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Produits du terroir
Sample the authentic flavours of the Vendée
- Seafood : Taste oysters from Bouin, Beauvoir or Noirmoutier, langoustines, crab, shrimps and whelks gathered daily along the coast, not forgetting the ubiquitous mussels and tellins (small shellfish dug out of the sand).
- Fish : Taste the “red label” sardine from Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, sole and sea bass - not forgetting elvers.
- Sea marsh specialities : Frogs’ legs and grilled eel are some of the oldest and most famous dishes from the sea marshes.
- Challans poultry
- Sea marsh produce : sea salt, marsh samphire
- ‟Bonnotte” potatoes from Noirmoutier
- Vendée beans : kidney beans served as an accompaniment to the famous tender-braised local ham - the Vendée delicacy par excellence.
- Préfou : As a starter, try oven-heated garlic bread, cut into strips.
Seafood platter
Traditional desserts
- Vendée brioche, a staple: you cannot leave the Vendée with sampling the famous local brioche, a braided, soft, tender, yellow, flavoured crumbly dessert. Vendée producers, gourmets and consumers acknowledge it as “a truly local product which is an integral part of their gastronomic inheritance.”
- Salt marsh flan, a speciality eaten in the Saint-Jean-de-Monts area
- Curds : milk curds flavoured with sugar or honey and coffee essence
- Millet : a cereal traditionally grown in the Vendée
Vendée brioche
Wine
- Troussepinette (or thorn wine): a Vendée aperitif made from sloes and brandy or wine
- Kamok: a coffee-flavoured liqueur
- The Vendée fiefs, Brem, Vix, Pissotte and Mareuil wines, not forgetting those from the Loire and Nantes areas Wine
Oyster
Ideas for excursions :
- Discover oyster farming : The Oyster Route, from Bouin to La Guérinière, is ideal for visiting oyster farms and tasting their produce.
- Discover salt making and visit the Noirmoutier salt pans : The salt makers work in salt pans, gathering salt from the marshes. This is highly skilled work carried out in summer, when the salt is gathered. Despite some changes, the gathering techniques persist. The tools are still made of wood and the salt is still piled up in conical heaps on a flat surface known as a tesselier before being transported to salorges (hangars) for weighing and packing.
- Fishing ports at St Gilles Croix de Vie, Les Sables d’Olonne, Noirmoutier and on the Ile d’Yeu: first the smack, then the steam launch, then the ketch. This is how Vendée people fished the seas from 1890 to 1950. The Vendée sea harvest made it possible to develop one of France’s largest fishing fleets over the years. Nowadays, the variety of fishing methods allows catches to be varied. Trawlers fish mainly for sardines, anchovies, sea bass, sole and monkfish. Tuna fishing made a considerable contribution for many years, but it is environmentally sensitive and is in decline.
Wine and local produce
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