Sauerkraut avec alles

When I visit a different culture or country I like to make sure I eat the local food as much as I can — and if I possible, immerse myself completely by not having any meal that comes from my own British or Malaysian culture.

I spent a few days in Strasbourg recently with my mother and sister. It’s my mum’s 70th birthday this year and my sister and I took her on this trip as a birthday treat. We were all curious to try the local Alsatian specialities as Strasbourg is right on the French/German border and the French cuisine there has a heavy German influence.

We were immediately charmed by the city of Strasbourg when we arrived. The old city is essentially an island encircled by canals and River Ill. It is largely pedestrianised in this area with most people walking, cycling or using the very quiet and efficient tram system. Many of the buildings date from the mediaeval period, with lots of timber framed houses that seemed to me more Bavarian than French. The main cobbled streets are punctuated by quaint little alleyways where we discovered many little boutique shops, cafes, restaurants and winstubs, the Alsace region’s equivalent of British pubs or Holland’s brown cafes. Everyone was very friendly and helpful — and we were struck by how most people easily switched between French, German and English.

On our first day, we came across what seemed to us a typical winstub down a side alley near the cathedral. It was a bright sunny day and it is a moment to adjust to the gym light when we stepped through the heavy wooden doors. It reminded me very much of a typical British pub, with exposed wooden beams, wood panelling and coloured glass in the windows — but with a more rugged roughhewn ambience. We excitedly chose three platters from the Alsatian specialities section of the menu. I had confit de canard while my sister chose the knuckle of pork and my mother had the selection of smoked meat: sausage, belly pork, ham and some kind of meatball pate. When the dishes arrived, they were completely enormous and loaded with piles of sauerkraut and boiled potatoes. We dug in with relish as we had not eaten since very early in the morning and we thoroughly enjoyed the first quarter of the meal as the unfamiliar tastes of smoked meat and sour cabbage gave us the sense of having arrived in a foreign and exotic place.

However, the novelty began to wear off as we realised that we were already full and still had a mountain of meat and sauerkraut to wade through. It was not long before we were soundly defeated.. We waddled out into the bright alleyway, blinking in the sunlight and feeling rather like battery pigs that had been forcefully stuffed with food and were now being momentarily released into the exercise yard.

I don’t know whether we were just very un-lucky or whether it’s just that Alsatian food is ultimately not to our taste but after a couple more meals in the local restaurants, I was pining for rice and some stirfried vegetables. The smell of sauerkraut seemed to permeate most of the restaurants and brasseries. When we ordered other more specifically French dishes rather than the Alsatian meet specialities, they seemed to be heavily laden with cream and left us feeling solid, stolid and staunch. Even their salads seemed to come sob and in thick, creamy mayonnaise style dressing. We tried the other local speciality, flamenkuchen, which is somewhat like a pizza but with a very thin crusty base and made with sour cream and smoked meats — that also had the effect of making me feel rather queasy and stuffed to the gills afterwards.

There were some wonderful patisserie is and I have to confess that we voluntarily indulged in a mouthwatering pastries filled with custard and cream and sugar and chocolate. These definitely made up for the sauerkraut! But, unfortunately, their effect on our stomachs and waistlines were not filed different from the stodgy main meals…

Some evenings, we were too tired after a day’s sightseeing or shopping, and instead of going out to a restaurant, we had a picnic in the hotel room of onion tart, quiche lorraine, smoked meats and olives. One night, we finally crumbled and dashed to a Thai restaurant and had some lovely rice dishes, to our great relief! Unlike most Thai restaurants in the UK, the portions were enormous and the duck dish that I had was one of the tastiest meals I had all holiday — the dark was done with a spicy prawns with a hint of coconut: an unusual but very successful combination.

I was very relieved to arrive back home to my usual diet of fresh vegetables, salad, brown rice, brown bread and light sauces. Which is not to say that I am vegetarian or vegan or anything other than a hearty meat eater! One of my favourite meals is a nice thick slab of steak. But what the holiday did make me realise is that my general daily diet is pretty healthy. I’m just not used to thick cream sauces, preserved vegetables and preserved meats, overly salted food and sugary things made with white flour. All these things are wonderful treats from time to time and enjoyable for being occasional indulgences - but having them every day and every meal is just way too much for my constitution to bear!

I am now going to spend the next few weeks working of all the Michelin Man tyres that have appeared round my midriff in the last few days. It’s not going to be much fun starting up my running again as I will be lugging this extra weight around with me!