Our day begins at 9.30am at the Cours Saleya market, while there is still a fresh morning breeze. The narrow maze of centuries-old streets that is the Vieux Nice opens up onto this splendid space lined with bars, cafés and fish restaurants on either side and market stalls down the center. “Le tout Nice” converges on the terraces at lunch, but early in the day it’s time for that famous Niçois street food, la socca (a chickpea-flour pancake), as you stroll through the market and admire the vivid displays of flowers, candied fruit and seasonal produce.

Though the bigger stalls are the most dazzling thanks to their array of colors, what really interests us is the small producers’ stalls. The fruit and vegetables are not as uniformly shaped and the variety not as great, but every ingredient we’ll find here is firmly rooted in the region and much of it is organic. Depending on the season you might see untreated oranges, including bitter oranges for jam; real wild asparagus; fragrant Mara des Bois strawberries; tomatoes ripened on the vine; figs bursting with juice; and of course the mix of salad leaves known as mesclun (no Niçois meal would be complete without it).

Depending on your menu choice, I will select the the best meat and fish for you - perhaps lamb from the nearby Alpes de Haute-Provence or Mediterranean sea bass. Because traditional Niçois cooking relies more on vegetables than meat or fish, we can also plan an entirely vegetarian menu. No matter what the main ingredient of our meal, we will not forget the wine. Then we will make our way past the fresh pasta shop to my 400-year-old (but thoroughly renovated and air-conditioned!) apartment in rue du Jésus, where if pissaladière is on the menu we can get started on the yeast dough. A couple of hours later we will sit down to an authentic Niçois meal and toast our efforts with a glass of rosé (or, if you prefer, an intriguing local red or white wine).

My classes are recommended by the travel guides Rick Steves, Frommer's, Fodor's, Lonely Planet, MTV and Time Out, as well as by Gourmet Magazine.

Cost of the market tour, cooking class and four-course lunch: 195 euros per person.

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