I previously mentioned that my family and I had the amazing opportunity to live in Germany for six months in 2019. And since travel and living outside of our comfort zones checks a lot of wellness boxes, I’ve decided to devote some blog time to sharing my impressions and answering some common questions. Last month, I talked about how I felt the Germans differed in their exercise habits. Since, at least from a physical health standpoint, the counterpart of exercise is typically eating, I thought that topic would make a logical next step.
When my husband and I were in the planning stages for this adventure, I was excited about the central locality of Germany from a travel perspective. But less so when it came to a culinary one. So I mentally tried to prepare for a lot of heavy foods that I don’t naturally have a preference for. And some I downright despised (I am looking at you sauerkraut). But as per most things in life, we make mountains out of mole hills.
Truth be told, I forgot one important factor: We were living in Germany. We weren’t on vacation here. When you go on vacation, you tend to eat more meals out. Especially if you are staying in a hostel or hotel. But since we actually moved here, to an apartment with a kitchen, I was preparing meals just like I would in the States. OK, not JUST like in the States, but more on that another day.
Of course the first thing we had to navigate was the grocery store. In truth, Germany doesn’t do those much differently. Although there are far fewer supermarkets, there are grocery stores every few blocks. Within a five minute bike ride of our apartment there were three, with another bigger supermarket style store about 10 minutes away.
Grocery stores have a slightly different lay out than the States, and generally feature far less variety. What I mean when I say that is that it is easy to find anything you could want, but instead of 8 different types of extra virgin olive oil, there might be two. The biggest exception is mustard, which has a dedicated aisle. Also, the first section you tend to hit after produce is, ironically, candy. The Germans love their chocolate (not that I’m complaining).
Since I am the mama and the cook, my family eats fairly healthfully. That fact made grocery shopping a bit easier. I didn’t need to know the German word for oatmeal (it’s haferflocken, btw) those first few trips, I just needed to find the package with the correct picture and we were good to go. It also meant there were no complaints about missing favorite snacks or very American things. We were open to trying German things. Yes, even my three year old. And while we did buy some imported staples (Heinz ketchup and Canadian maple syrup), we also found some German things that we loved (biscuit style cookies and muesli).
Each grocery store tends to also come with a “sister” bakery where a lot of people swing by daily to pick up a quick breakfast or lunch. Because while Germany might be known for sausage and potatoes, they also love their bread. And they take it seriously. There are about four dozen different varieties of bread and rolls available on any given day. And these vary region to region, too. For example, my mother’s mother (the German side of my family) used to make poppy seed rolls for the holidays. I only rarely found these in the region we lived, but they were super common in Bavaria.
There are also some things that just took some getting used to. European kitchens are much smaller than their American counterparts. By the way, I am not basing this on the teeny tiny postage stamp of a kitchen I had in our apartment. I am basing this impression on the kitchens of friends. This means that while we are used to buying a gallon of milk, the biggest size you’ll find in Germany is a liter (that’s roughly a quart or a quarter the size). Across the board. Because they have less storage space. Which is why they shop more frequently (daily in some cases) than we do.
And while Americans are used to seeing eggs and butter in the cold case, you’ll find them on regular aisles in Germany. But the weirdest thing we ran in to was baking soda. Germans don’t bake with it. They just use a bunch of baking powder. But I had American recipes with me. After a bit of research, Joe finally found it. At the drug store. Yeah. And when he asked at the counter, the guy was apparently really really (like strangely so, at least according to my husband) excited to sell, “American baking soda.”
Grocery stores were stocked with traditional German fare. Including sausage in cans. (No, I never bought that, just in case you are curious.) From six months of side-eying what the Germans were putting on the conveyor at grocery checkouts, they eat what we think of as typical German foods when they cook at home. Lots of meat and potatoes and simple veggies. Especially the older generations.
While Italy and France get all the love for their food culture, Germans enjoy eating out as well. And just as in their neighboring EU nations, Germans like the company just as much as the food. One tradition we fell in love with while we were in Germany was Sunday.
Not much is open on Sunday in Germany. But restaurants are! And the Germans tend to do one of two things. First, brunch. Which I fully support, and so does my toddler. Germans tend to have a more savory breakfast than we like in the States, but their brunches are awesome. So, eat a big meal around 10am and then maybe have a small snack at dinner time. Easy peasy. Tradition two is kaffe und kuchen, or coffee and cake. You’d get up and have a normal breakfast and a light lunch. Around 4pm or so, you’d head out to a restaurant and have coffee or tea and a delicious dessert. Needless to say, I’m going to try and make this happen Stateside. Oh, and whichever version of Sunday dining you chose, it was always with friends or family.
Otherwise, it was our experience that Germans like different foods when they dine out. We lived in the northwest, in a smaller university town. But we had Japanese, Indian, Chinese, Italian, and Yugoslavian/Croatian (which was amazing, by the way) all in biking distance. And ice cream. If it is above 50 degrees outside, every ice cream parlor will be jammed.
Dining out was its own experience and just like the grocery store, there were goods and bads to get used to. Even though the tap water is hyper regulated and extremely safe to drink, most people don’t. If you are invited to someone’s home (a huge honor in Germany) and you ask for tap water, you will still get bottled. We are used to ordering water (with unlimited refills and free lemon slices), but in Germany you order a 0.75L bottle for 5€ and share it. #dehydrated We also found that in certain places getting milk for our toddler was difficult.
On the upside, though, portion sizes are… normal. Which was refreshing. In the US it is common for portion sizes to be… what’s bigger than ginormous? Leading us to either completely stuff ourselves to the point of discomfort or to take home the leftovers in a plastic clamshell container that could double as your personal item on an airplane. Not in Germany. It is actually taboo to bring home leftovers. Not once in six months did I ever see anyone do it. But, since you aren’t being served a portion that could feed a growing Rottweiler, it is usually not necessary. Not that anyone went hungry. My son and I usually shared one entrée and did just fine.
And, because Germany is land of weird meat and yummy beer, we did try some really unique things. Yes, we had beers the size of small barrels at the beirgartens in Munich. I also had a radler, which is one half wheat beer and one half Sprite. 100% amazing. We had kohlsch in Cologne. We had currywurst and Berliners in Berlin. We had knoedel (potato dumplings) and spaetzle (German noodles). We had deer and bison and “beef” that I am pretty sure was organ meat. We got to experience grunkohl, a kale stew served with sausage and potatoes (of course) that is very specific to the region we lived. And it was all delicious.
Eating is just one way we experience culture and I am so very glad I relaxed some of my food rules and allowed myself to eat the way Germans eat. Germans are naturally intuitive eaters. Diet culture is not as prevalent here as it has to yell over all the potatoes. And eating the way the Germans eat helped me become a more intuitive eater, too. Oh, and I discovered sauerkraut isn’t so bad after all.
Until next time, be well friends!
