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 main aisle is the most dazzling thanks to its array of colors, what really interests us is the collection of small producers’ stalls in place Antoine Gauthier. 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).

After lunch, if you wish, I will lead you on a gourmet tour through the zig-zaggy streets of the Vieux Nice, where you will taste Niçois olive oils (the region has 2,000 producers), visit an artisanal pork butcher, and discover local sweets. You’ll find out how the Italian influence has shaped Niçois cooking and marvel at the local obsession with eating: this is the only city in France where street food is an institution. Our day will finish with a well-deserved glass of wine in a shop specializing in natural and organic wines.

Read the latest article on my one-day cooking classes, which are also recommended by the travel guides Rick Steves, Frommer's, Fodor's and Time Out and the magazines Gourmet, Red Hot and Sterling.

Cost of the market tour, cooking class and four-course lunch: 200 euros per person (low-season rate of 160 euros from December 1-March 30).

Cost of the market tour, cooking class and four-course lunch followed by an afternoon gourmet food walk: 290 euros per person (low-season rate of 250 euros from December 1-March 30).

I also offer a selection of inspiring programs for those who don't wish to cook:

A taste of Nice - Nice is the only city in France that is famed for its street food, a reminder of the days when the county of Nice belonged to the Italian-ruled Kingdom of Savoy. Many of the snacks sold at the market and in the Old Town's street food stands are the types of things farmers would have eaten in the fields to calm mid-morning hunger pangs: a tradition known as la merenda. On a fascinating three-hour tour, you will learn about the history of Nice and its food and taste such unexpected delicacies as pissaladière (caramelized onion tart), socca (chick pea pancake), fougasse (Provençal flatbread) and tourte de blettes (a sweet pie with a surprise ingredient). You will also sample a selection of Provençal olive oils, taste vinegars flavored with passion fruit or piment d'Espelette, discover the secrets of French cheese and visit an artisanal pork butcher.
Cost: 80 euros per person, including tastings.

Market tour, food walk, olive oil tasting and tapas-style lunch - Spend the morning tasting delicacies in the Old Town, learn all about Provençal olive oils and have a light Mediterranean meal prepared with only the freshest ingredients from the market.
Cost: 150 euros per person (2-3 people) or 120 euros per person (4-6 people), including tastings and lunch.

Meet the producers - The producers at the Cours Saleya were understandably suspicious at first of a foreigner who dares to teach Niçois cooking. But my constant presence at the market, enthusiasm for the local produce and loyalty to the small producers has convinced them over time that I am a true Niçois at heart. Many of the producers have invited me to their farms, which is what gave me the idea for the Meet the Producers tours. Just beyond Nice the land becomes rugged and mountainous, making the producers’ task a challenging one. The scenery is some of the most breathtaking on the Côte d’Azur, yet this is not an area that most tourists would explore on their own as the villages are so remote and tiny. Depending on your interests, we can visit an olive farm to taste organic oil made from the local Niçois olives, see dozens of varieties of citrus fruits at a garden run by a former Formula One race car driver in Menton, gape at the 80 organic tomato varieties grown in the hills of Bellet, and sample the little-known wine from that same region. The price of the tour includes transport in a comfortable vehicle and a gourmet lunch in a small village. Weekdays are preferable, as most of the producers come to the market on weekends. A maximum of seven people can be accommodated on this tour.
Cost: 290 euros per person, including transport, lunch and tastings.

Wine tours in the Nice back country — There is more to wine on the Riviera than rosé! Wine lovers can spend half a day discovering the unique whites, reds and rosés of the Nice back country. As with the food producers, we visit only winemakers who are passionate about what they do and work with few or no chemicals.

- The Bellet vineyards: Experience France's smallest AOC wine region, which the winemakers here believe is also the oldest wine-producing area in France. We'll visit two small producers who put all their knowledge, skill and passion into growing obscure grape varieties such as braquet and folle noire, which have notoriously unpredictable yields. You'll taste whites, reds and rosés, see the spectacular terraced vineyards just 20 minutes from the center of Nice and have an opportunity to buy wines to take home or enjoy during your stay.

- St-Jeannet: This town near St-Paul de Vence does not have an AOC, but that doesn't stop its winemakers from producing some of the area's most exceptional wine. We'll visit a winemaker who uses Roman methods to produce red, white and rosé which are prized by local sommeliers, and enjoy a two-hour tasting in the vineyard.

TIme: 9.30am-1pm or 2-5.30pm.

Cost: 150 euros per person, including transport and tastings. The cost of this tour does not include lunch.

Book your class or tour now!