La Madeleine de Proust

In French, a “Madeleine de Proust” is an expression used to describe smells, tastes, sounds reminding you of your childhood or bringing back emotional memories from a long time ago. Let’s follow in the footsteps of Marcel Proust, the famous French author inspired by Eure et Loir, and whose spirit is still very much alive around the village of Illiers-Combray.

Combray, a village imagined by Marcel Proust

Throughout his childhood, young Marcel Proust spent his holidays with his aunt and uncle in Illiers, a small village in the heart of the Beauce, a rural county crossed by the river Loir. During this time, his hobbies included wandering in the surrounding countryside, contemplating nature and the beauty of the vast fields so typical of the Beauce area. The village of Illiers and its quaint scenery deeply inspired his work, notably in the novel “A la recherche du temps perdu” where he often mentions the village of Combray. In reality, Combray is Marcel Proust's Illiers in disguise. The name of the village was later officially changed to Illiers-Combray to honor his memory.

The memory of a madeleine

In his novel, Proust famously relates how vivid memories of his childhood are invoked after sipping a spoonful of tea mixed with soaked crumbs of a ‘petite madeleine’, a sweet buttery shell-shaped French cake baked by his aunt Léonie. In the book, he describes precisely the ability of odours to elicit emotions. Here, the memory of a madeleine brings forth a flood of remembered sights and sounds from his childhood.

A Proustian delicacy to sample

Wind back the clock to those sweetest childhood memories with this traditional little shell-shaped cake you can only find at “La Madeleine de Proust” those days. A unique recipe, a delicious buttery taste, simplicity of childhood and innocence… you are invited to take a tasty trip down memory lane.