I don´t want to eat a garbage....

katarina that is brilliant ~ i put it in my favourites ~ that will cheer me up any day! thank you!

and ratatouille is a favourite here too ~ will be even more so now!

:))
My experience with French restaurant in Paris 5 years ago was not good - the food had no taste. So I said to myself - it is just marketing. Now I did it myself with good recommendations of provencal cook book and it was delicious :))
Patrik Arundell (British astrologist) in his astrology in December forecasted to me, that I would find joy in preparing my own foods, lol. So I did. With one month delay. Hahaha.

i have never eaten in Paris, the first time i had ratatouille was in Scotland, they grew all the vegetables themselves ~ this was over 30 years ago. The good thing about ratatouille is you can add whatever you have!

I do not know. They were strict here what should have been done and from WHERE. For instance, they didn´t recommend fresh tomatoes if you are from the northern hemisphere and or it is winter. They said - and I like it very much, as it is the same with vine - you must take tomatoes, which became ripe in a sunny area, as they have all the taste. So in that case is recommended passata from Italy. Which I had! :)))

I am certain ripe tomatoes from a sunny place would be best, its easily possible they used passata or tinned tomatoes [in those days!] but the rest was perhaps from their garden!??

The healthiest vegetables are those that are in season locally (and I don't mean out of greenhouses) - I fully agree with this. The trouble is that here, in the north of Scotland, we would be on a very limited diet all year round and especially during winter and the spring 'hungry gap'. We would never eat such common foods as tomatoes or aubergines or sweet corn. Fermented grape products are exempt from comment!
In days gone by, the crofters lived on potatoes, kale and herring during the winter - little else.

we ate the rataouille in september, which would presumably be a good time for garden produce? This was in Peebles ~ so southern scotland.

You do wonder how those early crofters survived on such a limited diet dont you. Did they really eat the baby gannets too?

There is no need to be fundamentalist in diet, Sticki.
Bananas in Canary islands taste differently then those you can buy in supermarket.
So why not to make compromise?
That cook said - if you do ratatouille in the winter and you have tomatoes only from supermarkets, better forget it. Buy Italian passata. It definitely grew on a sun :))
And of course, allergologists started this dogma decades ago - that the best food is from your surrounding and the one which ripes it that season. But my argument is - who did prove it in large randomized clinical trials? Nobody. Our digestive system has been developed during thousands of years, when we were hunters and pickers and shepherds and bee-keepers. So by evolution we are prepared to eat whatever the nature gives to us.

looks Delish katarina, so warming :o)

"Delish" is approprate adjective :)) Thank you.

That looks wonderful, Katarina! Ratatouille is lovely - a friend used to give me home-grown "courgettes" that had turned into marrows, and I used to make a ratatouille based on them. I always stirred in a bit of sun-dried tomato paste with the passata. I haven't made it for a couple of years. I must remember to do it this summer!

That is so sad Kat:-((((

I am with Sticki, I just put in what veggies I have.They just have to be freshest as I can find with an eggplant and tomato as a staple.. In my opinion the food (any food) is as good as the ingredients we use. So I always look for the best . And most of the herbs come from my garden.Unfortunately, in North America (US and Canada) much of our produce is genetically modified. It looks beautiful but it is almost unedable. (for those who grew up on home grown) It is grown for good looks and long shelf life. I hardly ever buy my produce in big supermarkets. We are very lucky on the Island in Canada. It has become a culinary paradise, because the local growers are very serious about their business. And our neighbourhood is known worldwide for it. That goes for meat, poultry, fish and seafood as well. It is not the cheapest way to live but I strongly believe in:"you are what you eat and what you read."
Here in Mexico ...I love the local markets.
Bon appetit... or Provecho as Mexican would say. I could not find an English term for this frase? How about Welsh, Scott or Irish? Do they have one?
Your creation looks yummy, Katarina.

i think we borrow the french phrase and say 'bon appetit' or simply 'enjoy' ~ for years the french cuisine was thought to be the best but I think british cooking as improved hugely since then ~ maybe we will have our own phrase soon!!!

i wonder if places will eventually go back to the old way of growing and eating ~ celebrating what you can buy locally or growing your own ~ i rather think there is a trend going that way ~ if only we could afford it!

I thought it was solyanka in the first picture (bad memories of the food in Sankt Petersburg and Navra!). Never tried Ratatouille so might try it now, though without olives (yuck).