Always associated with the brandy named for it, the French town of Cognac in southwestern France, interestingly enough does not utilize the famous spirit in its local cuisine. Geography plays an important role in local menus. As the town is situated on the banks of the Charente River, this makes seafood a popular choice. However, the most popular food category in Cognac is dessert. The French in general are noted for sumptuous desserts but when it comes to sweets Cognac reigns supreme.

Local seafood dishes that are simply delicious include oysters from Marennes paired with hot garlic sausages or mouclade - a mussel stew with cream and shallots. And when in Cognac feel free to indulge yourself in a dish called chaudrée - a bouillabaise type entree featuring cuttlefish, eel, sole and other types of fish. Favorite local vegetables include mushrooms and the white haricot bean.

Chicken is second to seafood in terms of popularity. The majority of chicken dishes are cooked with a breed of chicken called poule de marans. Snails have their place on the menu too. A typical snail dish is cagouille, which comprises ordinary backyard snails fed on cognac vines, and cooked in a puff pastry with garlic and herbs.

Traditional Cognac cooking usually includes a type of butter called charentais - claimed to be the best butter in all of France. Extremely creamy, it literally melts in your mouth and has a slight nutty taste, making it a little sweet and less salty than most other brands of butter.

Cheese is a French passion and it is very rare that a French dinner is absent of a plate of cheese. In Cognac, goat cheese is the local delicacy especially a creamy, white, round and exceptionally soft goat cheese called Le Petit Semussec.

Cognac produces more than its share of delectable desserts and this is when cognac (the drink) is used as an ingredient. For instance, no one can resist caillebotte, which is a cheesy form of yogurt similar to a baked cheesecake, smothered in cognac. Of the city's trademark desserts, look for cognac flavored ice cream called parfait au cognac. Perhaps one of Cognac's most decadent creations is a flat cake they call galette charentaise, a cross between sponge cake and shortbread. As a finishing touch, the cake is usually flavored with angelica and lemon.