Essen und Fressen

Before I get to what I would like to talk about, that being food here, I have to explain the title. My grandma didn’t speak German, but before every meal, she would always say, “It’s time to eat! Essen und Fressen!” Both words mean, “to eat” in German, but “essen” is the word used to describe people eating, and “fressen” is to describe animals eating. In other words, when my grandma said this, it was always sort of a joke making fun of us, like some in my family ate like people and others like animals. It also highlights the differences in languages in a humorous manner.

Ah yes, food in Germany. I have really enjoyed it. One of the things I wish America had was Döner. It is a sort of sandwich, and the meat can be either beef or chicken, cooked on a vertical spit (similar to shawarma), shaved off the spit with a knife, and it all goes in a bread pocket with salad and savory sauces. I could definitely eat this for the rest of my life. This is a very unique part of German culture, since Döner came with the influx of Turkish immigrant workers after the World War II. It was popularized by the Germans, but comes from the Turks. A decent comparison to this food phenom would be pizza in America and Italy in the sense that America really took pizza and made it its own. There is pizza in Italy and Döner in Turkey but (I’m told) that there isn’t a whole lot of Döner places in Turkey, and the pizza in Italy (I’m also told) is not quite like American pizza.

Another aspect of German food is their sweets and baked goods. I was always more of a savory guy, not much of a sweet tooth, but in Germany, their sweets always hit the spot and I never feel bad eating baked goods. Part of this change is due to the fact that much of the bread here is very light and probably healthier than the U.S. Another reason why you can see me eating a lot of candy in Germany is because they use cane sugar in most of their sweets, as opposed to high fructose corn syrup in many American candies. It makes a huge difference! Cane sugar just taste better and more real than the other stuff. Even the sodas (pop) use cane sugar, and they are all way more delicious than what I am used to in the U.S.

One drawback is that meat is very expensive in Germany, and sometimes people will just skip that part at restaurants or at homes. It took me some time to get used to this, but I realize that not much meat is needed in a healthy diet, and I think that Americans, in many areas of life, go overboard with it since we have been incredibly blessed with a fruitful land. I would say that the food of Germany (and a few other things) has taught me how wasteful Americans can be sometimes, and I never really thought about it before.