I just finished translating a cookbook (Greek to English) written by a monk at Mount Athos and he does wonders with meager rations...and no meat eggs or cheese!
Sounds extraordinary to me. Please post the title, so we can all enjoy your work.
You are right that French gastronomy can soar to great heights with special ingredients. Simple French cooking, using basic seasonal ingredients, and using every part of the animal , are typical of peasant cooking, and the cooking during very gard times, when there was little available except what one could grow oneself.