Monet's Palate Cookbook

Monet’s Palate Cookbook recreates the recipes he would have used for himself, illustrated with photos, as well as original paintings by Monet of vegetables and fruits. The recipe for lentil soup uses relatively cheap ingredients, mostly lentils, onions, and potatoes, and doesn’t take much effort to make. Monet lived in France, but this is not the stereotypical intimidating French cooking. On the contrary, a lot of this is really country cooking, the type that French farmers would eat. You have hearty soups, lots of roughage, and dishes that can be served cold.

Monet put as much effort into his meals as he did with his paintings. He kept a garden called a “potager” at his home, where he meticulously grew the vegetables that he’d serve to guests. According to this book, he would host massive dinners, where they’d serve hearty vegetable stews that could be made with little effort. The French use the word potager for kitchen garden, and since the word potage means soup in French, it probably originated with a garden where people grew carrots, beets, cabbage, and other crop that could last a long time.

One of the book’s suggestions is having picnics or outdoor lunches, just like Monet did in his famous garden. The book advises the use of prepared (but not processed) foods like pate, smoked meat, and fresh bread. Like most of the recipes, it keeps things simple and fresh, so that you won’t exhaust yourself. After all what use is great cooking if you’re too tired to enjoy it?