Après-Midi Recap

Rosa Jackson never looked back after tasting her first coffee éclair at the age of four, when her family came to live in Paris for a year. After working as a food writer for a daily newspaper in Canada, she moved to France in 1995 and founded Paris Market Tours, the first company to offer tours of the city’s food markets.

Rosa long dreamed of combining market tours with cooking classes, and chose Nice for its vibrant food market and unique culinary traditions influenced by Italy and other Mediterranean cultures. After twenty years of teaching, her greatest satisfaction comes from knowing that people all over the world are now preparing local specialties such as pissaladière (caramelized onion tart), socca (chickpea pancake) and of course the stuffed vegetables known as les petits farcis! Always preferring quality over quantity, Rosa has slowly expanded her business to include collaborators who are equally passionate about the local cuisine and culture.

During her parallel career as a France-based food writer, Rosa has edited several editions of the Time Out Paris Eating and Drinking guide and contributed to publications such as Food & Wine, Eating Well, The Financial Times, Australian Gourmet Traveler, and France Magazine. She divides her time between Nice and Paris, where she offers custom food itineraries and guided tours.

Rosa has published three cookbooks in French with Marabout, a division of Hachette. Her book Gourmet Paris won the Gourmet World Cookbook award for best travel guidebook. She is currently working on a cookbook on Niçoise cuisine, to be published by W.W. Norton in 2024.

Rosa developed a passion for nutrition while raising her son, and obtained a Certificate in Dietary Counseling at the Institute of Health Sciences in Dublin. Her classes are peppered with advice on how select the healthiest ingredients and prepare them in ways that preserve their nutrients and minimize intolerances.

Her presentation at Après-Midi was conducted like an interview, with me as interviewer, giving Rosa a chance to casually answer questions that would enlighten the audience on her story, the book and Niçoise cuisine. There was a wonderful Q&A exchange of great places to market, find the best breads and other gourmet treats in the vibrant city of Nice.

I remembered that the first time I came to Nice, I rented an apartment she owned in Old Town, up many flights of stairs, but was sweet and charming, reflecting Rosa herself, who is every bit of that if not knowledgeable and talented.

The new book, Niçoise, will debut at a book signing and launch party on June 22nd from 5 TO 7 p.m. at a new English Language Book Store in Nice, “Librairie Masséna,” (58 rue Gioffredo).

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