Germany: Beyond the Bratwurst and Schnitzel

Some traditional Turkish food from Hasir

quarkinis!

For the past week, I have been traveling in Dresden, Weimar, and Berlin. Hence, no posts. But now I'm back, relatively well-rested and eager to procrastinate midterms by telling you all about my German food adventures!

To my surprise, I had very little traditional German food during the week. Bratwurst, schnitzel (a thin breaded pork/veal cutlet, usually served with a brown sauce) spaetzel, (potato dumplings similar to gnocchi), and cabbages of all preparations was the focus of only one group meal, our last lunch at a traditional German brewery (beer wenches and all!). Perhaps it is different in Munich, home of Oktoberfest, but I found in the cities I visited a certain international food culture, not so different from Copenhagen's.

It is times like these when globalization makes me cringe ever-so-slightly. In Dresden, while the city squares had a number of small cafes where one could sit and enjoy a cafe latte, you cannot help but notice the Starbucks, McDonalds, and an absurdly large amount of Dunkin Donuts wedging theirselves in between. Hurrah for competition, it makes coffee less than the $8USD it costs in Copenhagen, but it seems to be interrupting a more relaxed lifestyle with an American obsession of being on top.

Slightly saddened by seeing the bits of home I do not particularly care for, I was still able to sniff out many tasty, and not so tasty treats - especially from the Dresden street vendors. For instance, Belgium Waffles. But not just any old Belgium waffle - Belgium waffles on a stick. Forget the corndog, the kebab, the waffle has taken over. Long, thin pieces of waffle dipped in your sauce of choice, (chocolate seemed to be the most popular) and handed to you to devour, on a stick. It's genius. Waffles could hardly be street food otherwise, Europeans would need a knife and fork to cut it! Someone needs to start selling these in Manhattan, ASAP.

Another discovery - the quarkini (sp?). Is it German? I have absolutely no idea. All I know is that a few hours before dinner some of my friends were starving, and outside this large bakery a woman had a cart with this large pile of these kind of depressing dark brown fried balls dusted in sugar. Caring more about the price (5 for a euro) than the actually taste, they bought a bag. I preface this by saying that I normally find donuts to be a disapointing waste of calories. However, upon taking a bite, these sad little brown balls instantly turned into warm, perfectly fried and sweet spheres of deliciousness. It was the type of donut that makes you realize why people love them so much in the first place. Needless to say that now every donut back in the US is going to be even more disapointing than ever before. Maybe that is a good thing.

Moving away from the sweets, it was also in Dresden that I had my first Bratwurst encounter. Bratwurst, like the New York hot dog, are sold on almost every corner by small vendors run by some of the nicest people I have ever met. Of course we all know that a large sausage in a bun is delicious, it was at this stand where I had my first not-so-pleasant food encounter. Actually, it was a drink. Called grog. Seeing it on the menu on the side of the cart, my inner foodie/alcoholic kicked in and wanted to see just what street-vendor grog was. For a euro, why not? I did not realize exactly what I was getting myself into. Grog is like a hot cup of tea. Except instead of a tea bag, there is a lot of really, really cheap rum. That is right: hot water and REALLY cheap rum, with milk and sugar to your own liking. I think you can judge how it was by my face. Natural reaction, by the way. I should have known better, but hey, it is all a part of the experience, right?

grog is not pleasant

As we were only in Weimar for less than a day, I can't really comment too much on the food culture. However, Weimar has a beautiful international small cafe atmosphere. German bakeries are aplenty, as well as many French and Italian cafes. Bratwurst carts are also widely available, and many outdoor cafes are full of people enjoying an afternoon cup of coffee or beer. I was reminded of a more traditional European lifestyle than in Dresden or Berlin. Weimar, where the likes of Bach and Goethe studied, still maintains that classical academic culture, and remains largely untouched by America's capitolistic modernity.

So it was quite the shocker the next day when we pulled into Berlin. Driving through the streets on our bus, I immediately thought of New York. Each block seemed to be it's own neighborhood, complete with everything you need: the bodega, the hair salon, the liquor store, a fast food joint of choice, and perhaps a restaurant or two. Our hotel was right in the heart of the city, Times Square, if you will. Of course, like Times Square, this area was probably my least favorite part of the city. Too many people, and lots of mediocre chain food joints. Berlin is a city with so much modern history, and much of that includes adoption of western culture. Besides some Baroque-syle museums and several holocaust memorials - the city looks extremely American.

Like most cities, if you want to find the good food, you have to leave the main touristy place and explore the neighborhoods, espeicially those with a strong cultural foundation. In New York, you have Chinatown and Little Italy. In Berlin, you have Little Istanbul. Turks make up the largest immigrant population in Berlin, as in the 1960's, the German government invited them to come as "guest workers", or essentially to do the work that nobody wanted to do. Germany fully intended on sending the workers home, but of course that never works out, and the Turkish population in Germany flourished. Not only did they bring a new international culture to Berlin, they also brought their fabulous food. One afternoon, we were treated to a four course traditional Turkish lunch at Hasir restaurant in Little Istanbul. By the end, we nearly had to be rolled out of the restaurant.

The Turkish food I sampled was extremely similiar, if not almost identical to Greek food. Turkey and Greece are close with similar geography, so I suppose why not? We started with a bread similar in taste to naan baked in the oven at an extremely high heat so that it puffed up and resembled a disformed football. The bread was served with a variety of spreads including babaganoush, hummus, a tomato chutney, and feta, stuffed grapeleaves, lamb meatballs, haloumi cheese wrapped in phyllo and fried, and my particular favorite, fava beans marinated in tomato and many spices. Thinking this feast was lunch, we promptly stuffed our faces, only to realize that this was course 1 of 4. Then came the salad, then the lamb kebab, the ground lamb and spices, and the grilled vegetables. We ended with a dessert sampler of a custard topped with cinnamon that resembled Spanish flan and a pastry similar to baklava but a grain with the texture of shredded wheat replacing the phyllo. It was all delicious.

Walking around Little Istanbul and some of the other neighborhoods in Berlin made me realize that Germany is not all about the meat and potatoes, like I had previously thought. Bratwurst and schnitzel are delicious, but they are not the dominant foods in Berlin and are not all that Germany has to offer. Berlin is such an international city, partly because of its immigrants, but mostly because of its division after WWII. Not just East and West, but between four other countries: The Soviet Union, the US, France, and Britain. Each country brought their own ideas, influences, and of course food to the city, giving it true multicultural flair.

So what is, if any, traditional German food culture in Berlin? Just find a man carrying the large basket of pretzels, or grab a bratwurst at 1am after a few too many beers! I promise your German food cravings will be satisfied.