Taste the World in Marseille: US Book Tour
Atlanta, San Francisco, Oakland, Napa, Seattle
June 15th - 30th, 2024
“Taste the World in Marseille” is a program of Villa Albertine in partnership with Abrams featuring author and film maker Vérane Frédiani, food reporter and translator Alexis Steinman, Chefs Hugues Mbenda and Giorgiana Viou.
On this occasion, influential figures from the Marseille culinary scene are invited in Atlanta, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Seattle between June 15th and the 30th to celebrate the US publishing of the cookbook and intercultural travelogue, “Taste the World in Marseille” by French author Vérane Frediani (Abrams).
Through 70 recipes, Vérane explores Marseille’s vibrant and dynamic food cultures. For centuries, Marseille’s diverse populations have embedded the city’s food culture in an amazingly rich terroir and vivid Mediterranean history, extending beyond its borders. Marseille chefs reinterpret the world through the lens of their complex backgrounds, creating a unique, rebellious, and iconic space for intercultural conversations.
Vérane – who is also the filmmaker behind the Apple TV documentary “Goddesses of Food,” a food writer and translator of the new release, Alexis Steinman, along with star chef Hugues Mbenda and Georgiana Viou, the first woman of color to receive a Michelin star in France – are at the center of a series of programs spanning the fields of literature, film, and cuisine.
Programming schedule at a glance
City/Cité “Taste the World in Marseille” special dinner event at Twisted Soul restaurant hosted by Chef Deborah VanTrece in collaboration with French chef Hugues Mbenda as part of the publishing promotion.
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Screening of “The Goddesses of Food,” followed by a Q&A with Director Vérane Frédiani. Presented in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America – Copia.
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Food for Thought Event – “Taste the World in Marseille” food tasting by Chefs Dominica Rice Cisneros and Giorgiana Viou, and panel discussion featuring author Vérane Frédiani, Alexis Steinman, historians David Do Paço and Carlos Manuel Solomon, moderated Chef Tanya Holland.
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Signing of “Taste the World in Marseille” and author talk with Vérane Frédiani, food reporter and translator Alexis Steinman, and French Chef Georgiana Viou.
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Signing of “Taste the World in Marseille” and author talk with Vérane Frédiani, food writer and translator Alexis Steinman, and French Chef Georgiana Viou.
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Food for Thought Event – “Taste the World in Marseille” special dinner event at The Whale Wins restaurant hosted by Chef Renee Erickson in collaboration with French Chef Georgiana Viou as part of the “Taste the World in Marseille” publishing promotion
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Discover the creative team
MARSEILLE
Vérane Frédiani, Marseille born writer of Taste the World in Marseille. A producer, director, editor, journalist, author, and photographer. Recently she focused her career on creating documentaries and writing books on gastronomy. In 2017 she filmed the documentary “The Goddesses of Food” with chefs Alice Waters, Dominique Crenn and Amanda Cohen among many other international women chefs. The film is available on Apple TV.
Alexis Steinman, an American food, and travel writer based in Marseille, has had her work published in Roads & Kingdoms, Saveur, Atlas Obscura, Lonely Planet, and The Globe and Mail. Proud to have translated Vérane Frédiani’s “Taste the World in Marseille,” the first English book about Marseille cuisine, she leads food tours as the Marseille Bureau Chief of Culinary Backstreets.
Chef Hugues Mbenda, a Congolese chef at the helm of the Kin and Limbala restaurants in Marseille, has been distinguished as one of the most promising chefs in the world in 2023. After years of experience in Paris, Bordeaux, and London, he became the head chef of Michelin-starred Le Céladon at Hôtel Westminster in Paris. Today in Marseille, he highlights a creative and mixed cuisine, serving as a bridge between his Congolese origins, Mediterranean products, and the know-how he has acquired in top restaurants. Hugues is featured in the book “Taste the World in Marseille.”
Chef Georgina Viou, a qualified culinary ambassador for the city of Marseille, blends the cuisines of Southern France and her home country of Benin. Her career as an entrepreneur, chef, and fusion specialist makes her an ideal partner for collaborating on, co-producing, and hosting multi-hand dinners that honor women and people of multicultural identities working in gastronomy. As the first woman of color in France to receive a Michelin star, she represents the new reality of France and French cuisine in the 21st century. Georgiana is featured in the book “Taste the World in Marseille.”
ATLANTA, SAN FRANCISCO, NAPA, OAKLAND, SEATTLE
Chef Deborah VanTrece is one of the most recognized culinary personalities in the South and founder of the VanTrece Hospitality Group, which includes the Michelin-recommended modern, global soul food restaurant, Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours. Deborah is the author of The Twisted Soul Cookbook: Modern Soul Food with Global Flavors (Rizzoli, 2021). She will host a special “Cook the Book” dinner event at her restaurant Twisted Soul in Atlanta in collaboration with French chef Hugues Mbenda as part of the “Taste the World in Marseille” publishing promotion.
Chef Tanya Holland, a chef, podcast host, writer, cookbook author, and soul food expert, serves as an advisor for Villa Albertine for the Taste the World Programs in California.
Chef Dominica Rice-Cisneros, described as a discovery by the Michelin Guide and named one of the “Female Titans of the San Francisco Bay Culinary Scene” by Eater San Francisco, will host a “Food for Thought” event at her restaurant Bombera in Oakland in collaboration with French chef Georgiana Viou as part of the “Taste the World in Marseille” publishing promotion.
Chef Renee Erickson is a James Beard award-winning chef, author, and the chef/owner of multiple projects in Seattle. This major figure in the Seattle culinary scene, will host a “Food for Thought” event at her restaurant The Whale Wins in Seattle in collaboration with French chef Georgiana Viou as part of the “Taste the World in Marseille” publishing promotion.
In partnership with
Marseille: Office of Tourism
Marseille Office of Tourism
