What in the heck is ‘pistou’?

As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, I had my first ‘pistou’ and loved it, but did not exactly know what the green bits bursting with flavor were that were floating in my soup. So I looked up ‘pistou’ online and here is what I found out at foodandwine.com  

“Pistou is Provence’s much-loved answer to pesto. Typically added to a vegetable-rich soup, pistou has had a long history. The Roman poet Virgil described a sauce made by crushing herbs in a mortar with garlic, salt and olive oil. Over time, the sauce morphed into the heady Genoese pesto, which then morphed into pistou in Nice.”

I guess that is why I smelled like a giant clove of garlic after lunch! If you want to read about my meal at Cafe Rouge in Berkeley, click here.