The Motto of the City of Marseille: Actibus immensis urbs fulget Massiliensis.
"By her great deeds, Marseille shines in the world".
I enjoyed a very fine Bouillabaisse from one of the restaurants near the Belgian Quay in Marseille, today.
There is a good choice of restaurants to choose from. I chose a fish restaurant which was serving bouillabaisse as part of a set menu for 14 Euros. I could see many customers already enjoying the traditional Marseille Fish Soup and it looked good to me.
I ordered a half-bottle of Cassis White Wine (Blanc de Blancs) to go with my meal, which actually cost me more than the meal itself, 20 Euros.
So my total bill for a three course meal including Bouillabaisse as the main dish with a good wine was 34 Euros, or approx. 23 UK Pounds, or 45 US Dollars.
Of course you could pay much more, or less for a meal like this with the famous boillabaisse - as I said there is a good choice of fish restaurants.
For those interested in knowing more about the Marseille Boillabaisse, here is some widely available information. You could also try a search for
Boillabaisse on
Google, which will provide pages, and pages from the
World Wide Web with Bouillabaisse recipes, history, facts and more.
Bouillabaisse
Bouillabaisse is a traditional Provençal fish stew originating from the port city of Marseille, and echoed in many coastal regions around the Mediterranean and indeed, the world.
The word Bouillabaisse is said by some to originate from
bouillaisse a derivation of the Provençal word
bolhabaissa, a compound that consists of the two verbs bolhir (to boil) and abaissar (to reduce).
Bouillabaisse as served in Marseille is a fish stock containing different kinds of cooked fish and shellfish. These are complemented with a variety of herbs and spices - the classic bouillabaisse mix being saffron, fennel seeds, and orange zest - which give boillabaisse it's unique and distinctive flavour. Boillabaisse has been called, and deserves the name,
soupe d'or, soup of gold.
Traditionally Bouillabaisse was made with the leftover fish and the ugly rock fish that the fishermen of Marseille could not sell - it is these fish that give Boillabaisse it's unique taste and flavour.
"Authentic Bouillabaisse" is made, then, from a mixture of oily fish and rock fish - different cooks and restaurants may choose to use different mixtures of fish and there quite likely will be seasonal variation depending on the availability of the fish for the Bouillabaisse. The boillabaisse is traditionally served over hot toasted bread with a rouille, a spicy sauce to accompany it. Many restaurants serve these accompaniaments seperate as well as the fish stew and the fish itself in separate bowls.
The origins of Boillabaisse are said, by some, to date back to the time of the Ancient Greeks, when they founded Marseille in 600 BC but who can know? It seems likely that Bouillabaisse is a naturally evolving dish that would be found wherever fishermen have the kinds of ugly rock fish to use up after they have sold the rest of their catch to wealthier patrons. Flavouring the fish stew with local and imported ingredients would eventually create the
soupe d'or, soup of gold, BOUILLABAISSE!.
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