My next guest, Victoria Wells, moved to Luxembourg five years ago from Beijing, following her husband the way so many of us did. Quiet Luxembourg was about as far from the noise and energy of China's capital as you can possibly get. She adjusted, she had a baby, and then – like every mother before her – she found herself facing the eternal question: what’s for dinner?
For Victoria, food has never been just fuel. Growing up in China, where the proverb "for people, food is heaven" is practically a way of life. Food is how you show love, communicate emotion, and connect with the people around you. She said Beijing alone offered more culinary variety than most people encounter in a lifetime.
Luxembourg, not so much. But what it does have – and Victoria spotted this immediately – is an extraordinary concentration of people from all over the world, each of them carrying their own culinary traditions, family recipes, and stories behind the dishes they cook for their kids on a Tuesday night. She just needed a way to unlock all of that.
Enter the commune of Strassen. Strassen is committed to fostering multiculturalism and making its international residents feel genuinely at home. So much so that they launched an initiative called 'Budget Participatif' – setting aside real funding for residents to propose and run their own community projects. When Victoria heard about it, something clicked. She paired her lifelong love of food with the one question every mother in Luxembourg is asking herself at 6pm, and pitched an idea. The commune said yes immediately.
And so Strassen Recipes was born. Victoria and her small but mighty team – including two talented local moms she brought on board – go into the homes of families across Strassen. Real homes, real kitchens, real people. They cook, they chat, and they get to know the families behind the recipes.
What started as a straightforward cooking project quickly became something richer. Because as it turns out, when you sit down in someone's kitchen and watch them cook a meal that reminds them of home, you learn a lot more than a recipe. Every family has a story, and Victoria – with what she cheerfully describes as her journalistic instincts – wants to hear all of it.
The Instagram account is growing, a professional camera crew is involved, and it’s becoming a cookbook! Due out early this summer, the book will feature close to 50 recipes from around 20 families, each one tested in a real family kitchen and eaten by real kids. No food styling, no artificial lighting, no ingredients you've never heard of. Just authentic food, modified where needed so that even the pickiest small person at your table has a fighting chance of eating it.
I called her the Anthony Bourdain of Strassen during our conversation, and I stand by it. She has that same instinct for understanding that food is never really just about food – it's about identity, memory, love, and belonging. This project is personal in the best possible way.
If you live in Strassen or anywhere in Luxembourg, give the account a follow at @strassenrecipes and keep an eye out for the cookbook. And if you've been thinking about pitching your own commune on a community project – let this episode be your sign that they just might say yes.
Give it a listen and let me know what you think. You can reach me on social media @momlifeinluxembourg or email me at momlife@rtltoday.lu.
