Believe it or not Waterford has influenced at least one French dish thought to be traditional in the South of France.
This I discovered first in a French web site when I was looking for ways of cooking figs which we find growing on the roadside on our walk around the village.

In reference to a method of cooking Figs called; Les Figues aux Whiskey they said:
Recette du Petit fils de Lucien Bonaparte, Sir William C.Bonaparte Wise lors dun séjour en Avignon : Faire pocher des figues et les laisser macérer dans du Whiskey, le temps dépend du goût recherché.

Surely this grandson of Napoleon’s brother Lucien must be one of the Waterford family, as indeed he turned out to be when I looked him up in Wikipidia:

William Charles Bonaparte-Wyse was born in Waterford, the son of the politician and educational reformer Sir Thomas Wyse. He wrote in Provençal, was a friend of Frédéric Mistral, and became the only foreign member of the consistory of the Félibrige, the Provençal cultural association. His collection Li Parpaioun Blu (The Blue Butterflies) was published in 1868, with a foreword by Mistral. He created the Provençal dish of dried figs poached in whiskey.

As this refers to dried figs, which I don’t intend to cook when I can still get fresh, I haven’t tried it yet but mean to.

There are many different variations of cooking the dish on the internet .
Most poach the dried figs in a sugar syrup flavoured with lemon and or orange and or cinnamon.
When taken off the heat a generous dollop of Irish Whiskey is added.

Now as Figs are traditional here as part of the 13 Desserts eaten on Christmas Eve I imagine there will be excellent quality dried figs about in the winter.

Satisfying to feel that Waterford has left its mark on the cuisine of southern France.