Our Guest from Germany!

Did we mention we were going to have guest bloggers???  Here's the very first! Please give her a warm welcome all the way from Germany!

Before I had ever set foot in Germany, my first thoughts of my new home were: the land of harsh language, brutal efficiency and beer, sausages and potatoes. Now that I’ve been living here for over three years, I can attest that those things are true, but much more!

Most of what North Americans envision as German is actually Bavarian; so while there are actually people running around in leather pants and milkmaid dresses, serving foods that go well with beer (ie. Bread, pretzels, sausages, potatoes, sauerkraut, roasted pork knuckle etc.), there are whole cultures within Germany that don’t. Many traditional German restaurants do serve a lot of pork and potatoes, but there are cream-sauced schnitzels in the southwest, cheesy noodle casseroles in the southeast, onion cake served with late-season wine in central wine regions and delicious fish dishes and kale on the northern coast, to name a few. Even the varieties of potato salad change; the more north one goes, the creamier the consistency!

There is also a large Turkish influence on the food culture here because of the large waves of Turkish immigrants that started arriving to help rebuild the nation after WWII. “Dönerladen” are found on most street corners in larger cities and at least in every neighbourhood in smaller villages. The famous “Döner”, also known as “Kebap”, is essentially shaved meat on a bun, but is a national dish in itself. It is arguably more favoured than even the German-discovered “Currywurst”, which is a sausage covered in curry ketchup and curry powder. Also, curry ketchup on fries? Yum!

Some of the things that have surprised me the most about the eating culture here include eating an entire pizza by one’s self (with a knife and fork, of course!) and massive ice cream platters that can be a foot tall! Especially being familiar with the very German idea of moderation (where lunch can be just half a bun with a slice of smoked meat on top), this seems like a jarring discrepancy. But with their almost obsessive fascination with nature, trekking through various woods seems to keep their weights down.

One thing I would advise anyone hoping to befriend a German is this: do not start a conversation about bread! Germans are fiercely proud of their more than 400 varieties of bread, a lot of which is affectionately called “black bread”. A whole lot more chewing than what the typical North American is used to, the Germans find the tough texture most appealing, and ridicule our ‘toast bread’ as mooshy and unhealthy. Ignore and move on.

Enjoy!