I love artichokes and when they come into season I'll prepare them either hot or cold depending whether I want them as a starter or main dish. You can serve them cold with olive oil and lemon, or hot with sauce hollandaise, mousseline or, if you have time, stuffed with mince meat and baked in the oven. Globe artichokes are the most widely found and are best when they are big and heavy, offering fleshier leaves and substantial "heart".

Snails are a much appreciated food in France and often served as starters. They are most well known tucked up tight in their shells and smothered in delicious hot garlic butter but there are some Provençal recipes that offer them in a piquant sauce or baked in juicy tomatoes. While many Anglophones prefer to give them wide birth, others give them a go simply because the smell of hot garlic butter is too irresistible to miss. When once you could only find them in restaurants, nowadays you can find them frozen and ready prepared in supermarkets packaged in their shells, stuffed with garlic and parsley butter and presented on a pre-formed tin foil "plate" so that the snails don't roll around. You can also buy the snails and shells separately and make your own garlic butter. While preparing them is relatively easy - eating them is a little more tricky.