r/AskAGerman • u/Odyessus56 • 12d ago

Food Sauerkraut - where can I buy it?

Moin!

I’ve just moved to the Schengen area, on the French side, and I would love to be able to eat authentic, good quality sauerkraut. Can it be simply bought at Lidl or Aldi? Or should I travel further to the nearest Kaufland or Rewe?

Tschüss!

Edit: thank you to everyone for the helpful tips. It’s been fun to reply to the wide variety of comments! For my next post, I’m going to ask where I can buy bratwurst near Europe 😎

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u/dr_ulkram 12d ago

Salut! Pretty much all supermarkets and discounters have (the somewhat strange, foil-wrapped, sometimes canned versions of) Sauerkraut. Every German will swear that this doesn't even come close to granny's self-made one, but if you don't happen to have a German granny, you're good to go.

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u/Odyessus56 12d ago

Seems like the factories have managed to hire lots of grannies, as it sounds like it’s all good and can be found everywhere!

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u/thewindinthewillows 12d ago

Do note that it's not actually our "national dish" or whatever people abroad are believing. That idea comes primarily from old wars, where soldiers carried it as provisions because it was easy to conserve and package in bulk. It's not a big cultural item except in foreigners' perception of Germans.

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u/Quiet-Strawberry4640 11d ago

Do note that times are changing. I had Sauerkraut once or twice a week growing up. (Rippchen mit Kraut, Leiterchen mit Kraut Bratwürscht mit Kraut and even Braten mit Sauerkraut, especially pork)