In a cuisine where a vegetarian can feel a little lonely, I found several spots amongst the wursts and wienerschnitzel.
I'd heard that German food is a tad on the heavy side. Confirmed. Heavy on the meat and
potatoes, anyway. But heavy (as in having plenty) in taste, too! Who knew there were infinite ways to stuff a sausage casing ? All shades, including truly black (a favorite of our friend, Susanne), and truly white (Rachel and Tom, who'd tried it on previous trips, shared the "avoid-at-all-costs" verdict). Tom and Dylan once ordered a meal-for-two (translation: "Mountain o' Mystery Meat") and we couldn't even identify all the different kinds of animal represented. 'Possum, maybe, or bat (could have used a dictionary). All tasty, but more than most humans should consume in one sitting (or whole week). However, we also had lots of wonderful soups (really good!) and SALADS, even. Spaetzle (German noodles, sort of) with cheese tastes just like, uh, macaroni and cheese, but better!
It turns out, eating in Germany is a full-time job. People linger over meals. No waiter in a restaurant will come to hand you a check, after a meal. You can (and should) sit there all day or night, digesting and chatting, digesting and drinking, digesting and digesting. At the drop of a Bavarian Trenker, people sit down for a coffee and kuchen. Breakfast is a table full of cold cuts, sausages,
cheeses, breads, muesli, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, yogurt, eggs, juices, nutella. Well, not every day, probably, but I don't have actual evidence of that. Yes, I saw boxes of the German equivalent of Cocoa Puffs, but didn't seen anyone actually eat any. Our hosts, Susanne and Sandor, and all of their three, adult children, are a thin as supermodels! The only reason I can figure that the German-speaking world isn't the fattest culture on the planet, is that they walk and bike everywhere. They have to. It must be required for citizenship. All that beer and wine. All that bread...
Oh, the bread! Beautiful to look at, there's an endless array! All sizes, shapes, plain or covered with pumpkin or poppy seeds, or cheese. I'm sure we saw several bakeries on every block! And more in each train/subway station, no matter how small. There are also lovely cakes and pastries, but the breads steal the show! How did I not get a good picture of the breads? It would seem to be statistically impossible to take 10 shots from anywhere in Germany (I took 600!) and not get a mountain of bread in the picture, somehow! One, amazing subset of the bread category...
Pretzels! They’re called “Brezen” (the “z” is pronounced like a “ts”), and they can be as big as a catcher’s mitt! But way tastier! If you’ve had a soft pretzel here, in the US, you still have no idea how lovely these are. All brown and fat and shiny on the outside and so soft and white on the inside! And they also come in different forms, like round or long dinner rolls. Rachel told me about them after her summer in Germany 11 years ago, and I’ve been waiting ever since to check them out. Worth the wait! Especially smothered with lots of melted cheese, but the pumpkin seeds add a nice crunch!
Rachel and I are cheeseheads. While Tom and Dylan take a class or two, we major in cheese. And Germany has wonderful cheeses! I did get a good shot of some cheese! So, while everyone else is eating schnitzel and bratwurst, there was always some lovely cheese dish to save the day!
Tom and the kids could tell you more about how much they enjoyed the wine and the beer. I'm too inexperienced to report. I can say, however, that it all must have been very, very good, judging by the amounts consumed! A well-earned reputation for excellent alcoholic beverages, apparently!
Tom and I also indulged our ice cream habit. Especially in Munich! The ice cream, there (“eis”), is really what we call gelato. Intensely-flavored! One day, whilst walking through the city, we bought ice cream cones for ourselves three times--twice in one hour! And interesting flavors! One I chose was "chocolate chili". It was exactly as labeled--spicy chocolate! Yummy!
I could go on and on (I think I already did!). On the whole, the only reason we didn't all gain several kilos, was that we did as they do--we walked it all off! And it took a LOT of walking, I must say!
--Sandy
