The Cookthink Questionnaire: Béatrice Peltre
April 28th, 2009
Béatrice Peltre is the Boston-based French blogger, photographer and food stylist behind La Tartine Gourmande.
Sweet or salty?
Salty, and anything that involves dark chocolate.
Which ingredient(s) do you use most?
Olive oil, all kind of fresh herbs, lemon, zucchini, carrots — all sorts of vegetables, in fact.
What’s the cooking sound you most love?
The sound of sautéed vegetables.
What’s your favorite cooking smell?
A vegetable tart in the oven.
What are the qualities you most admire in a dish?
Flavorful seasonal organic food.
What is your most treasured possession in the kitchen?
My set of Le Creuset cocottes.
What is a dirty word in your kitchen?
Bottled salad dressing. Because I shouldn’t teach French swear words 
What are afraid to do in the kitchen?
Nothing
What won’t you eat?
I rarely eat processed food, and only eat it if I really have to.
Have you ever lost your appetite for a food you once loved?
Yes when I was recently pregnant I could not stand the smell of garlic, and in fact, many other smells, including coriander, which I typically love.
Have you ever had a change of heart involving a food you once disliked?
Yes. I used to not like pears. Now I can eat them, yet am still fussy about which ones.
If you could choose one historical or living cook to make you a meal right now, who and what would it be?
My mum or my sister-in-law’s food — they are both great cooks, and use produce from their garden. Irreplaceable.
What is your favorite food-related word?
Mmmmm, miam!
What’s your favorite food-shopping errand or journey?
Going to the local farmer’s market on my bike.
To which country would you move for the food?
Silly to say but probably France, where I am from.
To seduce someone, what would you cook?
Tough one. I always want to cook zillions of things at once. Probably an appetizer made with a citrusy fruit like grapefruit or lime, a risotto of some sort — gorgonzola, pear and walnuts is one, and to finish a cake like this one.
What’s your standard outfit in the kitchen?
No standard: a pair of jeans, a skirt, whatever I am wearing that day, and always an apron.
You wish to die with what in your stomach?
Wild strawberries
If heaven exists, what do you hope they have on the menu?
Plenty of summer fresh fruit, vegetable tarts with a mâche salad, a soufflé or a gratin.
If you came back as a fruit or a vegetable, which one would it be?
A strawberry from my mum’s garden, or maybe a carrot.
What are you craving right now?
A slice of juicy melon charentais.
(Image created at Wordle.)
