German Food Etiquette

I can’t say that I have the best table manners, but I don’t think that I’m awful to eat with. (Unless you ask my brother) I try not to talk with my mouth full or chomp too loudly. There’s the occasional burp, but I don’t make it loud or obnoxious. Well all of that seems like it’s not enough here in Germany.

Earlier when Ben and I started dating, I learned that burping of any kind is not acceptable—not even a small barely audible burp. When Ben first mentioned it, my first response was, “I don’t burp that much!” But as I started paying more attention, I noticed that, in fact, I did burp quite a bit. (Not a lot by American standards) I don’t mean the loud obnoxious kind, but the slightly bubbly kind. It didn’t matter because Ben could hear it. Not surprisingly, I became extra self-conscious about my burping habits. I worried that when I visited his parents and his grandma, I would accidentally burp and it would be the deal breaker. Ahhh, what to do? What to do?? :-O

Well, I’ve managed to keep the burping to a minimum, at least as far as I can tell. No one has mentioned it to me yet... But I’m still a little confused about the social customs surrounding food. Ben and I went to a Scottish dancing event at the university last week. It was definitely a contrast to school events in the States. 

Aren't their kilts great? The one professor
also played bagpipes.

First of all, there was beer and wine being served. It was completely natural. Most of the students were standing around socializing with a beer or plastic cup of wine in their hands. There were also cups of snack pretzels. --Side note: I have a very low alcohol tolerance. Very. Very. Low. But I thought that I could handle a small cup of wine since everyone else was doing the same.-- It didn’t take very long for me to feel the effects. I saw the pretzels and

asked if I could have them. The lady said that they were free. I wasn’t sure if I was just supposed to take a couple or just grab the little plastic cup they were in, so I took the whole cup…I felt better, but I noticed that some people were kind of giving me weird looks. Guess it’s not acceptable to eat the free pretzels, at least not a cup of them if you’re not completely wasted. I’m thinking that drinking a small cup of wine at a school function, did not fall under that category.

I learned from the pretzel incident and when I went out with some girls one night, although there was a cup of pretzels in the middle of the table, I did not embarrass myself. :-) Nibbling is the name of the game. :-P

Overall, I’ve just noticed more formality when it comes to etiquette. Ben and I were invited to have brunch at his friend’s house, and I noticed that it was still kind of formal even though Ben and his friend were close. Back in the States, if I invited close friends over to eat, I would want them to grab anything they wanted (if they actually wanted to the food I had) and it’d be pretty relaxed. The conversation was easy flowing but I got the sense that I was supposed to nibble more than eat. It seemed that the “brunch” was more for the purpose of socializing, not for both eating and socializing. All in all, even though we were all young and (at least Ben) knew them well, it a lot more formal than I was expecting for Sunday morning brunch.

So, I've learned a couple of things: any kind of burping is rude, the pretzels at a gathering are not to be eaten except in the case of an emergency (alcohol related), and eat a snack (or meal) before going on any sort of group-social outing. The foodie inside of me is a tad sad. I really like being able to enjoy food when I'm with different people. The German culture I've experienced so far is the opposite of a lot of Asian cultures (at least Chinese culture) in the sense that social gatherings are not so much centered around food. It's hard for me not to get excited and zealous about food, but I will try to keep it from being too obvious.

Foodie Pic:

Am I Being Stereotypical?

It's almost a month since I moved to Germany and it's still quite the adjustment, not gonna lie. There have been several bouts of homesickness-- friends, family, food...and through it all, Ben has been wonderful and supportive.

German people are not unfriendly or stand-offish like people sometimes stereotype. The people that I've met have been very friendly, considerate, and accommodating. I still feel like an awful American stereotype walking around because I can pretty much only introduce myself, ask where you're from, and answer yes/no questions: ja...nein...danke. Not exactly ideal for creating deep meaningful conversations.

Through Ben's friends, I've met and hung out with more Germans. When they can, they usually speak in English, just for me. There can be a group of 4 Germans plus me and they will all speak English just to make me feel welcome and comfortable. I feel so spoiled and a bit awful at times. My German can't improve fast enough. I feel self-conscious about fulfilling American stereotypes. Do I talk too much? Maybe too loudly? Use my hands too much? Am I too energetic? Do I come off as fake? I think I will feel more comfortable as my German improves and I will feel more at home. Although, I am amazed at how well many Germans can speak English.

And when it comes to food, to be honest, I miss eating Chinese food more than I miss "American" food. Ok, all with the exception of peanut butter. I was so excited about the German bakeries, but that has long worn off. I just want some good old peanut butter and honey on toast. I still haven't found a good Chinese restaurant, but I've heard that there are good Indian restaurants around. Also, I found it amusing that Italian restaurants are considered the more low-key restaurants here. Such a contrast to the States where they're considered more "fine dining." Ben and I have found a couple of small Asian stores. They're small and don't carry everything, but I can get some basic sauces. None carry giant 20lb bags of rice though... (not that I really want to carry that all the way to our apartment from downtown)

It's an adventure and I continue to learn. It can be embarrassing at times, but it makes for good stories. :-D

Ok, so I realized that I've only been taking photos of food lately. So here's my compilation:

Döner: Turkish immigrant influence.
Kind of like a Gyro. We had ours with
chicken, lettuce, tomato, onion, and
a choice of sauce. SO DELICIOUS and
now I want one every week.

Ben made bread dumplings for dinner one night.
What a great way to use up stale bread!

Found a "French-inspired" German bakery in downtown.
Ben loves croissants so we had to try the French-German
style ones. They were pretty good.

I have officially experienced the German cafe/coffee culture.
Sat outside a cafe for hours chatting with a new friend
and sipping milk-coffee.

More German baking: Donauwelle, standard
German cake. (Marble cake with cherries,
pudding on top and chocolate ganache)

Famous fries by the University. A.k.a. fries
flavored mayo. Hung out with some girls
Saturday night and had to try the curry-mango mayo.

Maifest

Monday marked the first day of May. In Germany, it was also Labor Day and a holiday. That means that nothing is open (besides some bakeries), just like on Sundays. I'm not going to lie. Knowing that I don't have access to the grocery store for two whole days kind of stresses me out. I need my food. Anyway, I survived. However, Ben and I did do some crazy grocery shopping on Tuesday.

But we did get some good food on Monday.

As you can see~ very smiley faces

There was a Maifest gathering near our apartment on Monday. It kind of reminded me of our small town celebrations like Onamia Days, Isle Days, Wahkon Days, etc. Lots of families come with their children, grab some burgers and brats from the food stands and of course, drink beer. However, the most important activity was: putting up the Maibaum (a.k.a. Maypole). Let me tell you, this was quite the ordeal.

The guy in the blue jacket was the MC.
And some conservative politicians stopped
by to say a few words.

I wanted to add some videos that I took of the Maibaum, but I can't seem to upload them. There were two ceremonies--one at the start of the festival and one that lasted the remainder of the festival. The picture below is from the first ceremony. This Maibaum was much smaller than the second one.

I always pictured Maypoles as tall poles with long streamers hanging down from the top, but these were actual trees decorated with short colorful streamers. There was a committee that was formed (this one had only men) that was created for the sole purpose of putting up the Maibaum. Ben said that the group was formed so that they could be insured... I suppose it makes sense :-D The Maibaum committee members each wore a pointed grey felt hat; stylish but don't do too much for protection against falling trees.

There were nineteen men carrying the Maibaum and the whole thing took about two and a half hours. I think putting up the tree was physically straining, but I think that it took that long was more because of the all the beer breaks the committee took during the event. :-P

But no worries. There was plenty of beer for the observers to buy, plus coffee and cake for sale. It was definitely an exciting event to witness, and kept me on the edge of my seat. Happy May everyone!

Labor Day Weekend

This one's kind of late, but I've been slacking...

Ben and I took a day trip to Leipzig this past Saturday. It was a long weekend because Monday was a holiday here. (Labor Day) We originally wanted to take a weekend trip to Prague but alas we were a little too late in planning it. Turns out Leipzig was a great choice. It is such a music hub and kind of has a hippie-ish feel~ I was a huge fan. :-D

I am an enthusiastic thrift shopper--thanks to my mother--and I was kind of disappointed when I learned that Germans aren't really into buying second-hand clothing. That's why I was SO EXCITED when I saw this in downtown Leipzig. Ben and I think that it was a clothing exchange (grab clothing and leave clothing). I thought about exchanging my jacket...The only thing that kept me from really looking was the fact that I would have to carry it for the rest of the day. :-/ (plus it was kind of cold and rainy)

I've also been slowly learning more about the German beer drinking culture. Ben rode the train Saturday morning to Leipzig. It's only about an hour by train. The train was pretty full for early Saturday morning. A lot of people must've decided the long weekend was a good time for a trip. Just as we found some empty seats, a train conductor comes by and tells us that we should move to the front of the train because there was going to be about 100 soccer fans boarding soon. I found that amusing (obviously I know nothing about soccer).

Anyway, Ben and I ended up in the first class cabin. It was pretty nice. That is, until five soccer fans made their way into the cabin. There weren't really any seats left and the cabin was pretty small. We were grateful they didn't sit/stand by us, but the gentleman they sat by looked very amused (not). I thought that they were coming back from a game since it was only about 8:30am and they looked like they had already drank quite a bit. Oh no...they were on their way TO the game. Can't say it didn't make me miss being in the U.S. where public drinking is not allowed. We somehow ended up riding with the soccer fans on the train back from Leipzig too. Not sure how that happened. I discovered Saturday that many Germans don't just transport a couple of bottles of beer with them to an event. It's more like this:

This photo is from Google

I'm going to have to work on my beer drinking...