If you happen to come to Pézenas
and spend, let’s say a day here, you are bound to notice that this small town
is extremely proud of its very brief connection with Molière.
There is a garage, hotel, bar, cinema,
wine cellar, even stationery shop named after the French playwright. You will
also notice that even though the name is not written in neon letters for all
to see, Pézenas is equally proud of a distant connection with, of all
people hated by the French, Lord Clive of India.
In every pastry and bread shop in town you can buy strange little bobbin-shaped
pies called "Petit Pâté de Pézenas", the recipe
of which is said to have been donated to the people of Pézenas by one
of Lord Clive’s cooks in 1768.
In fact Lord Clive spent almost as much
time here as Molière did. In January 1768, tired and ill from his career
in India and upset that his political career in England was by no means as
successful as his Indian affairs, Lord Clive decided to travel to the south
of France to rest. The journey took some months, even though he did follow
almost precisely the route covered by today’s motorway from Calais to Paris
then to Lyon and Monptellier. The journey is related in detail in a diary
kept by Lady Clive’s companion, Jane Latham. The party was clearly aiming
for Montpellier and Pézenas, where they stayed for three months in
a château Lord Clive rented just outside the town, before returning
north through Lodève (up the other motorway). During Clive’s stay many
parties were thrown and Indian specialities, such as curry, astonished and
tickled sensitive Mediterranean palates, perhaps for the first time.
This is probably why the people of Pézenas
will tell you that the Petit Pâté recipe is of Indian origin
and that local people attending a reception given by Lord Clive enjoyed eating
them so much that they asked for the recipe. The Petit Pâté de
Pézenas is in fact a "raised pie", stuffed with a mixture
of minced lamb, suet, brown sugar, grated lemon peel, and a number of secret
ingredients – an ancestor to today’s Christmas mince pie, in my opinion and
in any case reminiscent of English 17th and 18th-century
cuisine.
The recipe has been kept secret over the
years, but ever since the population of Pézenas has been baking and
eating this sweet meat delicacy quite alien to Mediterranean French taste.
In 1989 a group of people in Market Drayton
(Shropshire, England), birthplace of Lord Clive, unearthed an article in their
local paper written in 1961 relating the story of the Petit Pâtés
and Clive’s connection with Pézenas.
The ratification of the twinning charter
They decided to visit the town and from
there established links to twin Market Drayton with Pézenas. The twinning
charter was finally signed here in 1995. A stranger twinning would be hard
to find, but it so turns out that both towns have far more than a Petit Pâté
in common. We are setting up a "twinning" section on our site very
shortly, so keep connecting to find out more about Pézenas and Market
Drayton
.
The "Petit Pâté"
is quite a cult in Pézenas as is the rediscovered "Clive pie"
in Market Drayton. Quite independently from any twinning effort, a group of
Piscénois decided to form a "confrérie" or confraternity
to "defend and 
render
illustrious the Petit Pâté de Pézenas ..., the wines of
the Pézenas area and promote the local heritage".
"La Très Noble et Très
Gourmande Confrérie du Petit Pâté de Pézenas"
was founded in 1991. Today it is just one of 55 confraternities belonging
to the Académie des Confréries du Languedoc et du Roussillon,
most of which defend the cause of local wines. Such societies have been in
existence for years in other wine-producing area of France : Alsace, Bourgogne,
Bordeaux area, etc., but the idea is quite recent in this part of France.
Other gourmet specialities protected by a confraternity in Languedoc Roussillon
include : "bougnettes" a sort of porc dumpling produced in St. Pons
de Thomières, baking and bread with "les Pastaïres et Tastaïres
du Pays d’Oc" "Taste Macaronade", a speciality from Sète
made with macaroni.
Although the "confrérie"
has not been going that long, there is already a long waiting list of 200
personalities who would love to be part of the confraternity. And as Claude
Alberge, the "grand maître" puts it : "the English are
of course our privileged partners in this enterprise".
Each confraternity holds an annual "chapter"
and for the TNTGCPPP (for short) this important date is on Ascension Day,
when the townspeople (and any visitors) are invited to attend an amusing ceremony
during which new "chevaliers" are sworn in. This year the event
will take place on June 1st, when the "grand maître"
and the other 14 members of the "Grand Conseil" will don their long
blue silk robes, black floppy hats and Fuschia pink ribbon with a (plastic)
petit pâté suspended from it – the "cordon pendant".
Preceded by the "chef" in 18th century costume, carrying
a silver salver of petit pâtés, they will parade through the
town to the museum where the ceremony takes place . Recently the confrérie
have added "Lord Clive" in costume to the parade – and although
his thick local brogue is more Piscénois than Draytonian, he does enjoy
playing the part.
Swearing at or in a new member
During the ceremony each victim has his
life, qualities and faults declaimed in detail by a member of the "grand
conseil", usually with a good sense of humour, to the assembled crowd
. They all have to eat (and enjoy) a petit pâté de Pézenas
washed down with a glass of dry white wine from the Caves Molière in
Pézenas and receive in turn the "cordon pendant", which they
are then allowed to wear at any ceremony organised by the "Très
Noble et Très Gourmande Confrérie du Petit Pâté
de Pézenas".
By the way, Mr. Alberge adds that members
of any other confraternities are more than welcome at their ceremony, (with
their insignia) and indeed any ceremony organised by the other confraternities
in the area. Perhaps this could be the beginning of an unusual type of tourist
activity ?
