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| Sunday Brunch with New Friends |
Not
many people become excited when you mention German cuisine. So I set my travel
food fantasies aside when we decided to visit our lovely friend, Elke, in
Berlin. I looked forward, with curiosity, to experiencing food in ANY European
region but with lower expectations than if we were visiting France or Italy.
This turned out to be a huge underestimation of the food wisdom and pleasure I
would gain in Germany and bring back to my own kitchen, and I am excited to
share my experience with other American eaters.
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| Routine Table Setting |
In
Berlin I noticed that people don’t “eat out” so much as they eat OUTDOORS. You
may have heard of Germans drinking their delicious pilsner beers in outdoor
beer gardens, but that’s only a bit of the picture. They routinely gather on
simple lawn tables dressed with well-used tablecloths, or even on the ground
with a blanket, which was common around the many lakes in the city where people
would drop their bicycles for a quick swim followed by a simple meal. They
relaxed and ate socially with neighbors and friends, with no concern for the
buzzing bug life, the sun or sprinkle, nor the chill or sweat that fluctuated
unpredictably in the open air. After a week of taking all of my meals outdoors,
I came to believe that the fresh air entering my body simultaneously with the
food actually made the food taste better. Also, in natural light, it was like
each meal was in Technicolor…so vibrant and beautiful! It was such a pleasure
to treat each meal like a celebration with nature. Often the table was set up
right in the middle of a vegetable and herb garden so that people could
literally pluck live foods from the vines to add to their plates. And speaking
of plates, they never used paper or plastic. Eating outdoors for Berliners,
unlike so many Americans, does not seem to constitute waste or a cheapening of
the experience in hopes for the illusion of convenience. A simple wooden tray
was used to transport dishes, food and condiments from kitchen to the outdoor
table setting. While cycling or strolling along the sidewalk, especially in the
mid-afternoon between lunch and dinner, I would hear tinkling laughter and
clinking dishware. Looking for the source of the sound, I saw garden after
garden, in front of small cottages, of small groups of people sharing cake (or anything
sweet like a piecrust topped with these interesting plums that were in season)
and strong coffee. Oh yes. They call this daily ritual something that sounds
like “coffee clutch” and it makes me tingle just remembering how charming and
pleasurable it was to be included. Back home in Tallahassee, Florida, I find it
challenging to hold on to the practice and the charm of taking all of my meals
outdoors. Nevertheless, I’ve employed an old wooden tray and I take MORE of my
meals outdoors than I did before.
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| Cut the Fluff: A No Waste Kitchen |
Another
thing I noticed in Berlin was that the kitchens, including tools and equipment,
were very modest. In sharp contrast to our typically underused showroom
kitchens, Berlin kitchens seemed to be almost worn out (or beautifully worn-in)
with a few basic necessities (iron skillet, water heating kettle, knife,
cutting board, something for keeping things cold and something for heating
things up) that didn’t match or shine, but gave brilliant daily service to
their owners. I liked the feeling of substance and function over superficiality
and appearances. It just felt more real and straight-forward. It became a
metaphor for me there…noticing ways to cut out the pretty bullshit and get down
to the business of real living by seeing and celebrating the beauty in well-functioning
things. I’d like to adopt this more and more for the important message it also
sends to our daughters, specifically. I want them to feel appreciated for what
they DO not what they look like. Is this a stretch of an analogy for you? It
wasn’t for me; it was as clear and meaningful as it needed to be.
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| Sharing Spaces |
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| Sharing Food |
“Sharing
is caring” took on a new meaning for me in Berlin. There was a feeling of
abundance around food, which was exaggerated by the constant act of sharing it.
This core behavior was observable on both the systemic level (local government)
and individual level (neighbor to neighbor; stranger to stranger). For example,
the city intentionally plants fruit trees in public and abandoned spaces
(though no space was actually abandoned) for anyone to pick, eat, sell, share,
or whatever one chooses. We would be biking along and see a tree laden with
ripe fruit, drop our bikes, and pick as much as we wanted. We saw some people
hauling away small trailers of fruit behind their bikes, presumably to sell,
and all of this was facilitate and encouraged by the local government because
everyone benefits, including mother nature. No one goes hungry; everyone
shares. There is a city requirement in some neighborhoods for a certain percentage
of each “lawn” to grow food. It is amazing to see how gorgeous a functional
landscape can be stretched as far down a lane as the eye can see. When people
grow more food than they can consume or give directly to friends, they bag it
and leave it near their front gates so that people passing by can take what
they need. And they loved sharing their favorite food creations. Elke made an
incredible dish passed down through the women in her family that involved
replacing a plum pit with a sugar cube then surrounding the fruit with a stiff
mashed potato concoction. She then quick-boiled these balls then drenched them
in melted butter. This brought delighted friends and acquaintances from near
and far connecting people and spreading pleasure. Berliners talk about food,
look forward to food, use food to connect with each other, then actually feel
satisfied by food without over-consuming.
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| Food Nostalgia |
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| Exotic Flavors |
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| Pomegranate Peddler |
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| Daily fresh bread, EVERYWHERE! |
Fresh
is the word. People stopped in (usually by bicycle) to bread and produce shops
or booths along their routes daily. Even right before a meal, like breakfast
before work, someone from the group would hop on a bicycle and return in
minutes with a basket of fresh buns and a juicy ripe fruit while someone else
was carrying the plates and spreads (butters, jams) to the outdoor table. This
creates, I suppose, the demand that enabled bakers and produce sellers to have
thriving businesses EVERYWHERE. I mean, even in a “mall” there was a store that
only sold fresh fruit and vegetables, as if folks couldn’t go more than a few
dozen yards without access to something wholesome to eat. It was a beautiful
site. Down underground at the subway stations, fresh bread. Under a tent awning
at a big intersection, fresh greens. Next to the tire store, fresh melons. In
the parking area for their version of our Home Depot, fresh-squeezed
pomegranate juice. I am not making this up. I don’t know if this is a
European-wide genius I witnessed, or unique to Berlin, but this observation
alone was enough to overwhelm the senses and ask what exactly is involved in
applying for a visa.
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| Clever Quality Convenience |
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| Busy Berliners still prioritize cooking. |
Let
it be known that Germans are both practical AND playful. Their practical
efficiency was illustrated by the way many of their trendy food stores are
organized by meal groupings rather than food type. So a shopper would browse each table display,
which included a full description of a complete meal, each ingredient, how to
put it together, and even the tools needed to do so just in case you were
lacking a wooden spoon for the job. What was surprising about this was how
cleverly whole, healthy, fresh ingredients were organized and delivered to the
shopper in a way that made the process of planning, preparing and serving
dinner very convenient without sacrificing quality. Alternately, food in
Berlin, especially sweet foods, were incredibly playful. This is a culture that
appreciates the (I was told) bone-strengthening property of gummy bears (made
with much higher standards than ours) and serves their ice-cream in
configurations that shock the senses. I need not say more because the picture
of an ice cream creation (for adults!) that looks like sunny-side-up eggs and
bacon says it all. Playful.
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| Ice Cream, right! |
Thank
you, Berlin. Thank you, Elke. Thank you for adding a continuing spiral of new
and refreshing perspective on food culture and how it impacts our daily lives.
Happy
Health Explorations!
AND…may
your kitchen culture never bore you.
Visit www.heatherdiamondhealth.com to learn how Heather can help you bring more ease and pleasure to your kitchen and to your health.
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