May 2 to 4, Place des Lices turned into a platform. Not for yachts or three-thousand-euro dinners. For producers. Market gardeners. Fishermen up before dawn.
Over 150 chefs and artisans showed up for the sixth edition of this now-ritual gathering. Arnaud Donckele, Philippe Etchebest, Glenn Viel, Stéphanie Le Quellec. Stars everywhere. But the message lay elsewhere.
Mauro Colagreco, patron of the edition, three Michelin stars at Mirazur in Menton, said it plainly: "A great ingredient is not necessarily sophisticated." There it is. The rest is décor.
Three days of demonstrations, anchoïade battles, fish butchery, a Tarte Tropézienne competition presided over by Christophe Michalak. Artichoke barigoule battles too. And above all, a living market where people buy, taste, talk to the producers. No filter, no staging.
Last year the event drew over 160,000 visitors. This year, same turnout. Families, curious locals, professionals. People come looking for the real, the raw, the local. Not storytelling.
Pascale Perez of Turquoise Events has been orchestrating since 2020, joined by her son Tom Carbonnel. Their line has never shifted: put the producers at the center, not the chefs. Chefs are there to elevate, not overshadow.
Saturday morning, a round table on "fair pricing" with Gérald Passedat, also three-starred. Sunday, a conference with Colagreco and agronomists Claude and Lydia Bourguignon on preserving the living world. It's not just recipes; it's soil, respect, transmission.
Saint-Tropez wears two faces: unapologetic bling in summer, Provençal soul the rest of the year. Early May still sits between the two. The season opens, but the village spirit holds. This edition drove it home: what matters is what's on the plate. Not the china.
