterranean, hiking through the Montagne Noire or touring the Abbaye de Fontfroide.
Evans and Pancyk, serve as tour guides and chauffeurs with Wilcox handling the food experiences.
“We thought we’d be bringing people who might need a lot of attention so we planned the whole thing, every little detail from their arrival to departure,” Evans said. “They get to be spoiled. The only decision they have to make over the 10 days is whether they want red or white wine.”
To date, the spring and fall tours have been “basically, a girl’s road trip,” said Evans. However, this May, they’ll be taking couples for the first time. That tour is sold out, as is a trip to Sicily the following week. A tour back to France is planned for September and they are now accepting bookings for 2013.
For Wilcox, the tours have become a “joy” she looks forward to two or more times each year.
“It makes me appreciate local and seasonal ingredients when cooking in my own home and how much fun it is sitting around a table sharing a wonderful meal, friendship and laughter.
“A lot of people don’t realize how easy it is to prepare a nice meal and the importance of sitting around and enjoying it with someone. A lot of good things happen around a table and the France experience is one of the best examples of that . . . It’s a nice segue for me, something I can focus on when (and if ) I retire.”
E-mail joe.belanger@sunmedia.ca, or follow JoeBatLFPress on Twitter.
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WHAT THEY SAID
“It got me out of the box -the processed crap we eat in North America. It changed how I cook, how I see food, how I present it and how I entertain. People think it’s hard to cook from scratch. It’s not. There’s so much stress in our lives, what better way to end the week than a Saturday enjoying a good meal, good wine and laughing with friends?”
- Jennifer Krische, 46, who works at a family-run, medical supplies business and went on A Taste of France in May, 2010
“The trip ran so smoothly, even down to the smallest detail, which left us open to enjoy the week. I love food. I love to cook. I love to eat. I love to travel and I love to visit different places and cultures. This was, by far, the best experience I’ve ever had. The combination of foods and flavours, I’ve never experienced that before.”
- Jane Riddell, chief operating officer for Goodlife Fitness, who travelled to Maison Beaufort in September, 2011
“It was just a stressless vacation. Our only job was to show up on time for breakfast. All we needed to do was live in the moment and enjoy whatever was on the itinerary, in the villages and markets. It really brought us back to day-to-day living. It wasn’t like going to a cooking school, but a vacation with food experiences. It was a beautiful setting and the pace was just the right balance.”
- Dr. Margrieta Edels, a family doctor who went on the tour in September, 2011
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TASTE OF FRANCE TOURS
For more information call 519-432-0342, or visit www.mainsonbeaufort.com tours or email tours@maisonbeaufort.com