7 Classic Food Experiences to Try in Marseille

Detailed summary

From bouillabaisse to panisse, distinctive dishes help to define France’s largest and most vibrant port city. Here’s where to seek out the best flavours of the sunny south.

From bouillabaisse to panisse, distinctive dishes help to define France’s largest and most vibrant port city. Here’s where to seek out the best flavours of the sunny south.

Elegant and edgy — and offering a distinctively warm southern welcome — Marseille is a place where an increasing number of food-focused travellers are making pilgrimages. Come for the pastis — the anise-flavoured spirit that sings of Provencal summers, invented in the city in 1932 by native Paul Ricard. And stay for the unique blend of North African and French flavours found on local bistro menus and in street snacks such as panisse (chickpea fritters) and food truck pizza — also born here in the 1960s. Don’t leave without sampling bouillabaisse, the nation-defining seafood soup with humble roots in the port city’s fishing communities.

Head to warren-like emporium Maison Empereur on the central Rue des Récolettes, established in 1827. Its creaky floors, set over two storeys, are packed with every imaginable kitchen gadget, from traditional fluted copper canelé moulds to an arsenal of Japanese sushi knives, plus local delicacies like olive oils, fleur de sel sea salt and herby syrups that showcase flavours of the French south.

Street snacks are a Marseille staple; the modern pizza truck is said to have been invented here in the 1960s. Grab a moitié-moitié (half-and-half) pizza: one side topped with cheese (usually emmental), the other with anchovies and tomato sauce. Or take the 35-minute ferry from the Vieux Port to L’Estaque, where beachfront kiosks such as Chez Magali are famed for their panisse (chickpea-flour fritters).

Pastis, the anise-flavoured spirit synonymous with French summers, was invented in Marseille in 1932, by native Paul Ricard. Learn all about its history — and similar liquorice-like aperitifs including Pernod — at Maison Yellow.

The classic French fish soup hails from Marseille and it’s where the most feted versions can still be found — alongside some inspired innovations.

(Meet…

Opening of the article, excerpted from National Geographic. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.