Corsica

Summer 2009

Corsica is beautiful. There’s no getting away from it. We stayed in Saint Florent in Haute-Corse, to the north of the island, and wherever we drove there were sweeping valleys, majestic hills, glittering seas, ramshackle rooftops; all up in our faces being breath-taking.

Saint Florent is enough on its own, a pretty harbour town backed by a hill range over which the sun sets impressvely but you only have to drive a few miles north to Nonza where the town perches precariously atop the sheer cliff face, or forty-five minutes across the mountain ranges to Bastia and the beautifully preserved Old Town. We mostly stayed in Saint Florent at the beach, but spent a couple of days driving in different directions around the island – once around the Cap Corse, making friends with ponies, hanging around old towers and climbing really large rocks and once down to the Ile Rousse where we walked to another tower…there are lots of towers and citadelles in Corsica, a town just isn’t complete without one, it seems. This may have something to do with L’ile de Beauté’s strategic defensive position in the Med; it is highly sought after for this reason and has been occupied by the Ancient Greeks, Etruscans and Genoese in its history and was secretly bought by France in 1764. So that explains that!

Corsica is heavily influenced by all things French and Italian due to its past; everyone speaks French (and not much English) though there is a Corsican language which seems more Italian-ate.
As for the food…Corsican specialties include (and are not limited to) ewes’ cheese, donkey sausages, wild boar, honey and fromage de tête – “head cheese” made from seasoned pigs’ brains. We didn’t come into contact with any of the more exotic specialties, though my step-dad did want to try the wild boar. Fish is also big on the menu, what with it being so easy to come by.

The Rough Guide for Corsica suggests that vegans go for self-catering and I would add a double thumbs up to that. Meat and dairy are massive in Corsica eating. We did eat out one night, at a place called Tchin Tchin in Saint Florent which offered cheeseless pizza and came loaded down with aubergines, red peppers, onions and olives. A couple of places had cheeseless pizzas on the menu, called ‘Vegetarian’. Otherwise, it was chips all the way whenever we stopped at a café.

We were staying at a villa in Saint Florent which came with a kitchen. (Since we were there in practically the last week of the season, the six bedroom villa cost about a quarter of the price for high-season – plus there were barely any other tourists on the island.) Visitors prior to us had left some of their dry goods, so we were lucky to have an almost full box of sugar and various spices – including cumin! – as well as the ‘Welcome’ box provided by the reps which consisted of wine and Corsican biscuits; another speciality of Corsica, and vegan! They’re dry hard and sweet, made with flour and white wine. You can get other flavours including chocolate and aniseed (though I’m not sure of their veganosity). One of the brands declares their part in la lutte contre la deforestation – the battle against deforestation – so I made my Mum buy those when she was considering presents for people.

Vegan self-catering in Corsica depends on your ability to whip up tasty meals from scratch. In the main supermarkets, like Carrefour, there is no such thing as tofu and there are no forms of meat substitute. Other than beans. There is even fromage frais in the houmous. (This incited quite a rant from me.) One of the spreads seemed to not have any (obvious) dairy ingredient, that was one of the Fruit D’or range. I would suggest taking a couple of recipes which only involve fresh fruit and veg, like bolognaise or stew (which is what I made for us out there.)

I also had my first go at making pancakes with banana instead of egg! I mashed a couple of bananas together, then mixed them with flour and water ’til it looked like regular pancake batter. They were a bit too gooey after cooked, so I think I underdid the flour. I ate them with the bolognaise from dinner and the tastes actually went really well together. After that I had them with dark chocolate, melted on while they cooked. Delicioushness.

If you don’t end up with anywhere to cook whatsoever, then I would suggest a diet of salad sandwhiches, chips and dark chocolate. Or, see how many chefs you can shock by telling them you don’t eat dairy and bet them you can’t make something vegan AND good to eat. Perhaps this way you will also get to eat for free?

Corsica is definitely well worth visiting – I want to go back and see the rest of the island, already! – just…mind the seasoned pigs’ brains.

Amelia

# More photos can be found here at my Flickr.

# This page contains a useful list of words for different kinds of meat and cheese.