Moroccan woman brings the flavors of Italy and Morocco to her French restaurant
After arriving in the Jura with her husband and their four children in 2019, Latifa El Atllati faced a difficult start amid the pandemic. Today, the Moroccan-born chef runs “Mélange de saveurs,” a restaurant where she brings together two cuisines that have shaped her life.
On Saturday mornings, Latifa El Atllati sells Moroccan pastries at the Grenette market in Saint-Claude. Since late July, the woman in her forties has also been welcoming customers to her own restaurant, “Mélange de saveurs,” where she serves Moroccan and Italian specialties. The project tells the story of her journey across three countries, as recounted by Le Progrès.
Born in Morocco into a family of nine children, Latifa left the country at the age of nine. Her father, who worked in construction in Nice, came to bring the whole family to Italy. After a brief stay in France, they headed to the Treviso area in the peninsula’s northeast.
She grew up there, started a family and formed lasting friendships. In Vidor, where she lived, neighbors held street parties and shared meals. Federica, her neighbor for seventeen years, even became her “sister at heart.”
When Latifa and her husband considered moving, they visited Saint-Claude in the Jura several times. The small town reminded them of their former life in Italy, with residents who knew and helped one another. They decided to settle there in 2019.
A difficult start, then her own restaurant
But a few months after they arrived, the pandemic upended their daily lives. The couple and their four children knew few people. “We were afraid, we couldn’t go anywhere,” Latifa recalls, remembering that period as a difficult one.
She later worked as a house manager at a care home for older people in Septmoncel, a position she held until the end of September 2026. At the same time, she sold her Moroccan pastries at the Saturday market and at musical events organized by the La Fraternelle association at the Maison du peuple.
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In late July, she took another step by opening her restaurant. Through the Moroccan and Italian specialties she prepares there, Latifa hopes to recapture the spirit of sharing that left such a strong impression on her during her years in Vidor.
Italy still holds an important place in her life. Almost all her family still lives there, except for one sister who settled in Seville, Spain. She speaks with emotion of her former neighbors, the friends who helped her and the mayor of Vidor. These are among the many memories she now holds on to in Saint-Claude, where the two cuisines that have shaped her journey come together in her restaurant.
