Original subtitles

♪♪

-I'm just off the coast of Provence, and I have a dilemma.

-I could gaze for hours at this coastline

that has mesmerized visitors for millennia.

-I could bask on the most glamorous beaches in the world.

I could stroll through the glorious countryside

in a stunning swirl of colors,

or lose myself in a thrilling ancient city.

Yeah, I could do all that.

-But you know me. First, I gotta eat.

♪♪

-I'm Eva Longoria, and I'm a serious Francophile.

-[ Speaks French ]

-Over the past 20 years,

my career as an actor has brought me to France

time and again.

It's my home away from home,

but those trips were more about work

than joie de vivre.

-[ Laughs ] -Now I want something deeper.

This is going to be an adventure.

-So I'm setting out to really experience France...

-This is Cabernet Sauvignon. -[ Gasps ] That's my favorite.

-...to savor its world celebrated cuisine...

-Wow. -And explore the country's

rich history.

-Vive la France! [ Laughter ]

-There's a reason why when we dream of a perfect place,

it looks a lot like Provence.

-This is like lavender heaven.

-The sun-kissed landscape of this corner

of the south of France is world famous

and the glamour of the French Riviera

is on another planet.

-And cue the sailboat.

-The beauty of Provence is timeless,

but this place never stands still.

There's a wild wind racing through this region,

and it drives people here to creative heights.

-Yes. -Oh! It's roaring.

-For centuries, they've drawn on all this beauty...

-It's like the French Riviera on a plate.

-...lightened up French food and changed the way

the world eats again...

-Oh, my God, that's so good. -...and again...

-And it's very good with rosé.

-Everything is good with rosé.

-...and again. -Paris had their time.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Birds chirping ]

-I'm in the oldest city in France,

and I know this is called "Searching for France,"

not Italy, but bear with me.

[ Speaking in French ]

Half-and-half, I was told that's how I order it.

-Perched on the hot Mediterranean coast

and closer to Italy, Spain and even North Africa

than Paris is France's second largest city,

the ancient and unique Marseille.

Now, I'm not going to lie, I'm feeling nervous.

This is extreme pizza, one half pure melted cheese,

but the other a crazy amount of anchovies,

which is pretty intense.

And somehow this half-and-half is the city's favorite food.

-Of course, herbes de Provence.

[ Laughs ]

♪♪

-The half-and-half is made for shearing,

and I'm meeting Valentin Raffali.

He's one of the new wave of young chefs making

Marseille world famous for its food.

-Val.

I came to your favorite spot.

-Yeah.

-Oh, that's perfect.

It's not too strong. It's very subtle.

-Yeah. Soft, cheesy.

Oh, we like -- everybody love that one.

-Now I'm trying the anchovy side,

which is not my favorite.

-Yeah.

-Nope. -No? [ Laughs ]

-Oh, that's intense. -Super intense, yeah.

This is the Marseille contrast in the pizza.

The tenderness is your side,

and that one is the deepness. -The strong character.

-The strong character, the loud people.

♪♪

-If Marseille folk feel like big characters,

it's not without reason.

In wealthier parts of France, you sometimes hear

that Marseille is a bit of an embarrassment,

seen as a city full of crime and immigrants and chaos.

While nobody denies there are problems,

they also know that their city has thrived for 2,500 years

by embracing the flavors and cultures

of the entire Mediterranean,

mixing things up and following its own star.

-Look at this.

-There you go. -Oh, my gosh.

-We've come to the highest point in the city,

the church of Notre Dame de la Garde,

with views that stretch from the Mediterranean Sea

to the mountains that wrap around Marseille.

-It's a bit like the mountains protect us

from the rest of France, you know?

And this is the rest of the world, and that's why --

-You guys have your arms wide open.

-Yes, exactly.

-It's my first time in Marseille,

and I don't know what to expect.

-It's a welcoming city, but it's also wild.

The electricity is definitely here.

We act like Italians. We act like Corsicans.

We act like Northern African, and here you better

not be late at the green light.

Otherwise, someone is like, bam, bam.

Yeah. -So, you were born here?

-Yes, I was born here, and my dad is Moroccan.

-Okay. -My mom is French.

So I'm the classic Marseille product.

-Yeah. Is Marseille closer

to French cuisine or closer to a global cuisine?

-Yeah. You can feel the influence of our countries.

Here we love garlic. We love, like. fishes.

-Olive oil. -Olive oil,

the best goat cheese, lamb.

Everything is strong here, you know?

We're not the richest city in France, right?

But culture and people, we're the richest here.

Everybody has their time in life, you know?

-Yeah.

-You know? -Yeah.

-Young chefs like Val have united

those feisty Mediterranean flavors

and found themselves leading a new era in French cooking

right here in Marseille.

The epicenter is just behind the city's Arabic quarter

and the old port in the neighborhood of Cours Julien.

-This is where you're from? -Yes.

I mean, here is the artistic soul.

That's where everything crossed -- music, cinema,

and now a lot of restaurants.

And now I want to bring you to one of my friend's place.

That's my friend Andréa. -Uh-huh.

-She's my neighbor.

-Andréa Pittaluga opened her restaurant, La Ola, in 2023.

-Hello. -This is Andréa.

-[ Speaks French ] -Welcome to La Ola.

-She brings in a rotating list of resident chefs

for a month or two.

In the kitchen today is Khouloude Ben Thayer.

She has Tunisian heritage and is a huge favorite here.

-So nice to meet you. [ Inhales deeply ]

I already smelled the unique spices in this kitchen.

So, what are we making today?

-We're gonna make tatin of lamb.

-Lamb tatin? -Yes.

We're gonna make it with rosemary pastry.

-Rosemary is in the actual crust?

-Exactly, yeah.

-Khouloude's savory lamb tatin is laced with gorgeous

Tunisian spices she grew up with.

It's cooked with the crust on top and then flipped over,

and is a twist on the classic French dessert

of apple tarte tatin.

-In Tunisia, we eat a lot of spicy.

We put harissa everywhere. You know what is harissa?

-Yeah, I like harissa. But harissa is not hot.

-It's supposed to be hot.

-Are you going to give me harissa right now

just to prove a point? -Yeah.

-And do I taste it like this? -Yeah.

-Oh. Oh, my God, that's so good.

-You see? -[ Laughs ]

-It's coming after. -It's coming now.

A lot of garlic is this region,

or is it also in Tunisia?

-Yeah, we use a lot. We love garlic.

We love onion.

-Khouloude thrives on the freedom

that chef residencies give her,

moving around the city and the world,

sharing and discovering food.

-And what's this one? -Ginger.

-Ginger. -You can put everything.

-This is herbes de Provence? -Yes.

-There's such a mix of Marseille's

ingredients and Tunisia. -Exactly.

In seven hours, and you don't have to touch it.

This is amazing, no? -Yes.

-[ Laughs ] -I'm stealing this recipe.

Yeah. -Voila.

-Do you normally cook with wine?

I mean, drinking wine? -Yeah, let's drink wine.

-[ Laughs ]

Why am I asking a French person?

-[ Speaks French ] -[ Speaks French ]

-So this one has been cooking seven hours.

[ Gasps ] Oh, my God, it's so tender.

That's gonna be so good.

-The last step is to add the rosemary pastry.

[ Both speak French ]

-Ah! We did good.

♪♪

-As the crust crisps up,

we head out to rejoin Val and Andréa

for a feast of big, bold Mediterranean flavors.

-Oh, my gosh. -That's nice.

-I have to taste this right away. Sorry.

-Yeah, let's go. -And what is the cream in here?

Wow. -Oh.

Really, really good.

-Oh, my gosh.

I love that I can taste

your Tunisian heritage in this dish.

It's front and center,

but at the same time in a tatin,

in a French way.

Wow.

It is so full of love and history.

-You guys are so young to be an entrepreneur,

to have this level of talent at your age.

-It's thrilling to be cooking and eating

with these amazing young chefs, all still in their 20s,

who are changing the face of French food.

-You work hard, and at the end of the day,

it's always a good day.

-Yeah, because we are free.

-Wow. -Oh, yeah.

-Cheers.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Birds chirping ]

-It's often said that Marseille

is like a wide open mouth,

just gobbling everything that comes into it from the sea.

-And it's been like that ever since

the ancient Greeks landed their boats here,

bringing olive oil and a recipe for a simple

fish broth cooked in seawater.

Good things take time, and after 2,500 years of fishing,

boiling, arguing and refining,

the result is a superstar of French cooking --

Marseille's famous bouillabaisse.

♪♪

I've been fascinated by this legendary dish for years,

but I've never actually eaten the real thing.

So I've arranged to meet local chef,

poet and bouillabaisse master Emmanuel Perrodin

down at Marseille's old port.

-Bouillabaisse. -Bouillabaisse.

It's very linked with the city.

All along the centuries, it evolves with

the different ingredients that first arrived here

in this spot because, you know, Marseille

has a very special place in the French cuisine.

-Because everything entered here.

-Yeah, first here. -Yeah.

-It evolves, but it has to stick with the spirit of this dish.

You have to create a kind of harmony from a mix,

from a chaos of the sea.

-Chaos, you create harmony. -Exactly.

-Many of us Americans first learned of this epic dish

through our own queen of French cuisine, Julia Child.

-Today, we're going to do fish soup and bouillabaisse.

-While Julia isn't here to boil one up,

Emmanuel is on a quest to cook it for me and some friends.

We need a huge range of the Mediterranean's

strangest sea creatures.

-Is this the poisonous one?

-No, this one is the poisonous one.

-Oh. -It's called the Vive.

-Some here say bouillabaisse is now

just a restaurant moneymaker.

But for Emmanuel, the ritual around this dish still matters.

-Eating a bouillabaisse is still, you know,

very unique habit.

I prepare it once a year for my family.

We are going to buy two of these.

-This guy. -And this guy as well.

-My God. [ Chuckles ]

-Marseille's ancient port has seen the world

and its ingredients flow in for over 2,500 years.

And the tastiest things go into bouillabaisse pot,

along with an entire aquarium's worth of flavorful, tiny fish.

-We are going to cook just like a little stock.

-Together they will form the support act for the big guys

we got down at the market.

-Oh, and there's a crab.

I see we have chili. Is that peak?

-No, it's very delicate. -Subtle.

-That sea salt? -Yeah, it's sea salt.

-And then saffron. -A bit of saffron.

-It smells amazing!

Does everybody know this recipe

if you're from Marseille?

-So actually, I think that there are

so many different recipes of the bouillabaisse.

Everything I'm going to say, you know,

will be a disgrace to two others, so...

[ Both laugh ]

And that's the good point with this -- this recipe,

because you cannot grab it.

-Yeah. It's always evolving. -Exactly.

-An orange?

-Just a little bit of the skin. -Okay.

-While the stock bubbles, it's time for the main event --

those famous fish of Marseille.

There's one guy I'm most intrigued by.

He apparently brings a beautiful flavor to the whole broth,

but is also legendarily ugly.

Ladies and gentlemen, the red rascasse.

-And this is the big one. -Ooh.

-I think that there's no -- no bouillabaisse exists without it.

-He looks like a merman.

-Yeah, it is the ugly one.

-What do you mean this is the ugly one?

He's so cute.

I love him. I think he's handsome.

Which one is the poisonous one?

-This one. -Why are we eating it?

[ Laughs ] -Because it's so delicate.

-But are we going to die?

Am I going to go to the hospital?

-No.

This fish is hides itself in the sand.

-Oh. Oh, in the sand. -Yeah.

-Oh, and then you could step on it.

-Exactly. -Oh, my gosh.

So that would have venom in it,

and this part as well.

Yeah, let's, --let's get rid of those things.

[ Chuckles ]

I used to do this when I was little with my dad.

-Really? -Yeah, this right there.

Alright.

What other fish is in this party?

-This is the John Dory. We call it St. Pierre.

-Uh-huh, St. Peter. -Touched, you know, the skin

of the fish with -- -Oh.

That's why it's called St. Pierre?

-Yeah. -This mark is

St. Peter's fingerprint?

-Yeah, exactly. -It's a holy fish.

-It's a holy fish. -[ Chuckles ] Alright.

What fish is next? Oh, gosh.

Ah! -This is another treasure.

Yeah.

[ Both laugh ]

-At all. Uh, hi.

-There's no bouillabaisse and no stock without this.

-Okay.

What flavor does this give?

Yep. -I love that smell.

-Good for you. -Yeah.

[ Both laugh ]

I love it. -You truly are from the south.

Is all this fish from here? -Yeah.

-You guys have a variety. -Yeah, we are so lucky.

-Yeah. And that's all of our fish.

-Yeah.

-I think it's ready. -Yeah.

-That stock Emmanuel made with all the tiny fish,

that now needs to be smushed down into an intense broth,

ready to play an important role.

-A lot of work for a fish soup.

Okay, now, this is the second stage?

-Yeah. -Oh, and now the stars

of the show. -I'm not a star.

-Oh, my goodness.

-We put the fish that will take the longest at the bottom.

-Yeah, because that's dense. It's so exciting.

Then our poisonous friend. -Exactly.

-Now the broth of all those tiny fish

is poured onto the bigger fish.

-Look at the color.

It almost looks like a lobster bisque.

-And Emmanuel turns up the heat.

-Full maximum. -Bouill is boiling,

and baisse is lowering the heat.

-Exactly. -And that's the name.

-[ Both ] You bouill and baisse.

[ Laughs ]

Is it bouilling yet? -Yes.

-Oh, it's roaring!

-So we are going to low

and going to forget it for just like 30 or 40 minutes.

-Okay.

-Santé. -To share this special moment,

I'm catching up with my old Marseille friend Virginie

and her husband, Ben.

-Ah, voila. -Voila. Hello.

-Just as we cook the bouillabaisse in two stages,

it's also traditionally served in two stages.

First, the broth from the tiny fish.

-So, have you guys ever had bouillabaisse?

-Yeah. -Yeah?

-Last time I've been eating bouillabaisse

was with my grandma.

-Oh.

The broth is served with slices of baguette

slathered in an intense, garlicky

saffron sauce called rouille.

-Oh, you put it in the soup? -Yeah.

-Okay. You're not from Marseille.

How do you know this? -It's my first time.

[ Laughter ]

-This has so many different fish,

but it all kind of comes together.

-Yeah, exactly.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Organized chaos. -Yeah.

-Okay, so this is the first part.

What's the second part? -The fish.

-The fish. -Voila.

-Wow. -Those extraordinary fish

-have been bouilled up

and baissed down in this stock,

and are now served with vegetables and potatoes.

-I love that the two stages are served this way as well.

We eat the broth and then we eat the fish.

It doesn't feel formal, but it does feel ritual.

Mm. I'm gonna taste the ugly fish.

Oh, I like him.

And he's not ugly.

-Now that I've experienced the bouillabaisse, I get it.

Somehow, in all the chaos, something magical happens.

It may have been 2,500 years in the making,

but it's definitely worth the wait.

-[ Laughs ]

♪♪

♪♪

-There are few places on earth

as heavenly as the Provence countryside.

It's inspired travelers, artists and chefs for centuries.

I'm leaving Marseille and heading

inland to Chateau La Coste.

The colors and perfumed scents swirling

in the air carried on the magical mistral winds.

And I feel doubly lucky, because today

I get to meet one of the world's most famous chefs,

and she is known for using this unique landscape

and making beautiful food.

And this is her herb garden.

It all starts here.

[ Conversing in French ]

Hélène Darroze is one of the greats of modern French cooking.

She currently holds a total of six Michelin stars

and runs two of the top restaurants in Paris and London.

But I'm meeting her here in the Provence countryside she loves.

-Oh, I love this garden. -Yeah.

This is the garden where we have all

the herbs, and you can smell.

-I smell everything. What is this one?

-This one is chives. -I smell it.

♪♪

-I love that you are -- are one of the few chefs

in the world that -- that lead with scent in your cooking.

You always start with how does it smell.

-For sure, smell is one of the scents

that it's very, very important.

When I smell something, I know if the dish is a success or not.

-Really? -Yeah.

-Oh, Rosemary.

-Rosemary. Yeah, exactly. Young one.

-So Rosemary is one of the main herbes de Provence.

-Exactly. There are four. You have rosemary.

-Uh-huh. -You have thyme.

-Right -You have oregano,

and you have the marjoram. -You know what?

Because in the United States, I just buy a bottle

that says herbes de Provence. -Yeah.

-I don't know what's in it, but it's really good

and I put it on chicken. -Yeah.

And they are dry. -And they're dried.

-Yeah.

-How did you enter this profession?

-I'm born in a kitchen. I'm the fourth generation

of the family to cook. -Four generations?

-Yeah. -You're one of two women

in France that has three Michelin stars?

-Yes. -Is it harder for women

in France or in general in the world?

-On the contrary, I say I'm lucky enough

to live my passion through my job.

-If you haven't heard of Hélène's fabled reputation

in the kitchen, if your family is anything like mine,

you will definitely know her from the movies.

Hélène was the inspiration for the talented chef Colette

in the hit animated film "Ratatouille."

-One day we had a phone call from Pixar,

and at the beginning I said, well, okay, no.

I don't know. -This is me.

-Yeah. -You're going to be

in a Pixar movie. -Yeah.

And after, oh, my God.

-They followed you in the kitchen?

-Yeah. -To get inspiration?

-Follow me in the kitchen, looking at me,

how I work, et cetera.

-Now it's my turn to watch the master at work,

and she's making her Provencal classic just for me.

-We'll prepare a ratatouille. A ratatouille?

-Yes, for sure. -What is a ratatouille?

Because I have a different opinion about it.

I don't think I've ever eaten a good ratatouille.

-It's coffee, vegetables, I will say.

-Yeah. -Mixed together.

-Vegetables mixed together. -Yeah.

We have to be very careful not to put too much oil,

because all these vegetables,

they can keep the oil inside and then --

-Just mushy. -Yeah.

-Yeah. -Traditionally, it seems

that the ratatouille you cook

all the vegetables separately.

-Uh-huh. -Me, I cook them all together.

But you have to go step by step.

-Is it the herbes de Provence?

-Yeah. -This is that smell.

And garlic. -And garlic.

-Everything in Provence has garlic.

-Yeah, for sure. -[ Laughs ]

♪♪

It smells like herbes de Provence with garlic.

[ Laughs ]

But I love how you've given each vegetable

its own time to join the party.

-Exactly. That's the key. The good balance.

-Yeah, the balance. -It's the question of balance.

-The balance. -Hélène may be keen

to cook me a simple Provencal country dish,

but she could never just throw this into a bowl

with a hunk of bread. -Oh, my.

-Look at that.

-This is gorgeous. Look at these.

-These are so beautiful.

-Hélène's using fresh zucchini flowers.

-Voila. All the way to the top.

And then -- -And then you close.

That's it, and we will cut them a little bit in the oven.

And that's done.

Sometimes it's better to cook with instinct

than with technique.

-Why do you think there's so much technique

in French cuisine?

I mean, it's associated with technique.

-Because they are done by men.

[ Both laugh ]

And men, they always want to demonstrate something.

Okay.

-Oh.

-Yes.

-Gorgeous.

This is one of the most beautiful dining rooms.

It feels like we're floating with Provence in the background.

-Exactly. Yeah.

You don't need a designer to -- to design the room

because you have the nature. -Yeah.

Kind of like your philosophy of cooking is, like,

when you have such a good product,

why do too much to it? -Exactly.

Let's be humble in front of that, you know?

[ Wind blowing ]

-These are the howling mistral winds, huh?

-It's incredible. Huh?

Can you hear that? [ Wind whistling ]

-Do you hear the sound?

-Yeah. -I love those winds.

♪♪

-Oh, wow. -[ Speaks French ]

This is so beautiful. And what is this?

-Uh, it's a zucchini cream with olive oil

inside with herbes de Provence and a little bit of basil.

-Okay. -Yeah.

-Let's start inside with the ratatouille.

It's never been presented as beautiful as this.

-Mmm. Wow.

-Taste also now with the olives.

-Oh, that goes so well with the ratatouille.

Wow. And you know what? It's perfectly mixed.

It doesn't taste like one mushy thing.

I can taste every vegetable. -Yeah.

-Hélène has perfected exactly how to let Provence shine

through her food. -Wow.

-The result is utterly exquisite.

-And inside this flour, the perfect touch.

-Ratatouille. [ Laughs ] -Mhm.

That is Provence.

♪♪

♪♪

-This gorgeous coastline defines the glamour and style

of France just as much as the catwalks in Paris --

The French Riviera.

-Every summer, millions of people,

including me during the Cannes Film Festival,

flock here for the sunshine and glitz

that the coast of Provence has made its own.

-I'm headed to the place where it all began.

♪♪

Along the shoreline from St. Tropez,

Cannes and Nice sits the Hotel du Cap,

one of the most famous hotels on Earth.

I've been fortunate enough to visit a few times,

and I'm thrilled to be back, mainly for one iconic salad.

I'm meeting writer and Riviera resident Lanie Goodman

to find out why the world keeps falling in love

with Provence coast and its food.

-Lanie. -Hello.

-How are you? -I'm great.

♪♪

[ Bell dings ]

-Lanie's ordered us the perfect Riviera lunch.

-Wow.

-Well, look, there's a sailboat right there.

-Oh, my God. And cue the sailboat.

-It's hard to believe, but when the hotel

opened over 150 years ago,

the Riviera was a sedate winter spot

for visiting British aristocrats,

who fled as soon as the hot summer rolled around.

Before that, nobody would be in

the south of France in the summer.

The season was winter.

-Yes, because you were --

it was not fashionable to be tan.

-In 1923, everything turned upside down

when a young American couple convinced the hotel

to stay open for the summer and invited all their friends.

And when your friends happen to be F. Scott Fitzgerald,

Coco Chanel, and Picasso, you're sure to start a scene.

-By '29, it was full of Americans here.

It did actually become what Scott Fitzgerald called

a celebrity circus. It had become the place to be.

The women were wearing silk pajamas.

-I personally haven't brought silk pajamas,

but I have come with a craving for one simple

but perfect meal here.

Head chef Sébastien Broda knows how to bring the sunshine.

-Bonjour, Chef. -Bonjour.

-Bonjour.

-There's the regular Nicoise salad ingredients

like fresh tomatoes, peppers, olives and tuna.

But some things you might expect are missing.

-It's so beautiful.

-This salad is now a classic across the world,

though its roots on this coastline

are sometimes forgotten.

-I don't think people know that it's called a Nicoise salad

because Nicoise meaning from Nice.

-And there have been so many

different variations of the salad.

Americans put potatoes in it... -Yes.

...they put -- they put all kinds of things,

and they're not one lettuce leaf.

-And all vegetables must be raw.

-Yes. -Mmm. Mmm.

-The tomatoes, they have a taste here that nowhere else.

-Oh, my God. Magnifique.

-Merci. -Merci. Merci.

-Merci. -Wow.

Why do you think this salad has become so popular

throughout the world.

-Well, it's like the French Riviera on a plate,

and people instantly feel that they've come a long way

and they can kind of fantasize about that.

-So we feel closer to the French Riviera

if I order this in Texas? -Exactly.

And, oh -- Yeah. Yeah.

[ Laughter ]

-I have to tear myself away from lunch with Laine

as I have an invite along the coast.

Recently, the world has enthusiastically embraced

another delicious way to be transported

to the French Riviera.

I'm heading away from the holiday-makers to Bandol,

a tiny region that's home

to some of the very best rosé on Earth.

In the ancient vineyards,

I'm meeting winemaker Claire Bunan,

whose family arrived here from Algeria in the early 1960s.

-When did you end up here?

-They come in 1962. -Okay.

-My father Pierre, and my uncle Paul.

-And why did they leave Algeria?

-And that was a very violent war.

[ Boat horn blaring ] -When Algeria fought

for independence against French colonial rule,

families connected to the French administration

like Claire's fled in fear across the Mediterranean.

Claire's father and his brother were teenagers

when they got here, and needed to decide

where to start their new life.

-And were they winemakers in Algeria?

-Yes, they make the wine in Algeria,

but they come here because my uncle loved Marlon Brando.

-Marlon Brando? -Yes.

And he read in a newspaper he was here.

-What was Marlon Brando doing in Bandol?

That's so random. -Yes.

In Bandol, he was dating the fisherman's daughter,

and he'd say, "Okay, if Marlon Brando love Bandol,

I can live there." -[ Laughs ]

So -- -So you guys relocated here

not because of the soil or the weather for winemaking,

but because Marlon Brando lived here.

-First Marlon Brando, and second, because the soil.

-Rosé is made in the same way as red wine,

but the dark grape skins and juice

soak together for a much shorter time,

giving the lighter pink color.

-Oh, it smells so good already. -Yeah.

-What do you guys do different than most rosés?

Because I feel like you can go to a wine shop

and it's just like an aisle of pink,

and people probably pick based on color.

Nothing can be added to it.

And our specialty in Bandol.

-Okay. Mourvèdre. -Mourvèdre.

That's why the color is more dark.

-I'm excited to see the color.

Oh yeah, that is dark. -Sunrise style.

-Oh, it's sunrise.

That is definitely one of the darkest rosés I've ever seen.

Oh, that's lovely. It's like peaches.

-Peaches, yes. -Yes

I love when I get the note right.

I had it backwards.

I was always picking the lightest rosé on the shelf.

-Yeah, but now you can...

-Now I know. It's this kind I'm after.

-Four generations of the Bunan family

have gathered to enjoy the food and wine of the land

they've nurtured since they first arrived over 60 years ago.

-This looks amazing. -With us is Uncle Paul,

one of the original brothers.

Sitting regally at the head of the table,

he reminds me of the Godfather himself.

[ Laughter ]

-I want to try the onion.

-And it's very good with rosé. Taste rosé --

-Everything is good with rosé. [ Laughter ]

-Wherever we are in the world, a simple salad Nicoise

or a glass of rosé instantly connects us

to the sunshine and splendor of this place.

It's almost as good as being here.

[ Cheers and applause ]

-I won, I won! [ Laughter ]

-Now you're from the south of France.

-Now I'm from Provence. -Provence.

[ Laughter ]

♪♪

♪♪

-I've traveled back along the coast

and deep into the historic heart of Marseille.

-These narrow, winding streets

just behind the old Marseille port

were once known as the most dangerous place in France.

Over 150 years ago, French high society

became obsessed with this idea

that Marseille was full of criminals.

♪♪

-How are you?

-Alexis Steinman is a food and travel

writer who unearths Marseille's hidden histories.

♪♪

-So, where did this negative reputation begin?

-So if you think of Marseille, Marseille is a port city.

-Yeah. -And so that means that all

these cultures, all these people are coming in.

In the 19th century,

we had a lot of Italians come to get work.

And there was people called the Nervi,

and the Nervi were sort of the thugs.

And so you can imagine you have these skinny alleyways

and there was crime.

And so the Nervi were known as the people

you wanted to stay away from.

-But how much of that was just scapegoating

of the new immigrant community?

-It really became sort of this overexaggerated cliché

that contributed to this reputation

that Marseille is this capital of crime.

-Life can be hard in this ancient city.

Marseille has some of the poorest areas in all of France,

but there's also a long tradition of people here

looking for creative ways

to improve what they can for everyone.

-This is beautiful.

-I really wanted to bring you to this restaurant.

It's one of my favorite places in Marseille,

and maybe in France. This is called La République.

This restaurant is really special

because it's a social impact project.

-Okay. -There are people who dine here

who would pay around 30 euros to have a three-course meal,

and then about 35% of the people who eat here are paying 1 euro.

-1? -1 euro.

-And they get the same meal?

-They get the exact same meal and everyone's together,

and you don't know who is paying a euro

and who is paying 30 euro.

-How is there not a line out the door?

-So what happens is they are working directly

with the nonprofits. -Oh, and that's...

-So they are reserving in advance.

So it's not like you're saying, oh, this person pays

for those persons. -This people on this side

and these people. -No, it's really, really mixed.

-We get to chatting with our barman Guillaume

and here that this place doesn't only take care of its guests.

-[ Laughs ]

-Building a place as beautiful and buzzy as this,

while also upending the business model of a restaurant

is an incredible achievement.

I need to meet the man who makes it all happen,

Chef Sébastien Richard.

-Bonjour, Sébastien.

Also, you know, for the people who work here,

it's an amazing opportunity.

Right. It's like a snowball effect.

Yeah.

Transmitting that love

and passion that you have, you can feel it.

-Sébastien and his team use cost-effective local produce

and a whole lot of skill to make Marseille favorites

that keep diners coming back for more,

whether they're paying full price or reduced.

-What did you think of Sébastien?

-He's amazing.

-Sébastien likes to say that this is a project

that could have only happened in Marseille,

because this is a city that's kind of bootstrapping,

that has to make things happen for itself.

-Sébastien has made us vitello tonnato,

an Italian classic of tender veal,

usually served with a creamy tuna-based sauce.

-He puts sardines because sardines

is really our most popular fish.

It's not an expensive fish.

People like to grill them. They like to smoke them.

-Every course is so exquisite and fresh.

I can totally see why Alexis loves this place.

-Mmm. Mmm.

It's so delicious. It's an amazing concept.

-When it's time to settle up,

I've never been happier to pay for a meal,

which also helps out so many others.

-Normal. Full price.

-Merci. -Merci.

-This corner of the street is changing the world around it,

breaking down barriers and making sure

this incredible experience is available

to everyone in Marseille.

♪♪

-Oh! -Mmm. [ Speaks French ]

-Oh. [ Speaks French ]

-Those noises you can hear, that's the sound of two women

completely losing their minds at the traditional

Provencal market.

-[ Speaks French ]

Wow. This is like lavender heaven.

Beautiful.

-I'm nearing the end of my time here in Provence,

And I'm on the road again with Alexis Steinman.

We're heading towards the more rugged center of Provence,

where Alexis is promising to take me

to the most extraordinary dinner.

But we got distracted along the way in the ancient town of Aix.

It's the birthplace of visionary painter Paul Cézanne,

who, inspired by nature around him, changed art forever.

-Bonjour. -Bonjour, monsieur.

He was really famous for using the apple,

and it was really revolutionary what he was doing,

because he was painting rustic food.

-At a time when French art favored overblown paintings

of grand historical scenes,

Cézanne went right back to basics,

capturing the simplest things almost alive

in their moment in time.

-You can tell he got inspiration from this area.

The light here is stunning.

The colors here, not just in the market.

A lot of artists, not just Cézanne,

came down because of the light.

You know, we have this crazy wind called the mistral.

-Yeah. -And that cleans the sky.

And so you have this really beautiful soft light.

And Cézanne's claim to fame was light.

-They, like, jumped out at you.

They were almost 3D. -They vibrate almost.

And so that's also when you look at them

that gives you this emotion.

-Wow.

-In the 1860s, Cézanne left Provence and traveled to Paris,

convinced he would revolutionize art.

Instead, his paintings were mocked as unsophisticated,

and he was seen as an oddball yokel.

Undeterred, he left the city and returned to the South

to pursue his revolutionary vision.

-Some say that it's really where he found his voice as an artist,

because he was so enamored with the light, with nature.

-As we head further into the countryside,

I'm stunned by a vast, brooding mountain

I've only ever seen in paintings.

-This is beautiful.

-It's called Montagne Sainte-Victoire,

and this is the mountain that Cézanne painted over 80 times.

-Wow.

This landscape is, like, dominated by this mountain.

It is overwhelming, this sight, this view.

-It really became the star of the painting

and also of the region.

People say it was his mistress

because he really spent a lot of time with it.

-He must have been in love with that mountain for sure

if he painted it 80 times. -Exactly.

-I thought he liked the apple. -[ Chuckles ]

-The way the Montagne Sainte-Victoire

constantly changes in the light

captivated Cézanne until the day he died in 1906,

his work still largely unrecognized.

In 2022, one of his paintings of this mountain

sold at auction for $138 million.

Alexis has brought me to an event that feels priceless

and perfectly Provencal. -Wow.

-This dinner is for Cézanne?

-It's a special dinner for Cézanne.

-I don't think I've ever had a dinner this beautiful.

-Yeah.

-Hundreds of people have gathered here at the foot

of Cézanne's mountain to share a three-course meal

and celebrate food and art.

It's the creation of our friend and bouillabaisse chef

Emmanuel Perrodin.

On the menu is the Provencal food Cézanne loved,

including duck roasted with olives

and local vegetables filled with grains and ground meat.

And that's not all.

-Oh, my God. Apples! Wow.

They are beautiful.

-For dessert, Cezanne's apples reimagined as a fresh sorbet

and crisp white chocolate and a fruit glaze.

-Wow.

From this tiny little painting of an apple

to something as grand as this mountain,

and he made both things so personal and intimate.

It is a beautiful relation.

-From artists to chefs and beyond, people in Provence

are delightfully open to the world around them.

They draw inspiration from nature

and from their Mediterranean neighbors,

and blow out a creative energy from this corner of France

to the entire world.

♪♪