Abondance cheese — one of the great forgotten Alpine cheeses of France — has a story that stretches back to the medieval monasteries of Haute-Savoie and all the way to the papal conclave in Avignon in the fourteenth century, where it was served to cardinals from across Europe. In this episode of Fabulously Delicious, we're telling the full story of Abondance cheese — the semi-hard, raw cow's milk Alpine cheese from the Abondance Valley in Haute-Savoie that most people have never heard of, and that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Comté and Beaufort.

The story of Abondance cheese begins with the Cistercian monks of the Abbaye d'Abondance in the French Alps, who began making this extraordinary Alpine cheese in the Middle Ages as a way of preserving milk through long mountain winters. The cheese they developed was so remarkable that by the fourteenth century it was travelling far beyond the valley — all the way to the papal conclave in Avignon, where it was served to the highest ranks of medieval European society. A tiny Alpine valley sending its cheese to the cardinals of Europe. Which tells you everything about the quality of what the monks had created.

The Abondance Valley in Haute-Savoie is one of the most beautiful corners of the French Alps — dramatic peaks, wooden chalets, flower-rich mountain pastures near the Swiss border. And at the heart of it all is the Abondance cow — the chestnut and white breed perfectly adapted to mountain life, producing milk rich in protein and fat that gives Abondance cheese its distinctive fruity, nutty, buttery character. The cheese received its AOC status in 1990 and its AOP in the years that followed, protecting everything from the milk to the shape of the wheel — and ensuring that one of France's great Alpine cheeses remains exactly what it has always been.

Abondance cheese melts beautifully — perfect in fondue, gratins and Alpine dishes — and is at its absolute best between June and December when the cows have been grazing high in the mountains and the milk is at its most aromatic. It's the kind of cheese that makes you wonder why it isn't as famous as its Alpine neighbours. After this episode, you'll understand exactly why it deserves your attention.

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My book Paris: A Fabulous Food Guide to the World’s Most Delicious City is your ultimate companion. This is a new 2026 update for the book and you’ll find hand-picked recommendations for the best boulangeries, patisseries, wine bars, cafés, and restaurants that truly capture the flavor of Paris. You can order it online at andrewpriorfabulously.com

For those who want to take things further, why not come cook with me here in Montmorillon, in the heart of France’s Vienne region? Combine hands-on French cooking classes with exploring charming markets, tasting regional specialties, and soaking up the slow, beautiful pace of French countryside life. Find all the details at andrewpriorfabulously.com

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Alexis Benoit Soyer was born in a small town in northern France in 1810, and by the time he died in London in 1858 he had changed the way Britain thought about food forever. He redesigned the kitchen of one of London's most prestigious private members clubs from scratch, invented cooking technology that had never existed before, fed thousands of starving people during one of the worst humanitarian disasters of the nineteenth century, and transformed the way armies ate in the field. He was famous in his lifetime — celebrated, eccentric, larger than life in every possible way. And today, almost nobody knows his name. This is his story.

We're going back to the beginning — Meaux in northern France, the Protestant family, the seminary he was expelled from at eleven for sounding the bells in the middle of the night, and the journey to Paris that set everything in motion. From there we follow Soyer to London, where his arrival at the Reform Club in 1837 changed the course of British food history. His revolutionary kitchen design, his extraordinary banquets, his cookbooks written specifically for the poor as well as the privileged, and the way he used his fame and his skills to address the social issues of his time in ways that most chefs of his era simply didn't think to do.

The centrepiece of this episode is the Irish Famine — and Soyer's response to it. In 1847 he travelled to Dublin, set up soup kitchens capable of feeding thousands of people a day, and developed recipes specifically designed to provide maximum nutrition from minimum resources. It is one of the most remarkable acts of humanitarian cooking in history, and it sits alongside his work in the Crimean War — where he followed Florence Nightingale to the front, redesigned the field kitchens that were making soldiers sick, and invented portable cooking equipment that the British army used for the next century.

This is a revisited episode — updated, expanded and brought back because the story of Alexis Soyer deserves to be heard by as many people as possible. He is one of the most important figures in the history of French and British food culture, and one of the most unjustly forgotten. By the time this episode is over, you will understand exactly why he matters — an

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My book Paris: A Fabulous Food Guide to the World’s Most Delicious City is your ultimate companion. This is a new 2026 update for the book and you’ll find hand-picked recommendations for the best boulangeries, patisseries, wine bars, cafés, and restaurants that truly capture the flavor of Paris. You can order it online at andrewpriorfabulously.com

For those who want to take things further, why not come cook with me here in Montmorillon, in the heart of France’s Vienne region? Combine hands-on French cooking classes with exploring charming markets, tasting regional specialties, and soaking up the slow, beautiful pace of French countryside life. Find all the details at andrewpriorfabulously.com

You can help keep the show thriving by becoming a paid subscriber on substack where you'll also get fabulous extra content. Every contribution makes a huge difference. Join here at Substack , Merci beaucoup!

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Every month the French food world delivers stories that stop you in your tracks — and March 2026 is no exception. We're opening with the sweeping new trade deal between Australia and the European Union, which after eight years of negotiations has finally been signed — and buried inside the headlines about beef quotas and defence partnerships is a fascinating food story about naming rights, geographical indications and what it means when a country built on migrants claims the names of European cheeses and wines as its own.

From there we move into the Michelin Guide France and Monaco 2026 — the big one. 62 new stars awarded at a ceremony in Monaco, a brand new three-star restaurant in Savoie, and a guide that is clearly rewarding a new generation of chefs opening deeply personal, sustainability-focused establishments throughout France. We also cover the Bocuse d'Or Europe coming to Marseille for the very first time, with Denmark taking the top spot and France finishing fifth on home soil — with all eyes now on the grand final in Lyon in January 2027.

The second half of the episode gets into the stories that show just how politically charged food is in France right now. The government's long-awaited National Strategy for Food, Nutrition and Climate — and the extraordinary row that erupted over whether to use the word "reduction" or "limitation" when talking about meat. France's new ban on foods containing EU-prohibited pesticides, and what it says about the ongoing tension with South American agricultural imports. And a new Ipsos poll that found 97 percent of people in France have a good opinion of French food — but placed Burgundy at a somewhat controversial 28 percent in the most gastronomic region rankings. The people of Dijon will have something to say about that.

We also cover the BBC Eye investigation into the illegal trafficking of European glass eels — a trade worth more per kilogram than cocaine that criminal networks have nicknamed the cocaine of the sea — and finish with festivals and events, including the Fest'Oie goose festival in Sarlat, the Merci Chef French culinary week in Athens, and the French Cultures Festival running across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas throughout April. Everything you need to know about

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My book Paris: A Fabulous Food Guide to the World’s Most Delicious City is your ultimate companion. This is a new 2026 update for the book and you’ll find hand-picked recommendations for the best boulangeries, patisseries, wine bars, cafés, and restaurants that truly capture the flavor of Paris. You can order it online at andrewpriorfabulously.com

For those who want to take things further, why not come cook with me here in Montmorillon, in the heart of France’s Vienne region? Combine hands-on French cooking classes with exploring charming markets, tasting regional specialties, and soaking up the slow, beautiful pace of French countryside life. Find all the details at andrewpriorfabulously.com

You can help keep the show thriving by becoming a paid subscriber on substack where you'll also get fabulous extra content. Every contribution makes a huge difference. Join here at Substack , Merci beaucoup!

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