The Normandy region is rich in flavors, traditions and terroir. Between the Channel coast, the Seine valley and the verdant countryside, Normandy offers a wealth of tasty experiences: creamy cheeses, fresh seafood, sparkling ciders and emblematic dishes steeped in history…
In this article, we invite you to discover the food specialties of Normandy, for a journey of your taste buds.
If you don’t read this article in French, we’ve tried to do our best with the translations, but it’s not always easy…
Normandy gastronomy and cuisine
In this article, we haven’t included the French classics: croissant, macaron… We’re really concentrating on the products, drinks and dishes typical of Normandy: a local heritage known above all for its cheeses (like camembert), Barfleur mussels and scallops.
Norman cuisine uses a lot of local produce: apples, cream, butter, quality meats. The region is famous for its beautiful spotted cows, which produce excellent milk.
1. Protected Normandy cheeses: Camembert, Livarot…
It’s impossible to talk about the food of Normandy without mentioning its cheeses. Camembert de Normandie is the best-known French cheese in the world.
In Normandy, you’ll find 4 cheeses with Appellation d’Origine Protégée:
- Camembert, a soft cheese with a bloomy rind, characterized by its white, downy exterior and creamy interior.
- Pont-l’Évêque, a soft, washed-rind cheese. It is renowned for its square shape, orange rind and distinctive flavour.
- Livarot, a soft cheese with a washed rind, recognizable by its cylindrical shape and surrounding circles of plaited straw.
- Neufchâtel, a soft cheese with a bloomy rind, remarkable for its heart shape
All 4 cheeses varieties are made from cow’s milk, and we recommend you try them all. Find out more in our list of our favorite Normandy cheeses.
You can also find these cheeses in many ready-made dishes. We’re not going to include them as a separate dish. But many meats or dishes (gratins, etc.) are accompanied by sauces made with these cheeses!
2. Mussels with Normandy cream (from Barfleur)
On the Normandy coast, these mussels are fished and served in local restaurants, renowned for their exceptional quality and taste.
They are often served with local crème fraîche.
We also recommend you try them with a Normandy cheese sauce, like mussels with Camembert: the best of both worlds!
Take the time to savour. For those who have never eaten mussels with shells, take an empty shell between your thumb and fingers, and use it as a prince to fetch the mussel from the other shells.
Be careful, it gets your hands dirty. Restaurants usually give you a damp towel to clean your fingers at the end.
Mussels from Barfleur, a charming little village on the Cotentin peninsula, are particularly famous. We recommend you visit the village, see its traditional fishing boats and have lunch there!
3. Pre-salted lamb
We often talk about the Normandy cows, recognizable by their brown spots.
But the star of Norman meat dishes is salt-meadow lamb. It’s best enjoyed around Mont-Saint-Michel. The meat has a unique taste, tender and flavorful. We explain why…
Sheep are raised in Mont-Saint-Michel Bay. In this region, high and low tides are highly variable, transforming the landscape.
During these events, the seaside meadows where the sheep feed are covered with water from the sea. Grass and wild plants are then saturated with salt. As a result, animal flesh has a unique taste.
Plan a weekend in Mont-Saint-Michel, find our favourite hotels!
OUR ADVICE FOR RENTING A CAR IN Normandy
- Compare prices on our preferred platform: DiscoverCars – one of the best rated sites.
- Choose a car that is comfortable enough (distances can be long) but compact (some parking lots and villages are narrow).
- Think of thecomplete insurance (some roads are tortuous and narrow).
- There is a lot of demand, book it early.
4. Scallops
Normans love seafood. In addition to mussels, our waters are also rich in scallops, with their delicate, succulent flesh and refined flavor.
This is one of the most renowned regions for the quality of its shells, thanks to the cold, nutrient-rich waters.
Many restaurants offer it in at least one dish. Chefs give free rein to their creativity around this noble food.
You can cook it very simply with a little Normandy butter, quickly browned in a frying pan.
Or you can accompany them with a cream sauce (of course). Another classic is scallops au gratin: the meat is mixed with a sauce, then put back into the shell, sprinkled with cheese and baked au gratin. A treat!
The best season for scallops in Normandy is autumn. Fishing opens on October 1st in the Channel and at the end of November in the Bay of Seine.
5. Normandy cider
And don’t miss the star of Norman drinks: cider made from the delicious apples of Normandy. Norman cider has been awarded the IGP (Protected Geographical Indication) label. You’ll find several varieties: sweet cider and the more alcoholic brut cider.
In north-western France, cider replaced wine as the drink of the nobility, leaving beer to the poor… The first mention of cider in Normandy dates back to 1082.
A great accompaniment to many dishes, it’s a light, refreshing, sparkling drink that (almost) everyone agrees on. And, as good Normans, we’ll tell you it’s better than Breton cider, whatever they say.
Cider is made from a variety of apples specially selected for the production of this beverage. Normandy cider makers often use a mix of sweet, bitter and tart apples to achieve a balanced range of flavors. Farmhouse cider is appreciated for its traditional, artisanal production.
And if you don’t drink alcohol, delicious sparkling apple juice is increasingly available. And we love it too!
6. Normandy apple tart
Continuing with Normandy apples, a traditional dessert or snack is the apple tart.
It embodies the richness of the Normandy region, with its fresh apples, cream, crisp pastry and often a hint of calvados to spice up the taste.
It is often lightly dusted with sugar to caramelize the top of the apples. And it’s often served warm. Our mouths are watering!
7. Schnitzel with Normandy cream
What memories for us… it really is a traditional dish in every Norman family. Popular with young and old alike.
Good veal escalope, crème fraîche and fresh mushrooms. It’s simple but very tasty. Some people add a dash of Calva (especially in the countryside), but if you use good products, that’s enough.
You can also make a version with turkey or chicken escalope.
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8. Liqueur Calvados
If you’re a fan of strong spirits, Calvados (also known as calva) is a Norman brandy made by distilling cider and aging it in oak barrels.
It’s drunk as is, or added to a wide range of dishes: cooking in sauces, flambéing desserts, in coffee or in “trous normands” (see later in this article).
It is known to aid digestion, which is very useful after a good Norman meal!
This beverage is drunk like any other spirit, in small quantities. Appreciate its aromatic complexity and rich flavors (which can include fruity and spicy notes, or woody and vanilla aromas).
Its creation is often attributed to Gilles de Couberville in the 16th century, but the techniques surely existed before that among Norman farmers.
9. Andouille de Vire
Andouille de Vire is another well-known Normandy dish, although not as popular with the younger crowd.
It’s an artisanal charcuterie, a blend of offal in pork casing and spices (and traditional know-how too…). It is smoked slowly over beechwood, giving it a distinctive flavor.
It is often served with apples and camembert. It couldn’t be a more Norman dish!
10. Norman oysters
Normandy is a major oyster-farming region. It produces 4 categories of oysters: Isigny, Saint-Vaast, Côte Ouest and Côte de Nacre.
You’ll find them in many restaurants, especially by the sea.
Eaten raw or cooked, they are renowned for their freshness, unique taste and link with local culture.
11. Mortagne black pudding
In the beautiful Perche countryside, you can discover the Mortagne black pudding. From the town of Mortagne-au-Perche, it’s a precise blend of fresh pork blood, caramelized onions and spices. The boudin is cooked in natural casings, giving each sausage a unique appearance. It is often served with baked apples for an excellent sweet and savory dish.
WEEKEND IDEAS IN Normandy
Our weekend ideas:
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12. Trou Normand
In some multi-course restaurants, you may be served a trou normand, often before the cheese. It’s a digestive break in the middle of a hearty meal. Its name is symbolic enough to make a hole in your stomach and help you enjoy the rest of your meal. It’s also a moment of conviviality, reminding you to take a break and take your time.
Often presented in an ice-cream bowl, it consists of apple ice cream and (lots of) Calvados.
13. Canard-à-La-Rouennaise
It’s a unique tradition from the city of Rouen, a cooking and serving technique full of tradition.
To discover this unique experience, visit La Couronne restaurant in Rouen, for example. But reservations are required!
Canard-à-la-Rouennaise service can only be carried out by trained and certified personnel.
Plan a weekend in Rouen, find our favorite hotels!
14. Omelette de la Mère-Poulard
A veritable Mont-Saint-Michel institution, the “Mère-Poulard” is the oldest restaurant on Mont-Saint-Michel, having opened in 1888! Mère-Poulard was Anne Boutiaut, a chambermaid who married Victor Poulard, a baker from Mont-Saint-Michel, and opened “A l’omelette renommée de la Mère-Poulard” in 1888. The legend was born!
Mère-Poulard’s omelette is a soufflé omelette with fresh eggs and salted butter from Normandy, cooked over a wood fire. The “secret” of this dish lies in its even cooking, achieved with a long-handled pan. The omelette can then be placed in the middle of the fire and removed just in time to keep it drooling and well aerated. We enjoy the simple culinary pleasures of an omelette and the experience of seeing a mythical recipe cooked over a wood fire.
Find out more in our article on l’auberge de la mère Poulard.
15. Boudin Blanc Havrais
Here’s a rather surprising dish, not to be found everywhere.
White pudding has a very ancient, light yellow origin. In its Le Havre version (our hometown), it’s a mixture of pork fat, milk, eggs, breadcrumbs, starch or rice flour.
We like to eat it with baked Normandy apples and pommes-dauphines.
It’s a comforting dish that’s easy to digest. You won’t find much of it in restaurants; you have to go and buy it in the charcuterie shops in Le Havre.
Plan a weekend in Le Havre, find our favorite hotels!
16. Marmite Dieppoise
The Marmite Diepppoise is a very convivial dish that showcases the riches of the Dieppe coast: freshly caught fish, shellfish and crustaceans….
17. Liqueur Bénédictine
Liqueur Bénédictine is another spirit from the Normandy region. It was created from a secret 16th-century recipe of herbs and spices.
We invite you to visit the town of Fécamp to discover the palace and the manufacturing plant.
18. Caen-style tripe
Now here’s a dish that can tear families apart. But it’s also a tradition, with its own brotherhood that meets every year to elect the “tripière d’or”.
You either love it, or you can’t even look at it!
To give you an idea of what to expect, the recipe consists of mixing the stomach of a ruminant with a beef trotter, some vegetables and calvados, and cooking for 12 hours.
Plan a weekend in Caen, find our favorite hotels!
19. Caramel d’Isigny
Isigny is one of the most famous places in Normandy, not for the beauty of its center but because its name is on so many delicious dairy products: cream, butter…. and caramels!
This Isigny caramel is light golden in color and soft on the palate.
20. Teurgoule
Another Norman dessert, teurgoule originates from the Granville area. This sweet specialty resembles rice pudding cooked for 5 hours, traditionally flavored with cinnamon.
We promise, you won’t be hungry afterwards!
21. The House of Biscuits
And finally, if you love sweet things as much as we do, there’s a place not to be missed in Normandy. La Maison du Biscuit in Sortosville-en-Beaumont (western Normandy). It’s a place that looks like something out of a Disney movie, a big house with lots of nooks and crannies and tons of products to discover, including all the original features of the cookie factory itself.
Everyone should find something to their liking!
But beware…La Madeleine St-Michel is not from Normandy!
Note that although you’ll find madeleine St-Michel stores near Mont-Saint-Michel, these sweets don’t originate from the Normandy region, but from Saint-Michel-Chef-Chef, in Loire-Atlantique, further south in France.
PLAN YOUR TRIP TO Normandy
Inspiration destinations
- Deciding where to go in Normandy – the best destinations
- Our weekend ideas: best-of, romantic, unusual, seaside, luxury, family
- 16 seaside hotels in Normandy
- The most beautiful charming hotels in Normandy
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Practice
- Where to stay in Normandy – best places and hotels
- See our tips for renting a car at CDG airport, Orly airport, Beauvais airport, Caen, Rouen, Bayeux…
