Food /
What Polish foods do foreigners generally not take to? [140]
I always think that Choucroute is a nicer version of bigos.
Nice point.
From Alsace.
Correct.
I love Bigos and as someone who was brought up on Polish Cuisine and also someone who has family and friends in Alsace and have visited both Alsace and Poland many times I feel qualified to comment on this.
Both Poland and Alsace have historically been very influenced by German culture and cuisine.
If Poles go to Germany or Alsace they will enjoy the similar cuisine and vice versa.
Another thing that Germany, Poland and Alsace share is a historicaly large Jewish population.
It is possible that Jews cooked this dish,or something similar on a Friday,so that they only had to heat it up at the weekend, to avoid cooking on Saturdays.
My family always added cabbage to the sauerkraut to make Bigos.They don't do that in in Alsatian Choucroute but the meat added to it is very similar to Bigos.Mainly pork, ham like Boczek and sausages similar to German and Polish ones.There is another Alsatian dish called Baekeoffe which is similar too.
My mum and aunts never added tomatoes to Bigos and the first time I tasted a tomato infused Bigos was when I was about 30 years old, at a Polish festival, and I loved it!Whenever I cook a Bigos I always add tomatoes now.
