Mélanie Masarin Dreams of Stuffed Cabbage

Peer into Mélanie Masarin’s shopping bag and you’ll almost always find “fennel, lemons, eggs, herbs, and a loaf of bread.” The Ghia founder grew up in a food-obsessed family in León, summering in the South of France and savoring ingredients just like these. “I miss that life,” she tells me. These days, Masarin splits her time between New York City and Paris, building her non-alcoholic aperitif brand while launching her forthcoming cookbook, Riviera. 

Despite the daily grind, she’s managed to maintain the food-centric rhythm she was raised on, channeling those philosophies into Riviera, a collection of 101 French and Italian recipes rooted in big flavors without the fuss. Many use fewer than 10 ingredients, a sensibility passed down from her grandmother, Mymo, whose tattered, handwritten cookbook anchors the entire project. Expect low-lift salads, simple pastas, and the kind of refreshing spritzes that make you want to throw your laptop into a large body of water and embrace a slower pace of life (I’m not projecting). 

Here, Masarin shares her current obsessions, the memories behind her cookbook, and tales of a life-changing fish soup best eaten seaside in Cannes.