Category Archives: Food

German Christmas Markets, Warmth in the Dark of Winter

One expat’s experience of the Hamburg Christmas Market. Happy Holidays! Photo Kristi Fuoco

Okay folks, I’m pretty sure I’ve found it….that’s right, the country that looks Christmas in the eye, says, “We know what to do with you” and then kicks some serious Christmas butt. I’d heard a thing or two about German Christmas markets, in fact I even spent one Christmas in Germany way back in 1999, but for some reason I was entirely unprepared for it this year and how I would become so completely and utterly smitten. I went to my first market in Hamburg on the first day it opened and was in complete awe—not only do I love markets in general, but here we are with markets around every corner, selling all sorts of heavenly food and drinks, fun crafts, and beautiful ornaments, and best of all, it is THE place to be in December. Clear your calendars for the next month because this is all you will be doing. Okay, maybe it’s all I’ve been doing anyways! I feel like all of the coldness of German culture and especially of Northern Europe melts away for this month and friends and family and co-workers and random strangers gather at the markets, filled with friendliness-enducing Glühwein, to just…..be together.

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Wordless Wednesday: Celebrating the Pretzel

Oktoberfest rages on in Munich, and here at Young Germany headquarters, we’re celebrating one of the foods you’ll hear about most often in combination with Germany.  Long live the pretzel!

Giant pretzel? ;) Photo (cc) flickr user Happy A

Pretzels can be purchased in bakeries and are sometimes sold by people who walk through pubs at night with a large basket selling their doughy wares. Photo (cc) flickr user naden

Pretzels being sold in an Oktoberfest-style tent. Photo (cc) flickr user eurobort

Pretzels make people happy. Photo (cc) flickr user ianloic

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Wordless Wednesday: The Best Wurst

Is it actually possible to take an interesting picture of sausage?  This week, after discovering a hilarious game featuring 30 varieties of one of Germany’s best-know foods, I decided to find out.  What do you think?

Weisswurst breakfast. Photo (cc) flickr user elkit

A German butcher. Photo (cc) flickr user reiner.kraft

Bratwurst on the grill. Photo (cc) flickr user oxfordian.world

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How I Learned to Love German Cuisine

Germany is known for its vast bread selection. Photo (cc) flickr user david__jones

The following post is YG guest blogger Guarav Kedia.  Check out his perspective on German cuisine.

My last blog described my experience with German language. Learning German was fun, but still I wasn’t very aware of the language, and I wasn’t really enjoying my stay. I can say the same about food. It’s not that German cuisine isn’t delicious but I really didn’t know much about it and my lack of knowledge made it hard for me to appreciate it.

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Summer in Germany: Spaghettieis

Spaghettieis: a plate of ice cream made to look like a plate of spaghetti. Photo (cc) flickr user orangebrompton

I may not be an ice cream person, but once the weather in Germany starts looking like summer I always find myself at the ice cream shop. And it’s all because of Spaghettieis, a German specialty that I insist you try if (when!) you ever visit the country.

So what is Spaghettieis?  Well, as the German word Eis refers to ice cream, I’ll give you just one guess.  That’s right.  It’s ice cream made to look like spaghetti.  The picture on the left shows a classic Spaghettieis with vanilla ice cream shaped like noodles on a bed of cream, strawberry sauce to take the place of tomato sauce, and either coconut or nut chips on top to resemble the parmasion cheese.  Even if I didn’t find the concept so funny I would love it—it’s a tasty combination.

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It’s Spargel Season: A Recipe for Swabian Asparagus Soup

Peeled white asparagus.  Photo (cc) Click Clack Gorilla

Peeled white asparagus. Photo (cc) Click Clack Gorilla

It’s summer. The air is hot and sticky, and the daylight stretches out like a cat until it’s almost ten o’clock. It is not the time of year for hot soups. Yet it is the time of year for asparagus, and one of my favorite asparagus dishes is Spargel Suppe mit Fladle, which is Swabian (Schwäbisch) for asparagus soup with strips of pancake. And it’s delicious.

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Germans could win the World Grill Cup

A slightly ambiguous photo of a park sign... "Please BBQ dogs"

A slightly ambiguous photo of a park sign... "Please BBQ dogs" (Flickr: bleicher)

If I said to you barbeque, you’d say to me: America! After all, it is the land of BBQ sauce, rib and steak cook-outs and, oddly enough, a variety of grilled “dogs” – which, I have to confess, I always had the Koreans down for, but whaddya know?

Anyway, I’m not the only one who’s a little limited in his range of associative thinking when it comes to barbequed food: after all, how many of you would instantly think of Germany when you smell charcoal and singed sausages?

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