Food Discoveries in Germany

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.

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.

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.

Sharing Spaces

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.

Food Nostalgia

Exotic Flavors

Pomegranate Peddler

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.

Clever Quality Convenience

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.

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.

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