Aubagne’s culinary specialties: discover a Provencal specialty during your stay

Located not far from Marseille, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, Aubagne is a multi-faceted Provencal town, renowned for its cultural sites, its typical squares, but above all for its rich and varied cuisine. During your stay in Provence, let yourself be tempted by Aubagne’s culinary specialties, which will surprise your taste buds.

The oil pump

Pompe à l’huile d’olive, also known as fougasse d’Arles, is a traditional Provencal dessert, usually eaten with wine during the big Christmas dinner, the meal before midnight mass.

Consumed in Marseille since the 17th century, pompe huile is a flatbread with sugar in the dough, flavored with orange blossom water and olive oil.

The origin of the recipe is associated with a Provencal tradition of pouring wheat flour into the olive oil mills of Provence to pump out the residual oil.

Quince paste

One of Aubagne’s culinary specialties is quince paste, a Christmas confection made by cooking quince in sugar.

Quince is a fruit of the quince tree, native to the Balkans and cultivated since 4000 BC. The Romans used it to make orujo liqueur, a red wine with quince. Introduced to Provence in the 15th century, this fruit is used by local confectioners to make quince paste.

In the form of cubes or lozenges, this age-old recipe requires meticulous, time-consuming cooking, as well as air-drying. The fruit must first be cut into pieces, then cooked in water to obtain the pectin essential for a solid paste. Drying takes several days.

Pistou soup

Pistou soup is one of Aubagne’ s most hearty culinary specialties. It’s a full-flavored dish, made with seasonal vegetables (beans, tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes, etc.) and pasta, topped with pistou, a sauce made with garlic, olive oil and basil. Like all recipes, this typically Provençal soup comes in several versions. Each cook has his or her own technique.

The pissaladière

Pissaladière is a culinary specialty emblematic of Provençal cuisine, originating in Genoa, a region of Italy, and dating from the late 15th century. It’s a savory tart made with bread dough, caramelized onions and anchovies, and sometimes garnished with black olives. The traditional recipe consists of incorporating pissalat sauce into the onions, then spreading them on bread dough before decorating the surface with anchovies and black olives.

The shuttles

The last of Aubagne’s culinary specialties to be sampled during your stay: navettes are dry cookies in the shape of a boat. These Provençal pastries are eaten instead of crêpes during the Chandeleur celebrations, particularly in Marseille (where the original recipe is said to have been created in 1781). The cookies are made with wheat flour, butter, eggs and sugar, then flavored with orange blossom water.

The town of Aubagne is rich in culinary traditions, offering a diversity of tasty dishes to delight the taste buds. For a gourmet and natural stay in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, discover the pleasure of camping in the heart of a pine forest at the foot of the Garlaban mountains. Welcome to the 3-star Aubagne campsite near Marseille, with swimming pool, snack bar, ecolodges and comfortable cabins for rent.