Local produce
Throughout Vendée, markets pop up, especially during the summer. Strolling, looking around, exploring - the markets of Vendée are opportunities to discover local crafts and gastronomic products.
Mogettes are a very symbol of the local produce of the Vendée, beans traditionally grown in the Bocage country. They are eaten simply with a knob of butter, or as a vegetable to accompany ham, duck or leg of lamb. Connoisseurs enjoy them as grillées, slices of bread rubbed with a clove of garlic, spread with butter and covered with hot mogettes.
Not forgetting the farm poultry (duck, chicken and guinea fowl), foie gras and cooked pork meats (rillons, pluck, etc), and Vendée charolais beef, which have earned their gastronomic credentials by collecting ’labels’ – your guarantee of top quality.
Brioche is another pride of the Vendée. Sweet and highly flavoured with either brandy, orange-flower water and a combination of the two, it has always been eaten in large quantities by the people of the region. You will also be offered a gâche (another sweet bread) or flan maraîchin (a custard tart).
Préfou , a traditional product of the Fontenay le Comte region, is a flattened piece of bread cookec in the oven and then rubbed with garlic and butter and eaten hot. It is much appreciated as an accompaniment to aperitifs.
A touch of greed has never been too bad a fault, given that the coveted products are both healthy and flavourful. Treat your tastebuds to the sweetness of the ancestral Vendée sweets of the Yeu island, such as min-mins (soft caramels made with plums and salted butter), a set of discs (crunchy discs filled with caramel and placed on a slice of nougat), or some mogettes (nougat sweets and white chocolate).
Finally, there are the wines from the Vendée Fiefs whose history goes back to the Middle Ages, when the monks cultivated their patches of vines. Brem sur Mer, Pissotte, Mareuil sur Lay and Vix are the four Vendée Fiefs whose wines are classified as VDQS «Vins Délimités de Qualité Supérieure». Other specialities should also be tasted – such as Troussepinette , a local aperitif made from hedgerow fruits, or Kamok : an alcoholised liqueur made from a mix of roasted Arabica coffees.
