A cookout in Provence

Floyd has rented a house in Provence to film a series and has invited Richard Olney, who has lived on a hillside nearby for thirty years, to come and eat. Elizabeth David, whose books made this landscape legible to the English, has driven down from London for a week.

Floyd cooks outside over a gas ring, loud and generous and slightly chaotic; Olney, who makes aïoli in a mortar with the patience of a painter, watches him with amusement and corrects the seasoning. David says least and notices most. They eat tapenade and pissaladière, then a fish soup, and the argument about who really understands the south of France continues long after the plates are cleared.