- The ultimate dictionary for lovers of Provence: Peter Mayle"s personal selection of the foods, customs and words he finds most fascinating, curious, delicious, or just plain fun.Though organized from A to Z, this is hardly a conventional work of reference. In more than 170 entries, Peter Mayle--bestselling author of A Year in Provence - writes about subjects as wide-ranging as architecture and zingue-zingue-zoun (in the local patois, a word meant to describe the sound of a violin). And, of course, he writes about food and drink: vin rose, truffles, olives, melons, bouillabaisse, the cheese that killed a Roman emperor, even a cure for indigestion.Provence A-Z is a delight for Peter Mayle"s ever-growing audience and the perfect complement to any guidebook on Provence, or, for that matter, France.