Traditional Alsace Food: What to eat in the Alsace Region of France

Visiting Alsace is a special experience for foodies as it is a mix of French and German cuisine. You are just as likely to have great wine as you are to have saurkraut. Here we go through a number of the traditional Alsatian specialities that tourists will enjoy whether they are in Colmar, Strasbourg, or any number of French villages in the Alsace region. From the wine to the flammkuchen or tarte flambee you will have a lot of fun eating here in Alsace.
Filmed in Colmar, France
Copyright Mark Wolters 2022
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[@charlotte_la_mycose]

I live in Alsace. For information, the 1664 beer (Kronenbourg) is a low-end industrial beer like Heineken. If you come to Alsace (apart from the micro breweries) take METEOR beer, it's the last family brewery in Alsace!

[@avalerie4467]

Meteor - oui, je m'en souviens ! Délicieuse !

[@knikhita1787]

Thanks for the hint, Charlotte - we’re about to go to Alsace and this is a super useful hint. Merci bien! 😀

[@kijaeckarts1847]

Il y a la licorne aussi

[@denisscheffmann9240]

@@kijaeckarts1847 La Licorne , bière de Saverne qui est aussi une bière industrielle , mais très bonne.

[@hagsebeemden]

I love Alsace been there four times. Friendly people great history and culture and the best wine and food. I remember when I was in a typical Alsace restaurant in Straatsburg a woman asked the waiter if the wine is regional and he replied madame this is Alsace even the cola is regional brewed.

[@fabulously695]

kind of. We have our own kind of cola, but it isn't owned by Coca Cola, its a local brand

[@gamermapper]

Hello. Thank you for talking about my amazing region and nation, Alsace ! I hope you enjoyed here! Merci vielmols!

[@maxbarko8717]

J’aime l’Alsace! Grüße aus dem Schwarzwald!

[@zippymufo9765]

My great-grandparents were from Alsace, they moved to Maryland in 1919. They chose Maryland because of its Catholic history and it still having the highest number of Catholics in the US.

[@avalerie4467]

Vive l'Alsace !

[@aekriege]

As an Alsatian-food patriot, I approve this message 😊

[@avalerie4467]

Krieger - vous êtes Alsacien ? It was so hard to watch this and not get hungry !!!!!

[@avalerie4467]

My grandmother was from Provence, my grandfather was from Alsace. I have trouble watching this and not feeling terribly homesick. I really want a slice of Muenster with the rye seeds and a kuglehopff, like never before !! LOL Merci a vous. Profitez bien de notre belle France. Bon retour, Monsieur.

[@ChrisDewitte1]

Hello! I'm very pleased you enjoy the alsatian food! You have forgotten "Sürlawerla", "Lawerknepfla", and the most important the cheese called Munster! And many other typical dishes like la tarte aux myrtilles, le repas marcaire...

[@rodjones117]

Munsterkaese ist koestliche, gerne mit sylvaner!

[@ThePeteBkk]

Having visited Colmar twice just before and after the pandemic (and certainly more in the future), let’s me suggest you try the white wines, such as Gewürztraminer, Sylvaner and Muscat, other than the mentioned Riesling and Cremant. These are white wines with depth of character, not just some fruity wine that “goes well with seafood or chicken”. These are flavorful and just fine by themselves. Some may also find it pleasantly surprising that Muscat is not sweet and sugary. Incredibly enjoyable.

[@shinryohji]

Next time you come here, just try the Pinot Gris d'Alsace. It's quite a treat with amazing floral notes.

[@avalerie4467]

The muscat grapes are sweeter, hence a sweeter wine. I honestly thought they only grew in the south. All the sweet wines ( Gewurztraminer and Riesling, etc ) are typically desert wines. I am glad you enjoy our region. Yes, please come back.

[@enlilw-l2]

Will be there for Christmas in my family, always excited to go back there where I grew up.

[@christianoliver3572]

The onion tart is my favorite from this region but there's so much good food in Alsace. It's just everywhere you look almost, and the food even seems good in what looked to me like the kind of tourist trap restaurants. I wasn't as excited with the local wines but as they normally do in Europe they were great with the food.

[@thomascook578]

Thank you for this post, we're off to Colmar, at the end if September next year, it was your videos that made us decide that

[@WoltersWorldEats]

That's cool tobhear. You will love it

[@gamermapper]

Colmar is very beautiful. Even a studio ghibli movie was inspired by it.

[@dustinrosenau2733]

All of that food looks so delicious, I'm thinking I may need to make plans to visit there on a side quest with my next visit to Deutschland.

[@WoltersWorldEats]

Would be a fun day trip or two

[@anderspaulsson]

All food looks amazing there

[@ITeachChinese]

In Alsace, salade + tarte flambe + vin d'Alsace + black forest dessert = Alsacien ! Perfect! 😂

[@NovaStar1967]

Heading to Colmar next week. Perfect timing to find this video!!

[@willow67bis]

If you are in Colmar with a car, I can highly recommend you to visit the small towns Kaysersberg, Ribeauville or Riquewihr.

[@tootsownhorn5874]

I'm going with my friends in 1-2 weeks for a couple days. I've been here with my dad 10 years ago and loved it. Can't wait

[@davidabbett7011]

During our 4 years living in north Italy on an Expatriate assignment, we traveled to Alsace in 2017 for a Christmas Markets week, and we fell in LOVE with Alsace . . . and especially Colmar.

[@gnostic268]

Beautiful area and the drinks and food look delicious 💟

[@rickybobby1055]

Awesome info thanks. Making a 5 week western European/ Mediterranean backpacking trip this summer so this helps a lot.

[@jmlepunk]

Five weeks is a great duration! Good on you for taking the time :)

[@stephanesoler3085]

At the end of the video you shown some snails and foie gras, saying to don't expect this traditionnel french good in Alsace cause it's différent. OK snails aren't an Alsacian thing But foie gras is totally something in Alsace. It's the second producer region in France and it's totally worth it.

[@michaelsmith7902]

Great show as always... Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe you live (lived?) in Chicago. You'll find a babka anywhere on Milwaukee or Archer Avenue. Exact same thing as a Gugelhupf. In Paris Sebastien Gaudard (across from the Louvre, or rue des Martyrs) does a mean one. I never fail to buy one here whenever feeling homesick for Belmont and Diversey...

[@jespercato]

Wow, thanks. Going next week to Alsace. Listening to you talking about food really makes me hungry. Please keep up the good work.

[@nicolashipp1407]

Here's the funny thing: French from outside Alsace call it flammenkuch but locals call it tarte flambee.

[@Chaesstarssystem]

Nah we call it flammeküeche in Alsace

[@clementinekirilenko2449]

@@Chaesstarssystem Nicolas is right. Some use flammekuëche of course but it's not the most common. Once I worked on the website of a company selling "flammekuëche kits". I was studing the keywords when I found out that "tarte flambée" is used almost exclusively in Alsace, while flammekuëche is used everywhere else. Pretty fun and weird fact :)

[@Chaesstarssystem]

I don't think they say it like that, i'm in Alsace and in 15 years i've never heard tarte flambée

[@clementinekirilenko2449]

@@Chaesstarssystem what ? How can you miss that ? ^^ I've lived here my whole life, it's said all the time and written down on almost every menu out there. I personally say tarte flambée, like most of the people I know. Maybe it depends of the exact area 🤷‍♀️

[@Chaesstarssystem]

@@clementinekirilenko2449 Oh, yeah maybe it depends on the area

[@simonm8]

Always appreciating americans sharing our culture and identity

[@jfrancobelge]

Alsatian food is the successful marriage of the generosity of German food and the refinement of French cuisine.

[@joesantamaria5874]

Good timing. I’ll be there Sunday afternoon. Thanks!

[@WoltersWorldEats]

Hav fun!

[@toddthedatacowboy]

Thank you Mark! We just ate at an amazing Alsace restaurant in L'Auberge Chez Francois in Great Falls Virginia. French with some hints of German - === Alsace so we looked it up and found you!

[@addeenen7684]

Zuurkool, 2 soorten vlees en spätzle begeleid door een witte Elzasser wijn. Bier kan natuurlijk prima de rest van de dag.

[@solidstate9451]

So many foods I know from my childhood in southern Germany. I never realized they were from the Elsass. Gugelhupf for example was our go-to-cake. We often had Zwiebelkuchen. Or some of the meat looked like Siedfleisch, a meat boiled in salty water and tasted extremely of salt (I liked it very much), ...

[@yamgurung8362]

Thanks brother to shared this video I will be there on November 2023 in strasbourg Alsace..from(Mount Everest )Nepal🇳🇵 😎

[@gabygaedecke2411]

Nice video, good editing. 100% agree with your recommendation for l'Estivale beer in summer ... but the wines, especially both Gewurztramier and Riesling, are superb! I tried bringing the Muscat home and it did not travel well - but it was wonderful when enjoyed en place. Flammkuchen is big in all Germanic-influenced countries, never a bad choice.

[@gamermapper]

Hello, I think you'll like the Kronenbourg Beer, it's really amazing!

[@alexandrejeannin1869]

Alsace is one of the best places for food in the world 🤗

[@birgittemariekristensen1429]

Great video - thank you

[@o2bnov0307]

I used to enjoy visiting in Wissemburg. I would have Lapin rôti. Also, chocolate!

[@jolanda.c]

I need a trip. It looks great.

[@BattiTSV]

looked two of your vids - now i´m hungry!!!

[@Bearjew613]

I was in Alsace last year where 2/3 of my family lived going as far back 1634 . My family is jewish and the meusems explained that they most likely were there since the 12th century when jews first started to settle there. I was able to walk the same streets see the same towns as people on paper who im a decendant of walked. Powerful experiance love this area pf europe very underratted.

[@freespirit1776]

Great video, now I'm hungry! My great grandmother was from Metz in Lorraine. Is there a significant difference in cuisine between Lorraine and Alsace?

[@fiveinitaly]

Thanks for sharing 👍👍👍👍👍

[@setarehlessan8378]

Your videos are really great. Love from Canada.❤

[@WoltersWorldEats]

Thank you so much!

[@thierryf67]

Did you know that the famous cake "Baba au rhum" was invented from Kougelhopf, as this "brioche-like" bread don't like to travel, and adding a rhum-syrup made it lasting more for travellers.

[@louisemtoc]

All looks so good! Thanks for all the travel inspo. Adding it to my list of places to visit. Any particular restaurants you recommend going to whilst there?

[@WoltersWorldEats]

There are a bunch really

[@WoltersWorldEats]

Winstub Flory was good in a back alley

[@louisemtoc]

@@WoltersWorldEats thanks!

[@misstoujoursplus]

Great video about my native county - I was born in Strasbourg ! But "Coq au vin" is not chicken, it's rooster in white wine sauce. And Bibeleskäs is a kind of cottage cheese, used (among other recipes) for the famous "Tarte au fromage blanc". In the picture, you showed us a "Gratin dauphinois" which consists on sliced potatoes in a cream sauce and baked in the oven. It's from Dauphiné, so not alsatian at all.

[@thierryf67]

In France, "Coq au vin" is with red wine. the alsacian version is different.... Riesling is a white wine, of course.

[@hoppinghobbit9797]

rooster is a type of chicken.

[@thierryf67]

@@hoppinghobbit9797 as if you say that Bull is a type of beef... different from cow. and a man is a different type of human, different from woman 😉 (i'm not saying that i eat human LOL)...

[@misstoujoursplus]

@@hoppinghobbit9797 The rooster is the husband of the hen and the chicken are its children. So a rooster is no a "type" of chicken, it's a father of all chicken :)

[@hoppinghobbit9797]

@@misstoujoursplus Cambridge dictionary for chicken: a type of bird kept on a farm for its eggs or its meat, or the meat of this bird that is cooked and eaten: A male chicken is called a cock and a female chicken is called a hen. :):):) Maybe in the past male chickens are used for coq au vin. But nowadays, can use male or female.

[@donaldmacdonald4901]

1664 Ice beer is just delicious 😅

[@brahms63]

« Alsace is the beer region in France »….cough cough the Nord Pas de Calais is going to be pissed 😅

[@Justine0588]

Once you try north pas de Calais beers you are not so happy with the alsatian ones

[@skinnyjohnsen]

For wine; Gewürztraminer sounds German, but it seems you can only get it from Alsace. It's an almost "spicy",almost pearly wine, even it's not. Great with salted pork, pickled vegetables and potatoes. Think German "eisbein mit sauer kraut". In Germany I would just order some Riesling, it's OK, but do not die before you have had Gewürztraminer!

[@texx1985]

When you can actually find an open restaurant or an available table. Level of service like in stone age

[@gamermapper]

Hey, are you currently in Alsace? As an Alsatian, I'd be glad to meet you haha!

[@ntmntm4201]

😍😍

[@bradduncan8515]

Can someone please tell me what the dish is at the 40 second mark. Looks like mushrooms, cheese and an egg.

[@aglenrios]

Now I am hungry.

[@thierryf67]

It's not the various changes between France and Germany which build the specialties of Alsace food. Alsace was a germanic place and with specific cooking before that. They kept their specificities even when king Louis XIV of France annexed it....

[@stephenr115]

I’m hungry

[@GlobetrotterGranny]

My husband and I will be staying in Colmar on a Friday and Saturday in mid August 2024. Are there specific restaurants that you would recommend that I should reach out and make reservations at for those two nights? Otherwise, everything is going to be on the fly and grazing throughout the two days trying a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

[@Justine0588]

Don’t go to Colmar ! If you want to eat try the villages nearby!

[@gnomevoyeur]

Pork knuckle is quite different from shoulder. Perhaps you were thinking of shank?

[@antoinemozart243]

My god, I love Alsatian food. It's like German but 20 times better and more diverse.

[@rowenn1729]

You visited the Christmas Market in Strasburg ?

[@shap22221]

Are you doing the brewer's advent calendar review again this year?

[@WoltersWorldEats]

Not this year. Was kind of disappointed last year so decided to skip it this year

[@GaryKarr]

I'm wondering if Mark likes food. It's not clear to me.😄Also, I think on my trip there I will need to bring a solid supply of acid reflux medicine.

[@rowenn1729]

Bretzel was invented in Alsace

[@jmlepunk]

yes!

[@stephaneconstant7661]

Sauerkraut is not German. It is alsacien. The cabbage is grown ONLY in Alsace and fresh or pre cooked sauerkraut gets exported everywhere, even to USA.

[@PeterKocsis-by1sg]

And Alsace is german...ok... for political reasosons we dont call it german

[@jeffyoung60]

Colmar looks like a Bavarian town. Do the Alsatians feel more French or more German?

[@Justine0588]

They feel Alsatian! The regional feeling is quite strong here😅

[@tadduniannick2042]

Alsacien but germans😅😅😅

[@henningbartels6245]

Isn't Bibeleskæs just rather like (Kräuter) Quark or curd cheese than what was shown in the video?

[@vilayoudama6235]

On the tarte flambée, it is not creamy cheese, it is a sour cream.

[@misstoujoursplus]

No, real tarte flambée is made with a kind of cottage cheese, so he is right : it is creamy cheese. In french, it's called "fromage blanc", so there is cheese in it.

[@vilayoudama6235]

@@misstoujoursplus La crème fraîche, ce n'est pas du fromage. Après on peut rajouter du fromage pour faire une gratinée ou même y mettre du munster.

[@misstoujoursplus]

@@vilayoudama6235 Désolée, mais la tarte flambée se fait bien avec du fromage blanc. On peut y ajouter de la crème fraîche, mais ce n'est pas obligatoire. Sinon, oui, on y ajoute aussi du fromage.

[@sttmw]

Fromage blanc, poivré et légèrement salé !

[@wendigo6782]

You said well spatzle XD

[@Vamshi_Stambamkadi]

🍤🍣🦞🍛🍲🥗🥣🍝🌯🌭🍔🥩🥓🍳🍹🍹

[@DanDan-oq7pu]

You owe me 20 bucks. I've spent a lot searching for Bibalaskas (which is - in fact - a pretty banal meal), only to be dissapointed. Also the "famous" choucroute, just some sour cabbage, with few processed meat. It has to be better meals there, unfortunately is too late for me to discover.

[@monyclair5357]

Concerning the "bibalaskas" you made a real mistake. Cause this dish in its real Alsacian name dont look like that. First its a cold dish, made of potatoes and heavy sour cream mixed with some "green" spices (ciboulettes, persil, poivre, sorry need a translation). We eat this with fresh or old munster, or fryed fish in my family. Oh and the correct name is Bibalakass or Bipalakass. (pronounce bibeleskäs) ...

[@WoltersWorldEats]

Well, this is what we got when we ordered it. Twice because we liked it that much. Thanks for the local input 😊

[@shastasilverchairsg]

Ah yes, I remember the name Alsac-Lorraine from my secondary school history textbook. I think it was one of the regions annexed by Hitler or something.

[@yoheff988]

Does the food comes with Drano? LOL

[@alessandroroveda2859]

There's cream in every dish?!

[@Snowshowslow]

Not in the Brezel 😉

[@alessandroroveda2859]

@@Snowshowslow 😄😄😄 yes I know. I love brezel

[@Snowshowslow]

@@alessandroroveda2859 Me too 😁

[@alessandroroveda2859]

@@Snowshowslow in Italy we have so many kind of bread....but we have nothing similar to brezel

[@Snowshowslow]

@@alessandroroveda2859 But you have many lovely breads too :) And this way you have a reason to go to Germany / the Alsace 😁

[@abencutler]

German food

[@gamermapper]

Obviously the food in Alsace (s'Elsàss) will be very similar to the one found in neighboring German Länder and Swiss regions, like Baden, Würtemberg, Schwaben, Deutschschweiz, etc.

[@Kate-qq3ez]

Oh la la !!! Please do not tell that to any Alsatian ….

[@lvsoad22]

Not French, not German, Alsatian.

[@JackNapierDe]

Fusion kitchen!

[@vilayoudama6235]

Don't say this in Alsace.

[@JackNapierDe]

Just to mention about crémant and champagne: cremant is made according to the traditional champagne method (esp. fermentation in the bottle), but as you said: it's not originating from the Champagne region and therefore it mustn't called champagne. Sparkling vines not made according to that method are to be called "vin mousseux". Similar in Germany: "Winzersekt" is the champagne like stuff and "Sekt" is just the sparkling wine. A "Schaumwein" can have added CO2 as far as I know. As this is well-founded half-knowledge, please correct if i'm wrong.🥸

[@gagi56gagi]

quite ordinary simple dishes, only this one is paid to present them as something special. ganz gewöhnliche einfache Gerichte, nur dieses wird dafür bezahlt, sie als etwas Besonderes zu präsentieren. piatti semplici e abbastanza ordinari, solo che questo viene pagato per presentarli come qualcosa di speciale. des plats simples tout à fait ordinaires, seul celui-ci est payé pour les présenter comme quelque chose de spécial. вполне обычные простые блюда, только этому платят за то, чтобы преподнести их как нечто особенное.

[@christopheschitter1883]

Free Elsass ( Alsace) il am not French

[@francishallare204]

France and Germany are both in the EU Schengen Area Visa-Free