200 years ago, Gustave Flaubert was born in Rouen.

This Norman has never hidden his love for his region.

The proof with the many local specialties that punctuate his novels.

A heritage that journalist Valérie Duclos reminds us of in her book "À la table de Flaubert" and that she shares at Laurent Mariotte's microphone. 

Madame Bovary

,

Sentimental Education 

or even 

The Temptation of Saint Antoine ...

Here are some works that Gustave Flaubert left behind him, literary works whose success is no longer to be proven. Yet in these writings another legacy is present but underestimated. That of French gastronomy, and more particularly of Norman gastronomy, which the famous author knew in his childhood. This is the observation made by journalist Valérie Duclos and which prompted her to write 

À la table de Flaubert.

In this book, she returns to the extracts that speak of food in Flaubert's work.

But she also sought to transcribe the recipes of the dishes mentioned by calling on chefs.

A work that she recounts in Laurent Mariotte's program, "La Table des bons vivant". 

>> Find La Table des bons vivant in podcast and in replay here 

The aura of a good living

"My book is a tourist walk to discover or rediscover Normandy through the texts of Flaubert", explains Valérie Duclos. "I also extracted the recipes that I entrusted to restaurateurs, chefs from Rouen, who have turned them into 21st century dishes. All starting from 19th century writings." One thing is certain: gourmet recipes are there because Gustave Flaubert was a bon vivant.

"You should know that he went at least twice a month to literary dinners with Maupassant in particular."

Among the author's favorite dishes?

Oysters.

"He spent part of his childhood in Trouville and he discovered the mollusk there", explains the journalist.

Flaubert is also a big fan of black pudding (which he recommends eating all year round) or even andouille de Vire.

Dishes that can be found in his novels. 

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From cooking to literature

If Flaubert's personal life is filled with good meals, so are his writings. The proof with this excerpt from Madame Bovary's wedding banquet: "There were four sirloins, six fricassees of chicken, veal in the pan, three legs and in the middle, a pretty roast suckling pig flanked by four andouilles à l 'sorrel. " A list of dishes that also allow you to see how we ate at the time.

"In his book 

Un cœur simple,

Flaubert also gives pride of place to another dish: the chicken of Auge. It is not surprising to find this dish in this story since to write it, Flaubert was inspired of the life of the servant who was in the service of her parents. However, Auge chicken was a very popular dish at the time and very inexpensive. " It all makes sense then. Flaubert's cuisine says a lot about the lifestyles of the time. A gold mine for any gastronomy enthusiast who wants to go back to the origins of contemporary dishes.