The Sentier Gourmand of Scherwiller

Briefly, the phrase Sentier Gourmand translates into English as the "food lover's path". InFrench, the word "gourmand" does not imply a food snob....someone who can appreciate only the highest class restaurant. Rather, a gourmand is someone who can appreciate good food whether it comes from the simplest kitchen or from the finest restaurant. A gourmand is someone who always has gravy stains on their shirt but doesn't care. A gourmand is someone who loves to eat at grandma's house but never at McDonalds.

Please note that, in France, the wine is a big part of the gourmand's experience. The sentier gourmand is, in fact, intended to be a showcase of the wines produced in and around the village of Scherwiller. If it seems that we mention wine a lot, please do not think us alcoholics. In fact, we sampled a small fraction of what was available and definitely could not keep up with the locals.

Anyway, following is Theresa's description of the Sentier Gourmand of Scherwiller. (sorry, link in French.)
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Oh this past Sunday the group( Wade, Patrick, Andrea, Tim, Jill, Chris, Mindy, Joe, Jim and my self) went to this all day event called Sentier Gourmand, we had a start time of 12:30, and we just walked around this small village of Scherwiller, through it's vineyards, up slopes and around them and back to the village, to different stations, which had the different courses of food and of course wines, (lots and lots of wine!!!) Parts of the walking were great, but I didn't like the steep slopes, but we did get to stop and rest while eating and drinking of course. There are 8 stops along the way:

1. Aperitif, which was a pretzel and a glass of cremant(alsaciation champane) 2. Potage du Reislinger- which was a small bowl of soup and a glass of wine 3. Vins Européens= different wines from other countries and two types of appetizer(at this point I had two glasses of wine, both reds, one from the Loire valley in France and the other a wine from Italy, I liked the Italian wine better) 4. Entree= the plate of food we got had a slab of bread, some lentels and this jelly looking thingy, which had chunks of meat, it was nasty, but of course Jim ate it, yuck! offered him mine but he didn't take it and of course more wine
Mind you by this time I was tipsy and wanting a nap! 5. Choucroute= which is saurkraut with various pork things with it(one of my favorite dishes)
and of course more white wine( all I wanted to do after wards was take a nap, but no Wade was moving us along) a lot of food, which I didn't finish, too full and drunk and body wanted to rest from hicking up that slope to get there, but I went on 6. Apple and water which wasn't on the schedule, but hiked up that slope also, which I was all for taking the cheating route straight across, like some of the other seasoned pros were doing, but didn't.7. Fromage(cheese) Wade's favorite stop, (he's the vegetarian) even he couldn't finish his plate, there was two types of cheese and something that we all thought reminded us of a ranch dressing, bread and of course, wine. 8. Dessert= a yummy apple crumble tart, and a glass of white wine, I could only eat half of it, but was greatful for the seat by the little water way
and finally!!!!! 9. Cafe= I did have a little but didn't like it too strong, and they had water for sale, it was sooo good to just have water for a change. They had a bandstand set up in the square and the locals were dancing into the night.