Influences from other areas - How strong?

[rgruby]

Paula,

Welcome! Thank you for joining us. My question is, how much is this region being influenced by cooking (and dining) trends outside. I'm thinking particularly, although not exclusively, to the oft-mentioned culinarly hotspots to the west of the Pyrenees. Is the sort of experimentation going on in Spain carrying over to France? Should it?

Cheers,

Geoff Ruby

[Wolfert]

I'm pretty sure that French Basques and French Catalans are looking over their shoulders at what's been happening in Spain and doing their best to go into "experimental mode."

As for Basque cuisine, I'm delighted that piment d'Espelette is finally available here as without it the old dishes just don't taste the same.

As for "hotspots," I steered away from them for this edition, having been "burned" (or perhaps I should say "suckered in") by a few SWF nouvelle recipes that I have since removed.