As part of a series of items about food in Europe that has a connection to cycling I missed out grated carrots. I covered Nutella, pasta, stroopwafels and even water but not the dish known in French as carottes râpées.
Food
Belgian menu
It’s lunchtime across Europe, the almost sacrosanct pause in the day. For anglo-saxon readers used to non-stop life, in much of Europe many shops close, kids go home from school and those in offices are prone to long lunch breaks and a glass of wine. Not everywhere of course but if you do want to stop for a meal then check out the Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen in Oudenaarde, Belgium. Good food and cycling go together, whether for basic fuel or as a means to sample local produce that you ride past but this takes things to a new level. It’s a museum that celebrates De Ronde, as the Tour of Flanders is often known. But it has a restaurant too and you can see the menu above. Note the dishes. There’s Spaghetti Boonenaise, Croque Masseur and Pollo Bettini.
Esta Thé review
If you’ve been watching the Giro d’Italia then you might have noticed maglia rosa sponsor Esta Thé, especially if you’ve been following via the RAI or Gazzetta.tv internet streams.
Esta Thé is a sweet tea soft drink. It’s made by Ferrero, the Italian food giant that makes Nutella and more. It’s name is a play on words, estate is Italian for summer, Esta Thé is pronouned the same way and té means tea, hinting at “summer tea”. It comes in three flavours, lemon, peach and green tea.
RIP Pietro Ferrero
I covered the subject of the nut spread known as Nutella a while back. The paste is popular with cyclists but loaded with calories. It’s pretty Euro too and as such it was the first topic in my series of about “Eurofoods”, the food products you’ll find in Europe which have a link to the … Read more
Eurofoods Part XI
A bookend to the Eurofoods series where I want to look at a few small things rather than one single product. Produits Diététiques There’s no exact translation for these products, they’re part diet-food, part health-food and you’ll often find a whole row in a supermarket dedicated to these products. There’s everything from rice biscuits to … Read more
Eurofoods Part X: Pharmaceuticals
The French love their drugs. No, I’m not talking about le dopage. France’s is the country with more pharmacies than anyone else. There are 23,000 in the country, making them second only to France’s bakeries in terms of outlets. Only a law banning villages with less than 500 people from having a pharmacie stops the … Read more
Eurofoods Part IX: Sirop
There are some foods that are particularly European. Maybe people think of fine wine, truffles, baguettes and ravioli. But for cyclists there are some particular foods that stand out. As part of a series about food in Europe for riding, here’s the latest: syrup. Product Description This is syrup made from reduced fruit juice or … Read more
Eurofoods Part VIII: Water
Eau yeah! Evian, Perrier, Vittel, Volvic: France is famous for its mineral waters. Once sold as a tonic in pharmacies, bottled water has become a worldwide consumer phenomenon. At first gracing the tables of wealthier types in Europe and North America, today it is also a ready source of clean drinking water in the developing … Read more
Eurofoods Part VII: French Bakeries
France is illuminated by flashing lights screaming “Pain”. Famously there’s a sign at the bottom of the Tourmalet that reads “pain”. But these aren’t clubs for sadists, nor warnings for cyclists, but bakeries. Pain is French for bread. The typical French bread is the baguette, meaning wand, as in magic. It’s a clever ruse since … Read more
Eurooods Part VI: Pasta
There are some foods that are particularly European. Maybe people think of fine wine, truffles, baguettes and ravioli. But for cyclists there are some particular foods that stand out. As part of a series about food in Europe for riding, here’s the sixth: pasta. Sans sauce Product description Pasta is Italian for paste and it … Read more