This ominous cliche is wheeled out and festooned with words like dishonest, lazy, bigoted, greedy and brutal. We have also been accused of the crime of cheerfulness, of turning a blind eye to minor problems, and of deliberately ignoring what is invariably described as the dark side of the Provençal character. Only a little, but enough to cause some surprise to friends. It may be the change in our diet and the way it is cooked, always in olive oil, but we have both lost weight. There is so much else: fish from the Mediterranean, fresh pasta, limitless recipes for all those vegetables, dozens of breads, hundreds of cheeses. An occasional chicken from Bresse, the wild rabbits that our neighbour Henriette brings in the winter, a cassoulet when the temperature drops and the Mistral howls round the house - meat from time to time is wonderful. Why not make a daily pleasure out of a daily necessity? We have slipped into the gastronomic rhythm of Provence, taking advantage of the special offers provided by nature all through the year: asparagus, tiny haricots verts barely thicker than matchsticks, fat feves, cherries, aubergines, courgettes, peppers, peaches, apricots, melons and grapes, blette, wild mushrooms, olives, truffles. Mayle (pictured) was a celebrated author and in this extract talks about life being 'sublime'
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