Emily in France 🇫🇷 What's the English for "Gratte-Ail"?

Making my own "garlic scraper" in the South of France

That’s a wrap on the latest successful iteration of TERRE/MER, the ceramics and cuisine retreat I co-founded and co-host with my dear friend, the talented ceramicist and product designer Camille Drozdz in her seaside home of La Ciotat.

If you're new here, TERRE/MER is a retreat by women and for women dedicated to my and Camille's shared passions for art, food, the South of France, sustainability, and slow travel.

Over the course of each retreat, we welcome a small cohort of women for a ceramics intensive punctuated with other activities including but not limited to: yoga overlooking the La Ciotat port, nature walks along the puddingstone calanques, apéro with local rosé, tastings of delicious local produce, fast friendships, and belly laughs.

Cuisine plays a big role in our time together, from breakfasts of sheep’s milk yogurt and local butter croissants to plant-heavy three-course lunches. There are also cooking ateliers led by yours truly, where participants learn the art (and nerdy history) of local specialties like panisses, aïoli, pistou and more over a glass of local rosé.

The results of our ateliers help add a finishing flourish to the evening meals, which reap the full benefits of the local artisans and producers in the area – and the tips and tricks I’ve gleaned in over a decade as a culinary journalist.

(And yes, before you ask, there is also cheese.)

Given the culinary slant of our retreat, participants are encouraged, in envisaging their final projects, to consider the art of art de la table, a concept that Camille was game enough to come onto Navigating the French and discuss with me – in English, no less. Some have made their own set of espresso cups; others have crafted bowls for serving poke. Still others have made pour-over cafétières or apéritif servingware that dissassembles for easy cleaning.

Which brings me to the subject line of today’s missive: During this retreat, with a goal of facilitating the sheer amount of garlic that a culinary retreat in the South of France requires, I decided to fashion my own gratte-ail collection. And since this is a bilingual retreat, I found myself searching for an English language equivalent, so that I could explain what I was after to the other retraite-ees. Garlic scraper? Garlic grater? Garlic grating plate? No word worked quite as well as the French gratte-ail, which means “garlic scratcher,” I suppose, in a pinch.

I guess if you want to see what I came up with… you’ll have to join us on the next retreat.

Speaking of which…

We’re currently planning our spring long weekend edition, and we need your help.

If you'd like to join us, head on over to this poll to let us know which dates suit you best!

We can't wait to welcome you!

Cheese of the Week

This may look like a Valençay, but looks are deceiving. This goat cheese hails not from the Loire Valley but rather from Savoie, where rich goat’s milk is transformed into an ashed pyramid whose apparent similitude actually hides a far richer flavor and a whisper of fresh herbs evoking the mountain overlooking Lake Geneva for which this cheese is named. It’s not a common cheese in many cheese shops; I tracked this one down at Fernin, where they often have underrepresented chèvres on offer.

To discover more of my favorite cheeses, be sure to follow me on Instagram @emily_in_france, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and tune into the Terroir Podcast, where Caroline Conner and I delve into France's cheese, wine, and more one region at a time.

Where I’m Going

1. La Divine Comédie to see Je t'aime à l'italienne à l'algérienne, a play that apparently enjoyed quite a bit of success at the Avignon festival this year.

2. To my alma mater, the American University in Paris, to offer a cheese tasting to incoming students. (And hopefully ignite their passion for all things fromage!)

3. To London, to check out The NoMad, a hotel whose cocktail bar is located in the London prison where Oscar Wilde was once held.

What I'm Writing

1. There’s just something about 1920s Paris that captivates travelers, especially when it comes to Hemingway. Should you wish to walk a mile in his shoes, I rounded up Hem's top Paris spots for Fodor’s.

2. San Francisco's super-luxe sommelier recommended his favorite luxury bottles – including his desert island pick – for InsideHook.

3. From the archives: A rich and creamy omelette is a test of a young chef's ability in French kitchens. Yves Camdeborde shares his story behind the illustrious dish, and best practices for making it. For the BBC.

What I'm Reading

1. This response to the classic L’Etranger imagines the lives of the people left behind following the murder committed by Camus' narrator Meursault. The brother of the defunct narrates this story, bestowing a first name and a story upon the man dubbed merely "the Arab" in the original. Bearing a few elements of a roman à clef for any Camus fan, alluding not just to l'Etranger but also to la Chute, Meursault, Contre-Enquête was intriguing to read, but I found myself wondering whether its spine would hold if it weren't grafted onto Camus' own novel.

2. This ode to August and Everything After, which (I'm sorry) has just turned 20. (And which I’ve been listening to on repeat ever since finding out.) In Esquire.

3. Franco-Lebanese author of The Rock of Tanios Amin Maalouf has become the 33rd perpetual secretary of the Immortals – the defenders of the French language. His term will hopefully see the completion of the academy's ninth official French dictionary, a task they undertook in 1986. In My French Life.

A bientôt !