Why does Strasbourg ban tartiflette on its Christmas market?

Tartiflette, raclette and popcorn will be banned from the Strasbourg Christmas market this year. We explain why.

The Christmas market Strasbourg 2022 will be very different from previous years. In recent days, the city's environmentalist town hall has come under fire from critics after drawing up a list of products she wanted to ban of its traditional end-of-year market. Raclette , tartiflette or grilled chicken won't be there... We'll explain why.

A return to more authenticity

The reason for these restrictions is simple: the City of Strasbourg wishes develop your Christmas market in order to make it more authentic . Until now, a municipal decree fixed the list of authorized or prohibited products. This selection has just been revised by the municipality, supported by a commission, in order to ban products who 'are not not at all related to the identity, the project, the desire for development of Strasbourg Capitale de Christmas and who have nothing to do there', argued Guillaume Lisbig, deputy mayor of Strasbourg.

So the grilled chicken, raclette, popcorn and the donuts will have no place in Strasbourg Christmas market this year, like the tartiflette , au profit de la munstiflette, a dish based on Munster, a cheese typical of the region. the champagne , initially banned in favor of Crémant d'Alsace, was finally authorized.

Other food products are currently under discussion such as hot beer, the hot-dog , the gingerbread liqueur, grog, panini, Turkish delight, samosas, halva or even italian products . The municipality nevertheless specifies that the tolerance will be required for merchants who have already stocked up for the end of the year. 'We will go to meet them to explain to them that this is the last time it will be possible to sell ', he said. Other non-food products, such as umbrellas, products for dogs and cats or even ponchos, will not have their place at the Christmas market this year either.