The Food!

I don't think I need to write long narratives about the food in Germany, just an explanation of the pictures... right?

For my 3-day stay in Frankfurt, I opted to shop for typical components of a traditional German 'abendbrot' ('evening bread', AKA dinner): bread, meat, cheese, a buttery spread, some fruit and a sweet for dessert. It was the first time I had ever eaten lemon flavored chocolate. If possible, it won't be the last time: it was delicious!

 

It is quite common to snack while out. A favorite throughout the country is a Doner Kebap: roasted meat with lettuce and tomato on a bun. The best one I have ever eaten, including during my stay as a youth, was in Frankfurt. Unfortunately I did not think to take a picture of it; I wised up to picture taking later in my trip. Here is a variation of the traditional sandwich, a Doner bowl: French fries on the bottom; roasted, shaved meat on top and all of it drowning in a savory sauce.

 

Another popular snack is sausage and bread with mustard. This is not a tear-inducing mustard like wasabi but a gentle, spicy sauce that brings out the flavor of the grilled meat.

German cuisine is mostly either boiled or grilled, thus easier on the stomach than fried. Perhaps that is why my stomach found this food much more agreeable.

The perrenial favorite of fast food: the currywurst (a sausage covered in curry catsup) with fries. (that might contradict my previous statement of German food being boiled or grilled. However, one doesn't eat 'curry mit pommes' every meal, or even every day, so my previous statement is true).

 

Germans prefer dipping their fries in mayonnaise rather than catsup, thus you have the option of both on your plate when you order this original Berlin favorite.

Wheat and sweets form a large part of the German diet. In their most delectable form, they present as pastries. A common pastime is to have coffee and cake, a habit I partook of with gusto!

  

Glazed fruit tarts with cream filling

Honey-almond cake and a coconut macaroon

Chocolate mousse cake

NOTE: I only ate so many coffee/cakes in order to present them to you (giggle!)

In fact, I did my best to have coffee and cake every afternoon but, sadly, I failed in this mission. Here, you are witness to my few successes.

An overwhelming favorite is Italian ice cream, what is also known as gelato. This treat is catching on in China. You should try some!

Before leaving China, I had set goals for myself. Eating goals, that is. Foods that I'd not eaten in so very long, like a wienerschnitzel. Oddly enough, ethnic restaurants abound: Greek, Italian, Turkish and Mediterranean, but it was surprisingly difficult to find an authentic German restaurant. The first one I stumbled across, during my day-long bike ride around Berlin, offered up this traditional dish:

Grilled sausage on a bed of sauerkraut, with boiled potatoes and salad. Bread is a common complement to any German meal, and selzer water is ubiquitous.

NOTE: Germans are not famous for eating huge chunks of meat. Their intake generally consists of sausages of various types. However, there are exceptions...

I've been in Germany for 2 weeks and have yet to have a wienerschnitzel: a piece of veal or pork pounded flat and breaded, and then grilled (or fried) and served with potatoes and red cabbage. I had to do an internet search to find this dish, visiting an out-of-the-way kneipe (a neighborhood bar and restaurant) for the pleasure.

Actually, a wienerschnitzel comes with mushroom gravy. This picture is of a plain schnitzel. It was good, but I should have gone with the proprietor's suggestion: fleischroulade (a meat roll: rice and cabbage wrapped up in a thin beef strip, and covered in sauce).

Although I had ordered a seltzer water with my lunch, out of either habit or tradition, the waitress brought me a beer. I was a bit uncomfortable downing a beer just hours before flying back to China but, as it turns out, she was right: it went perfectly with the meal. My last meal on German soil.

Guten Appetit! (Eat well!)