French Cuisine
I decided before our tour began that I would make an attempt to try at least one new food daily. In France, this was easy, as many of the menu items were thing I hadn't heard of before! The menu for our first group meal consisted of a cold pea and mint soup, roasted duck, vegetable terrine, and creme brulee. The terrine was essentially a molded pate made from root vegetable. In Beaune I had another terrine, this one made from cold ham molded with garlic and parsley gelatin. Ratatouille, beef Bourguignon, and french onion soup were also among our main course items. However, you couldn't talk about French food without talking about pastries and bread. A normal breakfast in France consisted of both french bread and croissants. Hot and cold drinks were included in a regular "menu". A menu in France was like ordering a combo meal in the US- usually consisting of a sandwich or salad, a hot and cold drink, and a pastry. Crepes were sold by street vendors on the corners. Soda was often not on the menu and when it was it was quite expensive. I paid 7.5 Euros for a diet pepsi and then decided to stick with water for the remainder of the trip. And ice...you had to ask for it and even then you may have been given only 1-2 cubes! The cafes lined the street and were often overly crowded by diners. One thing that surprised me about the French was the amount of Nutella they consume!
Swiss Cuisine (Fondue)
In Switzerland we were treated to a fondue lesson! The fondue was fabulous and each pot had just a slight different taste than the other. We were given a printed recipe to bring home and I can't wait to try it out on my friends and family! Since we were on the German side of the Swipp Alps, most of the food was German influenced. Of course, no trip to Switzerland would be complete without having some Swiss Chocolate!
German Cuisine
Beer and preztels.
What? Was there anything else??
OK, just kidding. I had the best sauerkraut ever in Munich! I did find the "German sausage" to be a lot more bland than the Americanized version that we are accustomed too. Our breakfast in Munich included pretzels on the breakfast bar! I thought this was funny and the first breakfast along our journey that served more untraditional things than we would usually eat.
What? Was there anything else??
OK, just kidding. I had the best sauerkraut ever in Munich! I did find the "German sausage" to be a lot more bland than the Americanized version that we are accustomed too. Our breakfast in Munich included pretzels on the breakfast bar! I thought this was funny and the first breakfast along our journey that served more untraditional things than we would usually eat.
Italian Cuisine
Pizza, pasta, and gelato! We stopped just across the Italy border and had our first "true Italian" pizza! It was delicious- wood fired, thin crust, light on toppings and eaten with a fork! Who knew!? As we progressed through Italy, the temperature rose, the humidity rose, and gelato became our best friend! In Tuscany we were treated to a cooking lesson and then fed two wonderful multi-course meals! In Venice we had a full on seafood feast! Of course, there was always plenty of wine to go along! Overall, the Italian cuisine was my favorite!