In the Nice of Simone Veil's childhood, meals were not separated into starter-main-dessert Parisian style: the day was organized around the *merenda* (afternoon snack eaten on the port or during walks), the weekday family meal built around a stuffed vegetable or frugal market cooking, and the grand Sunday meal where a slow-cooked dish reigned, shared at length. Everything is linked by olive oil, the sun, and the Mediterranean idea that a single, generous dish is better than a succession of courses.

The small black "caillette" olive from the Nice region and its sweet, almost sugary oil are the common thread of this sunny cuisine: they perfume socca, bind stuffed vegetables, coat pan-bagnat, and soften even sweet tarts.