Aïoli
Photo: Ralph Sperling · Public domain

Aïoli is the garlic and olive oil emulsion of Provence, one of the dishes Avignon still claims as its own, and served with salt cod and boiled vegetables it becomes a whole meal; in France we have verified places to eat it in Avignon and Marseille.

Aïoli · Avignon

Aïoli is the garlic and olive oil emulsion of Provence, one of the dishes Avignon still claims as its own, and served with salt cod and boiled vegetables it becomes a whole meal.

The name joins the Provençal words for garlic, alh, and oil, òli. The sauce is probably ancient, but its first written traces date from medieval Provence. The purist version is pounded in a mortar from garlic and olive oil alone; many cooks bind it with egg yolk, lemon juice or bread. Served with salt cod and boiled vegetables it becomes aïoli garni.

Where to eat in Avignon:

Where to eat Aïoli in Avignon: the editor picks

Aioli (le grand aioli) · Marseille

Le grand aioli is the Friday lunch tradition of Marseille and Provence, a feast plate of poached salt cod, boiled vegetables, eggs and snails arranged round a deep bowl of garlic-and-olive-oil aioli mayonnaise.

Aioli has been the canonical garlic emulsion of Provence since the Middle Ages, the dish (le grand aioli) the canonical Friday Lenten meal of the city. The full plate includes salt cod, carrots, fennel, green beans, potatoes, hard-boiled eggs and sometimes snails or octopus, with the aioli mounted in a mortar (mortier) by hand. La Caravelle and Madie Les Galinettes both run it as a Friday lunch special; the home version comes out at Provencal family lunches across the year.

Where to eat in Marseille:

Where to eat Aioli (le grand aioli) in Marseille: the editor picks

Book food experiences in Avignon

See all 105 bookable experiences in Avignon

More dishes across France