Deutsch Delicacies

We're not the most adventurous when it comes to foods. Never have been. And it's even harder now with trying to avoid so much processed foods and "junk" foods. Combine that with eating mostly vegetarian and, well, we haven't explored a whole lot that Germany has to offer cuisine-wise. Their mantra seems to be:


We (Jason and I, mostly) feel otherwise.

But because it's been so challenging to find whole foods like we prefer, and because we still need to eat, I've let the kids (and me) try a few things I wouldn't ordinarily agree to. I mean, we still gotta eat.

While out walking one day early on, Dalton couldn't go another step without something to drink so we walked into a Burger King (yes really) and I bought this apple strawberry juice. Not that adventurous, but still, we didn't drink that at home (and haven't since, either!):


I also let Autumn try this portable quark treat:


Quark is a kind of cheese but it's also kind of yogurty. It's made with soured milk and it's a German thing. I haven't tried it yet, unless it was used to make the "cheese cake" I ate on my birthday (it might have been). Anyway, I need to try it but I'm a little afraid. Autumn enjoyed her snack above but, it was made with all kinds of crap I would not usually let her have so that was (so far) the only time anyone in our family has had quark. It probably only tasted like corn syrup.

I hear quark is often served with linseed oil. We bought some linseed oil from the Saturday Farmer's Market in our neighborhood.


We were big flax meal consumers back home (yay omega 3s!) and the guy selling it told us linseed oil was "very German" so we bought some. He said the Germans eat it with quark, or in their muesli. He said German children have it mixed with sugar on bread, mixed with salt for the adults. So I bought some. So that I too could be "very German". I think it's working. ;)

Now that we are practically German, some of us also eat potato pancakes. I used to make them at home in Colorado but the kids didn't eat them. However, they all tried them here. Dalton loves them.



We don't do them in applesauce but Dalton and I eat quite a lot of Kartoffelpuffer. Yum. I buy them premade at the grocery store and then just heat them up. I cannot buy frozen shredded potatoes here. And I do not have the desire (or time or energy!) to shred pounds of potatoes on my own, ergo, I do not make my own Kartoffelpuffer here.

I had these Spinatknödel (spinach dumplings) out at lunch one day shortly after arriving. They were swimming in brown butter. They were okay, just way too greasy:


Other German things I've tried are a mix of Weißbier and apple juice (I forgot what it's called when you do that):


And also this time I was trying for a "Radler" which (I'm fairly sure!) is beer mixed with lemonade but it's more of a beer mixed with lemon lime soda. This was beer and Sprite:


Um, no. I won't get that again. It was at the "Beer Mile" this last weekend and Dalton went with Jason to get it, we seriously think she thought it was for Dalton!

I've had spätzle a couple times since arriving. Easton too. Here we are having käsespätzle which was ended up being pretty rich and heavy for us.




We've also tried quite a few different bakery breads. The first one was "Roggenmischbrot" which was mostly rye with some wheat. It's going to take a little getting used to. We enjoyed some "Frühstückszöpf" (breakfast braids) as they were sprinkled with sesame or poppy seeds and weren't overly sweet. Our favorite is probably any of the "Laugenbrötchen" (pretzel rolls). We get lots of pretzel croissants, pretzel buns, pretzel baguettes. Yum.

This was another tasty bakery treat.


I can't remember what it's called and I have only seen it in one bakery (so far) but it was a spinachy spiral. I heated it up in a pan at home and it was a delicious lunch.

We've also had to find some of our regular type staples at home: cereal, chips, snacks...

For chips, we've yet to find any baked varieties but we do enjoy these. With balsamic vinegar?! Yum! We always loved "salt and vinegar" back home but these are extra good, not really full of unpronounceable ingredients (well, other than being in German, they are "regular" whole-ish foods):


The boys like tuna . . . and tuna cans wisely open at the bottom here. See?


We've found acceptable hummus:


Easton used to eat a lot of applesauce pouches at home and we've been able to find similar here. With strawberry too:




This cereal is totally expensive and full of sugar but not too much other crap. And, of course, the boys love it!



(a label in English like that is not common)

They make granola bars too:


These little spelt balls are mighty tasty and free of preservatives and colors and artificialness. They're not whole grain but they are baked. "Bobbles":


The flavored, spelt ones are hard to find but the BioMarkt on our block has plain whole wheat ones. They're near the soups, almost like an oyster cracker topping or something.

Pizza sticks. They're "Bio" but everyone knows you can still have organic junk food. Which these are: :)


It's not hard to find tasty desserts. I eat one of these almost every day right now, no joke:


And these tiny ice cream cones were a fun treat on our Family Movie Night.

(Not that these things are unique to Germany, they're just new to us)

One night I bought a big bottle of strawberry prosecco for, like, €2.50 and made myself a strawberry prosecco float. Yummm!


I had an "Eiscafe" from an ice cream stand one hot afternoon too. It's not "iced coffee" . . . it's coffee over ice cream!

Speaking of coffee, someone has discovered he is a fan. I have let him have, like, a quarter of a cup two times total:


These sparkling lemonades are another new fave of mine.


They're not too sweet and 2/3 of the kids like them. The Germans seem to like "sparkling" things over here. Carbonated water, beer, juice, and these other bottled beverages. I give the kids small shot glass sized sparkling beverages so they can get more used to them. Easton's having the hardest time of the bunch. Like many kids, mine also feel like bubbles are "spicy". It was nice because that means they've never had soda, but a sparkling lemonade on occasion? Yes please!

While out and about, we came across this "pizza in a sleeve" sort of thing. Perfect for eating on the subway when your hands are undoubtedly filthy! Blech!


We haven't always had the best luck when eating out, though. Remember this Mexican food fiasco?


Cheddar nor "jack" aren't really available types of cheese here so I have no idea what sort of queso they sliced up in this here "quesadilla". Blech! It most definitely did not get eaten...by any of us!

And finally, these!




Currants are most definitely not unique to Germany, my Grammy had a bush in her backyard we used to eat Johannisbeeren off of it all summer long but they're not something you often see fresh in the grocery store in the States. They have all sorts of berry stands here right now, though. So we bought some to try. Easton was the only one of the kids that sort of liked them but they're a little sour so he only ate a limited amount.




We've got lots more eating we need to get to, don't we?! I'll be sure to post an update after we explore more cuisine. Or, better yet, someone come out and join us for some eats!