A wafer-thin waffle cooked flat in cast-iron moulds over a flame, so light it shatters at the edges. The name comes from the occitan escaleta, and the biscuit is sold in stacks in flavours from orange-flower to anise.
Where to eat it: 2 restaurants across 1 city.
The escalette is documented as a Languedoc recipe going back more than seven centuries, made at home over an open fire in hinged iron moulds of the kind that also produced communion wafers. It disappeared commercially and was revived relatively recently by producers working the same flat cast-iron format rather than the deep Belgian pattern. The result is closer to a brandy snap than to a modern waffle: almost no crumb, a caramelised surface, and a snap that goes soft within a day. It is a market and gift-shop item rather than a bakery one, and it travels badly, which is part of why it stayed local.
Common allergens: Gluten, Eggs, Dairy
Halles Castellane is Montpellier's iron-and-glass central market on Rue de la Loge, 25 stalls of cheese, oysters and produce a minute from the Comédie.
Tip: Several stalls shuck Bouzigues oysters to eat on the spot with a glass of Picpoul; go before noon for the full spread.
The Marché des Arceaux lines Montpellier's Saint-Clément aqueduct on Tuesday and Saturday, up to 80 producers selling organic vegetables, cheese and flowers.
Tip: This is where the city's chefs shop; arrive by 09:00 on Saturday before the best producer stalls sell through.
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