A Welcome Taste of Lyon

You’ve got to love a dish they call silk worker’s brains. You’ve also got to wonder how it acquired such a quirky name.

- DAVID GIBBONS

A lip-smacking, zesty, tangy spread made from fromage blanc (simple farmer’s cheese), fresh herbs and a few other savory basics, the so-called cervelle de canut is a celebrated dish in Lyon. Like so many specialties from the heart of French gastronomy, it’s profoundly steeped in its city’s farm-to-table and homestyle traditions.

The long-suffering workers who powered Lyon’s main industry in the 18th and 19th centuries—silk-making— were called canuts. Accepted wisdom is that the spread’s title is not only a bit of a bourgeois snub but also reference to it as an affordable substitute for fried calf’s or lamb’s brains, a notoriously expensive delicacy.