Google-Zeitgeist

Google has released top-ten lists of various things people have searched over the year 2011, under the name "Google-Zeitgeist," and also broken down the analysis by country. It reveals a lot about our culture! And it's kinda scary sometimes... (like what counts as a "book" in the US!). Here's the site, have fun playing around with it: http://www.googlezeitgeist.com

Here is Germany's list of top 10 foods being googled...interesting that Pizza is #1. I'm just happy both Kuchen (#2) and Torte (#8) made it on the list.

Here is a comparison between Italy, Austria, and Germany.  Italy and Austria both have a lot more traditional foods on their lists, although "cupcakes" are starting to be a European trend.

And this is kinda funny...a comparison of German and US news events. In Germany, it's the nuclear catastrophe in Japan and the summer's e.coli scare. In the U.S., Hurricane Irene, Occupy, and Japan at #3. Germany's #4 is "DSDS," or "Deutschland sucht den Superstar," the equivalent of American Idol (I think...).  So they watch this crap, too.

 And one more, something hilarious...what kinds of things people have searched for (in the US), in the formula "What is X" Apparently, we don't know what "love" is, or we are concerned about that, among other strange diseases.

the best Döner in Berlin

On our way back in from Dresden we stopped at Mustafa's Gemüse Kebap for dinner. There is always a line outside this place. There were probably about 15-20 people in front of us. We'd heard a lot about it, though, so we figured it was probably worth the wait. And it was. So good! They put mixed vegetables in...potatoes and peppers...feta cheese and a squeeze of lemon on top. Whoa! Fancy!
By the way, they have a crazy website ...for a little Döner stand!


While we were in Dresden we ate a lot of German food (i.e. a lot of meat). Below are some pictures. Traditional for Saxony is red cabbage and Klöße with Sauerbraten (marinated roast beef). Klöße are potato dumplings made by combining grated raw potatoes with mashed potatoes, making a ball and boiling them. The texture is very unique: a bit gummy, soft and squishy, which soaks up the gravy/sauce of the Sauerbraten. Elisabeth really liked them and ordered them a couple of times. It's amazing how inventive these Germans get with their potatoes... :)

Grittibänz, Röti, Schoggi

rows of Swiss chocolate in the grocery store

So I'll admit that after we went through the sticker-shock of Swiss prices, we didn't eat out a lot of fancy dinners. I have come to the conclusion that you should not visit Switzerland as a student, but when you have made it big (aka have a job, or an income over 3 digits/month). But we did get a few tips from a friend of mine (thanks, Lina!) and did eat out a few places.

Tibits in Bern, where you can eat from the great salad bar, or order sandwiches

 

Lötschberg Restaurant, Bern

And of course the pastry shops...

We kept seeing this funny little man everywhere, the Grittibänz, which I guess is a speciality for St. Nicholas Day (Dec 6th).  So cute. It seems to be a simple brioche dough, decorated sometimes holding twigs. We also saw some dressed-up Nikolaus men, giving oranges to children!

Things I think you have to be a native German to like

You know me, I love to try new foods, and I eat almost everything. I eat pickled herring at Christmas, really love foie gras. I try (mostly) every deer/moose/elk part my dad has put in front of me. But living in Germany I have encountered a few things I think you have to have native taste buds to enjoy. I know it's not very nice to make a blog post of "gross" German food, but I feel that 99.9% of this blog is a my love for German food and living in Germany, so here's some balance. :) which isn't to say that if you have the chance to try this out...you should! Maybe you will like it?

1. Harzer Käse - I saw the grocery store had samples of something the other day...go over, and it's Harzer Käse. "Nein, danke" I say. This is a sour cheese, translucent and looks wormy on the outside. gross. I found another website that described it as smelling like sweaty gym socks, which I think is pretty spot-on.

2. Leberkäse - a loaf of meat, literally "liver cheese". The serving: a slice of it on a bun. Michael said they were selling this at the basketball game he went to, like they would hotdogs at baseball games.
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3.Malzbier - Germans don't have root beer, but maybe this is their "equivalent," in that it's a non-alcoholic beverage marketed to kids and has the word "beer" in the name. It's very sweet, and while I don't think it's gross like the above items, I don't really care for it. But if you like soda you would probably like it. I say often, I prefer to consume my sugar in Kuchen-form.


4. Meat in aspic - Sülze - Any German supermarket, meat counter, deli has many different kinds of meat in aspic. This one, Sülze, is the grossest. Like Leberkäse, it also comes in a loaf form.

5. Mettbrot - Basically just raw ground pork on a bun. I see more old people eating this at bakeries. And, admittedly, this goes more in the category of "things I'm afraid to eat" than things I don't like. If I am eating raw meat I need to know a bit more about it...it kinda weirds me out.

6. Beer mixes - The combination of Sprite (lemon soda) and beer is so popular you can get it in most pubs/cafés/bars. In Northern Germany it's called Alsterwasser,  in Southern Germany it's called Radler. Very refreshing in the summer, I guess...Nicht so mein Ding.  Or how about Colabier, called Diesel? Also popular. Spezi is a non-alcoholic version...with orange soda and cola. But not only can you buy these drinks "mixed" at a bar, you can buy pre-mixed versions. Strange, for the land of the Reinheitsgebot, the purity law for brewing beer.

7. Sweet Popcorn - When you go to the movie theater in Germany, you may be surprised when you take your first bite of popcorn. Yes, it's sweet, not salty and buttery. They have sweet popcorn. I tried to make "American style" popcorn for the German students I was teaching 4 yrs ago, and they didn't like it. They had never seen someone make popcorn on the stove, and I wanted to make something typical for them (buttery popcorn). After they didn't like it, I made a batch, sprinkled sugar on it, and they loved it. (Again, seee #3 for my sugar preferences: not in beverages or sprinkled unnecessarily, but in baked goods.)

altes Gemüse: old world and new world

 This post could also be titled "super fun facts for food nerds", or, a clever title from an article I found, "back to our roots, vegetables from grandma's garden." Root vegetables! Eating like 19th-century peasants in Germany! :)

I eventually decided that the Gemüsekiste (veggie box) is probably not the best option...since after a week we still had a bag of potatoes, three beets, a spaghetti squash, and no onions...probably better to just buy what I need/want at the local organic market, which is literally around the corner from where we live, every Saturday. And to try to simulate the excitement of new vegetables, I decided to try to move out of my comfort zone when choosing veggies.

Last Saturday was the first time I found kale at the market. You can't buy it in normal grocery stores here. So I was really excited, and chatting with the farmer guy at the stand, telling him how kale is rather popular in the States right now (I think Duluth declared kale to be their "community vegetable of the year" or something). So he was like, "Oh, do you like altes Gemüse? You should try this..." I hadn't heard the expression "old vegetables" before, but gathered from the context he was referring to heirloom varieties and not to stale veggies. I was intrigued. I told him "Yes, do you have something I should try?" And he sold me this huge knobby thing (pictured above), which turned out to be a Steckrübe (rutabaga), and some black radishes (pictured above). Two new things to try (lots of vegetable googling). Also got some Rosenkohl (rose-cabbage = brussel sprouts) and some more of this winter lettuce, and apples. It was a nice assortment.

The radish tasted like a normal radish: peppery and crisp. I put it raw on a salad with some of the greens, and mango, avocado and red pepper. Very good. The brussel sprouts we sautéed with bacon and olive oil, and put pine nuts and parmesan on them. Also good. By the way, if you don't know what brussel sprouts look like when they grow out of the earth, click here. It will blow your mind. We used the rutabaga on Thanksgiving, when we made a root vegetable gratin with gruyère and layered sweet potatoes, potatoes, rutabaga and beets in thin slices. The beets made it look pretty (sorry, no picture. you must believe me.)

But back to this strange, knobby-looking thing, and altes Gemüse, what used to be good old peasant food. We have had a lot of (I know, nerdy) fun looking up these strange vegetables and where they come from. There is so much fascinating history of colonization, exploration, and the industrialization of farming in these vegetables (and their virtual disappearance). The invention of trains, refrigeration...this totally changed what people ate and when they could eat things. And can you believe that Europe didn't have POTATOES or TOMATOES until they "discovered" the Americas? Amazing! I think I never recovered from learning that fact. This is a good point to not get too nostalgic about veggies. Are we glad that everyone is "re-discovering" heirloom vegetables? Yes! Are we also glad that we can eat things like mangos and avocados? Yes!

So anyways, some fun facts about these crazy winter root vegetables:

Parsnips used to be a main source of nutrition in Germany, into the 18th century, but they have a growth period of 7 months, so they were replaced by potatoes.  

Some older people still connect some kinds of turnips and rutabagas with war time, and don't like to eat them because it reminds them of those times of hardship. 

In Germany in the supermarket you can buy a bundle of vegetables called "Suppengrün" to make vegetable stock. Often this includes celeriac, carrots, pieces of these larger roots.

On my list of things still to try: Topinambur (sunchoke or Jerusalem artichoke), Teltower Rüben, Schwarzwurzeln, or Winterspargel (scorzonera? "black roots"), Wirsingkohl (savoy cabbage).

More reading on this topic: "Altes Gemüse," Die Zeit
Altes Gemüse, neu entdeckt, Die Welt
Zurück zu den Wurzeln -  Gemüse aus Großmutters Garten
German recipes with root vegetables: fancy, from Essen und Trinken

Gemüsekiste: was wir kochen II

Sorry to disappoint if you were looking for some creative use of celery root. I looked online a bit, and it seems Germans either make soup stock with it (aromatic like celery) or, another popular item: "Sellerie-Schnitzel", where you cut it in disks, bread it and fry or bake it. Not really how I love to eat my veggies. So we went with soup.

Tonight's dinner used from the Gemüsekiste: the celery root, two beets, an apple, and some of the winter lettuce.

We made a pumpkin-celery root soup, spiced with Indian spices (leftovers from my cooking class: chili, fresh ginger and turmeric root, some other weird root-like thing, no idea what it was), and apple-beet salad. Tomorrow the week is up, and we still have the spaghetti squash, potatoes, two beets, a couple of apples and a bit of salad. It was good to try out...definitely a lot of veggies for two people!  You have to be strategic about what you use first!

Gemüsekiste: was wir kochen

This week has had its ups and downs, and we've been very busy: seeing modern stagings of classic plays--Kleist's Hermannsschlacht and Penthesilea, running a 10 K Schmalzstollenlauf race in a beautiful German forest (with bread/lard as the prize), trekking out to a newspaper archive, spending lots of time in the library and attending some classes...Biggest downer: Yesterday when coming home I turned the key in the lock of the front door and it BROKE off. I was in a rush, so Michael dealt with the Schlosser, the locksmith who came, and after 30 mins and taking the lock apart finally got it out (60 EUR bill...). He said the lock was very old and Michael was fascinated with the mechanics of the ordeal. So today we got a new key made as well. Just another day in the life, which happened to be an expensive one... Anyways, between all that we've been making some really delicious meals out of our Gemüsekiste we got on Friday from this organic farm. Above: roasted chicken with root vegetables (carrots, parnsips, onions), chard (mangold) pizza with tomatoes, pine nuts, salami, parmesan (Michael claimed it was "the best pizza ever"), and cabbage and caramelized onion tart with gruyère (inspired by last week's episode of The Office and mention of Dwight's cabbage pie..."We should make cabbage pie!" "Seriously?" "Yes!"). sehr lecker.  Recipe for the cabbage tart here.

Gemüsekiste: farm share boxes in Germany

So I ordered a trial farm share box for this week, a Gemüsekiste from a farm west of Berlin. In Germany they seem to do these boxes much differently than in the US.

In case you're not familiar with the "CSA" system in the US (which I only know through friends who have done it), the typical farm share is a mix of vegetables in season from local farms. You don't choose what you get; you have to get creative with what's in season. You can choose between a "whole share" or a "half share" and it's usually available once a week, you pick up at the farm or at the farmer's market.

In Germany, this works differently. You can pick individual items, and you seem to have more flexibility with how much you get and how frequently. In looking into this for Berlin, I found about 4-5 different farms to choose between, all with websites where you could order online. Online shopping for veggies! One kilo of potatoes, some mache greens, into the "shopping cart." Or you can choose a mixed box, with the options of fruit/veg mix, just veggies, regional veggies, etc. Then you decide whether you want 10 EUR, 15 EUR, or 20 EUR worth of veggies (for example). So it seemed more flexible in terms of price and size. You could also choose between weekly delivery and every-other-week delivery. Some sites offered regional produce, or produce from their own farm, others put together boxes from different farms, and even include "exotic" organic produce from outside of Germany. So you can opt for a box that includes organic bananas and avocados, or one that is from the farm's own harvest. Often you can also add non-produce products as well. You can have them add in a "cheese of the week" or "bread of the week" or milk with the delivery, among many other items.

I found one site that looked like a good one to try. Their website wasn't as good as some of the others, but they have quite a few things from their own farm, and they offered a "trial box". Rather than order individual items, I just told them to put together a selection for 16 EUR, as much stuff from their own farm as possible. This is what we got: Rote Bete, Möhren, Mangold grün, Kartoffeln festkochend, Pastinaken, Knollensellerie, Weißkohl, Posteleinsalat, Äpfel Cox Orange, Spaghettikürbis. Okay, although you might not understand all the German, I am sure there are also some things in this picture you don't recognize. We had to look up: Pastinake = parsnip, Knollensellerie = celery root. So if you have ideas about what to do with these things, I will welcome any advice. The spaghetti squash is exciting. :) And I love the tasty little apples. They never taste that good from the supermarket!

I don't know if I'll sign up for regular delivery. It's a bit expensive (16 EUR for the above pictured), and there is a weekly organic market right around the corner. But I wanted to just try it out and see what it's like.

Amerika- food

This photo is taken from a "gourmet" foods market (in the basement of a large department store, Karstadt), where they also have lots of international products. This is the USA section: microwave popcorn, cake mix, marshmallow fluff, baking soda (yay!!!), and Swiss Miss (?).

Below are ads from the upcoming Lidl sales (Lidl is a second version of Aldi, a discount grocery store). I think I've posted on this before...they have regular "America" specials, here microwave popcorn, mini-brownies, bagels, corn chips...

And below is actually an ad from ALDI, for their upcoming USA items. Hot dogs in a jar. How appetizing. Note the "Trader Joes" label...Trader Joes is owned by Aldi since 1979, but they have nothing in common in terms of store atmosphere, products, image.

let's play a game

guess how much this trip to the grocery store cost?

leave your best guess under "comments" and we'll post the answer in a few days. :)
Answer: 26 EUR

2 Liters  organic milk, 1 Kilo onions, 3 cloves garlic, 300 g Speck (raw bacon bits), 1 bottle French wine, 1/2 loaf bread, 1 Kilo plums, 1 bag clementines, 1 butternut squash, four potatoes, 4 rolls, 4 tomatoes, bunch bananas, 1 lime, 2 containers of crème fraiche, 6 organic eggs.

Tischlein deck dich

it's high time for some more food pictures...here is our breakfast table:

and some pastries we've been spoiling ourselves with...
Marzipan-Nuss-Kranz

Marzipan-Mandel-Hörnchen...

Spaziergang: Prenzlauer Berg to Mitte

Our walk begins on a beautiful Sunday in Prenzlauer Berg, after the Mauerpark...A hip neighborhood with lots of European expatriates, young parents, and hipsters...On this house you see a banner reading "Atomkraft? Nein Danke!" (Nuclear Power? No Thanks!), a common slogan in Germany among the left, young students, green party. It's Sunday, so things are relatively quiet. Most businesses are closed, with the exception of restaurants and a few bakeries.

Down Kastanienallee, which is nicknamed "Casting-Allee" because of its wide sidewalks and fashionable inhabitants, a street with lots of little restaurants, shops, and cafés. Here we take a break for a Waffel...with powdered sugar and Vanille-Quark.

We take a detour through another park along the way, where every inch of sunlight is being occupied by happy Germans, enjoying their sunny Sunday in the middle of a three-day weekend...

More sights that somehow seem very typisch Berlin...The graffiti left reads "We are all staying" and right is an abstract rendering of the Fernsehturm, the TV tower that hovers over Berlin's skyline.

Now we get into central Berlin, Mitte, and things start to look a little bit more schick...You can always spot the Fernsehturm in the background, the symbol of Berlin...Another Sunday market below, wrapping up, with the Bode Museum of Museum's Island in the background.


Across Unter den Linden, the main thoroughfare of Mitte, and through the Humboldt Universität.

Past the beautiful Gendarmenmarkt.

And right before we tuck into the U-Bahn, a Turkish Wedding procession drives by. The bride and groom's car is covered with flowers, and all the other cars in the procession are honking their horns the whole time.