One of my favorite parts of visiting a new country is learning about it's cuisine. Visiting the grocery stores, eating at restaurants and peeking in little specialty shops - all fun! The food in Luxembourg is a reflection of its huge international population. 38% of the people in Luxembourg are foreigners. With the majority being from Portugal, France, Germany, Belgium and Italy. You'll find crepes (French), pizza (Italian), schnitzel (German), salted cod (Portuguese) and mussels & pommes frites (Belgian).
Bryce's schnitzel
My crepes au fromageThere are traditional Luxembourgish dishes- Fierkelsjhelli (suckling pig in aspic), calves liver dumplings, Traipen (black sausage with potato puree) and Judd mat Gaardebounen (smoked collar of pork with broad beans) that have peasant origins. No, I did not try any of these. But I did see the Fierkelsjhelli in the meat case at the grocery store. I'm not a vegetarian, but I'm very finicky about the meat I eat. So as you can guess, there is no chance I'll be sampling these traditional dishes.
Random Food Bits:
++The cheese section in the grocery store was as long as an aisle. There was an additional aisle, just as long, facing it. Soft, stinky cheese galore - I CAN'T WAIT!
++The majority of milk is sold in plastic bottles that are NOT refrigerated. When I asked about this I was told it was because the milk was pasteurized and didn't need refrigeration. Still confused, though because the milk in the U.S. is often ultra-pasteurized and is still refrigerated. Can someone enlighten me?
++ Eggs are not refrigerated there
++Peanut butter is rarity there. Nutella is the spread of choice - the European peanut butter.
++People bring their own bags to the grocery stores. They have plastic bags, but you have to pay for them. So cool! I hope Seattle adopts this as well.
++The only American food chains I saw were McDonald's, Pizza Hut and Subway.
++When you order a cup of coffee it is always served with a little packaged cookie or chocolate. Yum!
++The soda pop sold in cans comes in little tiny cans - like the size a can of apple juice would come in.
I just LOVE these little differences. I love that differences still exsist in this world that seems to be getting smaller and smaller.
++The cheese section in the grocery store was as long as an aisle. There was an additional aisle, just as long, facing it. Soft, stinky cheese galore - I CAN'T WAIT!
++The majority of milk is sold in plastic bottles that are NOT refrigerated. When I asked about this I was told it was because the milk was pasteurized and didn't need refrigeration. Still confused, though because the milk in the U.S. is often ultra-pasteurized and is still refrigerated. Can someone enlighten me?
++ Eggs are not refrigerated there
++Peanut butter is rarity there. Nutella is the spread of choice - the European peanut butter.
++People bring their own bags to the grocery stores. They have plastic bags, but you have to pay for them. So cool! I hope Seattle adopts this as well.
++The only American food chains I saw were McDonald's, Pizza Hut and Subway.
++When you order a cup of coffee it is always served with a little packaged cookie or chocolate. Yum!
++The soda pop sold in cans comes in little tiny cans - like the size a can of apple juice would come in.
I just LOVE these little differences. I love that differences still exsist in this world that seems to be getting smaller and smaller.
10 comments:
Hi,
The milk in Europe is pasteurized using Ultra-high temperature processing (UHT)... the Wikipedia page has a lot of information.
It is really practical and tastes just as good as the fresh stuff in the States!
I'm sure you'll love living in Europe, I've been here for 17 years (Paris) and never going home!
When I went to Japan, I found that the eggs were not sold refrigerated (because they sell out so quickly), but our hosts quickly told us to refrigerate them when we got them home.
Hi, I'm from the seattle area and your not gonna believe it...they are voting on putting a $.005 tax on plastic bags as we speak! How cool is that???
~simply~
ps I envy your cheese isle :o)
It's odd that a lot of things you have said so far are like Japan - separate toilet and bath, the eggs, the milk. Well most milk is refrigerated here but not the UHT. I don't know about Luxemburg but Japan feeds it's chickens antibiotics so the eggs are safe to eag raw - or semi cooked which is popular in many dishes here. We refrigerate them when we get home more becasue there is NO counter space in most Japanese homes to leave them out.
Luxembourg has it right selling cookies with their coffee!!!
girl -
you know how stoked I am about this upcoming adventure for you and the family. Don't even think for a minute that the Ali family isn't coming to visit. lots of love xoxox S
It sounds like the milk there is like the Parmalat milk that can be bought here. Do you have that where you live, or is it only an East Coast thing? You do have to refrigerate it once it is opened.
About the milk in Luxembourg (again): you do indeed have to refrigerate it once it's opened, but you can also find what we call "fresh milk" from the national brand Luxlait, that has to be refrigerated from the start and can only be kept for a few days. It tastes really different from the UHT milk. Luxlait makes very good yoghurts as well, better (and with less sugar) than the French ones such as Danone. I highly recommand them (I don't work for Luxlait, btw). And you won't be disappointed about the cheeses, especially if you buy them from a real "fromagerie" (there is one in the city center, and one at the market every wednesday and saturday mornings): it really taste better than the ones from supermarkets! But of course, a lot of them are made with raw milk...
we have both fresh and long life milk in australia.. the long life tastes a little different you might not like it at first.. but you refridegerate it when open.. I refridgerate ours before I open it as I think it tastes better cold more like fresh milk
so keep it in the fridge at home.. it just doesnt need to be at the shops
our eggs often arent in the fridge here either..some shops are starting to now though
We have shelf-stable milk here too (just not as much). Horizon has little juice box sizes on the shelf. They want to institute a 20 cent fee for plastic (and paper) bags. I find it a bit too nanny state myself (and I already bring my own bags). But that's just me!
I remember the UHT milk from when we were in Europe. I thought it had an aftertaste but I think you get used to it. I'm super picky about milk--I only buy a few brands - hate Lucerne. I know, weird!
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