Culinary Road Trip

Journey to the heart of Aveyron-once called Rouergue-where lush, rolling hills remain untouched by urban sprawl. This region, dotted with medieval bastides, is rich in abbeys, castles like Najac, and bustling markets, as gastronomy is a way of life here. Duck features in every form, even in blood sausage. Julie explores local poultry, the famous fouace for dessert, and the classic pascade.

Julie heads to the Landes, famed for its vast pine forests, especially in the south where she reunites with longtime friend and Michelin-starred chef Michel Guérard, her gourmet guide. Since 1974, Guérard has called the hilly, vineyard-covered Tursan home. Deeply connected to this land of passionate producers, he shares his favorite finds—wines, guinea fowl, Gascon pork—and top addresses.

Just outside Paris, Julie explores the Yvelines, known for the sprawling Rambouillet forest and quaint medieval villages like Chevreuse. She meets food lovers dedicated to preserving local culinary heritage: the renowned Houdan chicken, artisanal syrups, and even homemade mozzarella. Together, they prepare locavore recipes—beer-braised trout fillets with Pamela, oxtail stew with Laurent.

Julie travels to the White Quercy, straddling the Lot and Tarn-et-Garonne, famed for its white limestone used in homes and art. The region’s fertile lands yield truffles, lavender, honey, saffron, grapes, lamb, cheese, prunes, melons, and more. Local enthusiasts share recipes like grilled duck breast with Chasselas grapes, rosemary-stuffed roast leg of lamb.

In the heart of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Julie visits Manosque, a land of lavender and olive trees immortalized by writer Jean Giono. His daughter Sylvie welcomes Julie to cook one of her father’s favorite dishes: tuna chartreuse. Farmers Laurent and Marcel prepare the regional specialty pieds paquets. The episode also spotlights olive oil, faience, almonds, and calissons.

Julie and Micheline travel to La Rochelle, the well-preserved Atlantic port city renowned for its maritime legacy. Its ramparts, arcades, timbered houses, and grand merchants’ mansions built from luminous Charente stone tell its story. Here, the sea infuses both hearts and plates: expect mussels with pineau, farci charentais and poitevin, and the signature dessert, tourteau fromager.

Julie explores Nantes, a historic port city nestled between Atlantic breezes and the gentle Loire and Erdre rivers, home to the medieval castle of the Dukes of Brittany. The Nantes table blends land and sea: Sibylle prepares eggless macarons with chickpea juice and local curé nantais cheese; Frédéric cooks Asian vegetables in broth and wok; Arnaud serves the catch of the day, bream.

Julie and Micheline invite viewers to Angers for a gourmet journey reflecting the region’s famed douceur angevine. This land of castles and fertile plains—thanks to the Loire and Maine rivers—is a hub of orchards and agriculture. Angers, birthplace of Curnonsky, embodies the soul of old France and the paradise of peaceful digestion. The recipes discovered along the way are true to this spirit.

Julie visits Colmar in Alsace, a starting point for the 170-kilometer Alsace Wine Route winding through Grand Cru vineyards. The city charms with its colorful, timbered houses and flowered balconies. Renowned jam maker Christine Ferber guides Julie through Alsace’s rich culinary heritage: palette à la diable, munster cheese, salted turnips, and a meringue-topped rhubarb tart.

Welcome to Camargue, a land ruled by wildlife: free-roaming bulls, wild horses, flamingos, and migrating birds. Traditions run deep here, from bull games to folklore, wind, sun, rice paddies, and salt flats. Julie is joined by Marie Sara, one of the rare female horseback bullfighters. Local cuisine shines in dishes like gardiane (bull stew), cuttlefish, fresh eels.

Today's focus is chocolate as Easter approaches. Julie explores creative recipes-like Christophe Roussel's raw chocolate tart with black olives-and visits master chocolatier Stéphane Bonnat's family workshop to see bean-to-bar magic. Amelle Wick crafts her own chocolate, Victoire Finaz makes a foolproof mousse and molten cake, Emmanuèle Vasseur demonstrates cocoa-crusted beef.

With Easter weekend here, Julie explores culinary traditions across Christian communities, from Alsace to Corsica via Berry. Recipes feature lamb, spring vegetables, and festive specialties celebrating renewal and sharing. Julie learns egg decorating from an iconographer and helps Stéphanie Schwartzbrod prepare herb-crusted lamb, a must-have for this holiday meal.

It's Christmas! And when you're passionate about food, when you love good food and sharing, you can't miss out on a beautiful Christmas Eve dinner. For the occasion, Julie has invited friends from all over France to gather around her table and share dishes, memories, expertise, and exceptional products, such as Florie Tarbouriech's oysters.

To kick off the new year in style, Carnets New Year's Eve takes you to the southwest, a stone's throw from Cahors in Quercy Blanc, to the Domaine de Saint-Géry: an exceptional place thanks to Patrick and Pascale Duler, who have been living there for over 30 years. Working almost entirely independently, they have developed an agricultural production system based on agroforestry.

We set off to meet a young chef, Breton by adoption, who was awarded his first Michelin star four years ago: Nicolas Conraux. While his cuisine sometimes reflects his Alsatian origins or his travels in the Indian Ocean, it mainly celebrates the colors of Brittany, his adopted home for the past twenty years.

We invite you to meet Armelle Krause, a young chef based in Chédigny, a charming village covered in flowers and labeled a "remarkable garden." After studying at Ferrandi, the leading culinary school, and apprenticing with renowned chefs, Armelle left the capital with her husband Julien to open their first restaurant. Since then, the restaurant has become one of the region's must-visit gastronomic.

Julie takes you to the heart of Cantal, in the Châtaigneraie Cantalienne, located in Auvergne, in the extreme southwest of the Cantal department, for a program dedicated to the world of chef Renaud Darmanin. Originally from Auvergne, he settled in the small village of Marcolès and transformed an old country bistro into a gourmet restaurant.

We head to the Grand Est region, in the Vosges mountains, to discover the world of chef Lorraine Pierrat, who hails from this region. At the helm of her family's restaurant, she has developed a cuisine based on local produce, inspired by the natural, wild environment, particularly the forest, a place where she likes to find inspiration, smell the air and gather ingredients.

Today, we're going to discover the story of Michelin-starred chef Éric Guerin. Originally from Toulouse, he fell in love with the Loire-Atlantique region and settled permanently on the island of Fédrun in 1995. It is in this little corner of paradise that the chef develops his cuisine rich in local specialties, thanks in particular to the short supply chain that he practices and promotes.

Partons ensemble dans le Massif Central, à la découverte d'une chef : Marlène Chaussemy. Cette Auvergnate aujourd'hui installée à Vichy a ouvert son établissement avec son mari, où elle propose une cuisine instinctive, évoluant au gré des saisons et des produits locaux de ses producteurs ; une cuisine raffinée et gastronomique qui a été distinguée par le guide Michelin.

Today, we are traveling with chef Armand Arnal to the Camargue: a wild region at the confluence of the Gard, Rhône, and Mediterranean rivers, covered with ponds and lagoons, where horses and bulls live alongside flamingos. After starting his career with Alain Ducasse, Armand Arnal traveled the world, from New York to Morocco via Australia and Japan.

Today we're heading to Corsica, and more specifically to Haute-Corse, home to one of the island's renowned chefs: Pauline Juillard. South of Bastia, in the village of Murato nestled in the mountains, she offers simple, authentic Corsican cuisine at her farmhouse inn. This generous woman learned her seasonal, local, and 100% earthy cuisine from her mother and grandmother.