The flavors of slate
In this program we are going to be interested in a slice of this history, a part of this heritage, through the culinary traditions of the slate fields, which have come down to us. The miners’ kitchen was quite poor, often made with bread, potato and bacon. Before descending into the wells sometimes several hundred meters away, the slate workers would “break the crust” with a slice of bread topped with a sausage and a compote. They took “the Ardennes coffee” which often only had coffee in name.
Two bronze medalists in tourism, united to keep tradition alive
– Sebastien Gitton
Genevieve Goffette has lived for 30 years in the small hamlet of Hauts-Buttés, in the heart of the Ardennes Natural Park. With her husband Olivier, they took over the old inn to create a place for gourmet sharing, Balcon en forêt. Then, they decide to develop the few productions made for the restaurant and give more time to their profession of pickers and producers of wild plants. They have specialized in the artisanal production of aperitifs and natural food products made from wild plants and the fruits of their orchards.
Yannick Rossato is the mayor of Rimogne. Passionate about history, heritage and culture, he fights to save the last existing mining well in the Ardennes, located in his town. It is also here that you can visit the slate house, a museum that traces the extraordinary slate saga. Rimogne was one of the largest French slate basins. Slate was mined there for more than 800 years, from the Middle Ages to the early 1970s.
Geneviève Goffette and Yannick Rossato have both just been honored with the Bronze Medal for Tourism Promotion 2022.