Food History of Nice

Key eras

1. About 350 BC, Greek Nikaia

   Wikipedia says Greeks from Marseille founded a permanent settlement on the site of Nice around 350 BC and called it Nikaia, after Nike, the goddess of victory. Chez Pipo's history of socca adds that dishes made from chickpea flour were already known around the Mediterranean from the time of the Phocaean founders.

   Taste it todaySoccaChez Pipo

2. 1388 to 1860, the Savoyard centuries

   In 1388 the commune of Nice placed itself under the Counts of Savoy and became the County of Nice; after the French Republic held it from 1792 to 1815 it returned to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia until its annexation by France in 1860 (Wikipedia). The City of Nice says socca comes from Liguria and lists gnocchi and ravioli among the city's specialities.

   Taste it todaySocca

3. 1820, Maison Auer opens

   Henri Auer, a young Swiss confectioner drawn to the fruit of the Riviera, founded Maison Auer in 1820, and the shop soon moved to its present address opposite the Opera at 7 Rue Saint Francois de Paule. In 1890 his son made the candied fruit of Nice famous, and the house calls itself one of the oldest confectioneries still operating in France.

   Taste it todayMaison Auer

4. 1933 to 1945, socca and pizza on Rue Bavastro

   Chez Pipo's history page says its address on Rue Bavastro was an art ironworks until 1932, became a socca shop in 1933, and gained its name from Joseph Mazzone, known as Pipo, who made it a socca address from 1940. It says it was the first restaurant in Nice to serve pizza, from 1945, and that its oven stands where the forge was.

   Taste it todaySoccaChez Pipo

5. 2018, two Michelin stars at Flaveur

   Brothers Gael and Mickael Tourteaux, who trained at the Negresco, won their first Michelin star at Flaveur on Rue Gubernatis in 2011 and a second in 2018 (Michelin Guide). In Nice, Le Chantecler at the Negresco, JAN and L'Aromate each hold one star, and Maison Joia holds three toques in the Gault&Millau guide.

   Taste it todayFlaveurLe ChanteclerJANL'Aromate

Immigrant influences

Italian (Ligurian)

Nice was ruled from Savoy and Piedmont-Sardinia until 1860. The City of Nice says socca comes from Liguria, where it is called farinata, and lists gnocchi and ravioli among the Nicois specialities.

South African

Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen, from South Africa, opened Restaurant JAN, a 20-seat restaurant in a renovated garage on Rue Lascaris in the Old Port, and won one Michelin star in 2016. His site says the menu mixes French and South African cooking.

Taste it todayJAN

Japanese

Keisuke Matsushima's restaurant on Rue de France describes its cooking as Mediterranean for its products, French for its inspiration, Japanese for its cooking methods and respect for the product, and Italian for the subtlety of its flavours.

Taste it todayKeisuke Matsushima

Signature innovations

• Socca, the chickpea pancake baked on large copper plates in a very hot oven
  Taste it todaySocca
• Pissaladiere, the onion flatbread with anchovies and black olives, named for pissalat
  Taste it todayPissaladiere
• Salade nicoise, a salad of raw vegetables, tuna or anchovy, eggs and olives
  Taste it todaySalade Nicoise
• Pan bagnat, a round loaf soaked in tomato and olive oil and filled like the salad
  Taste it todayPan Bagnat
• Petits farcis, tomatoes, courgettes, onions and peppers hollowed out and stuffed
  Taste it todayPetits Farcis
• Bellet, the city's own appellation wine, about 50,000 bottles a year (City of Nice)