A month of German food, here’s what I learned

I went into this unsure if I would make it this far. People say it takes two weeks to start (or end) a habit. Month one is done, eleven more to go.

Here’s a summary of month one, thoughts, foods, and feels.

Thoughts on German Food

TLDR; Level of Difficulty: Two out of five wursts. Could live without: pickled anything. More fresh veggies please.

I think this was a great cuisine to start with. It wasn’t incredibly different than what I normally eat, I was familiar with some of the recipes (thanks Grandma!), and didn’t find any overly complicated. The stews and roasts were welcome on snow days and when the office heater seemed inoperative.

Beef Gulasch (goulash)

I realized about halfway in that I have no idea what modern German food is…or I realized I’m basing my German food on what my grandma ate during the war, when food was rationed and precious. That combined with my mom’s German cookbook from 1988 meant plenty of carbs and meat.

Pickled foods, I’m sick of you. Sauerkraut, sauerbraten, german potato salad, even the german lentil recipe I found called for vinegar. I’m not a pickle fan in general, but I tried.

New Foods I Tried (In No Particular Order)

Wursts: Currywurst, Bauernwurst, Weisswurst, Liverwurst
Schnitzel (Chicken, Veal)
Potato Dumplings
Scheweinehaxe (Pork Shank)
Spelt
Rittersport Chocolate: Milk chocolate with cornflakes, Dark chocolate with whole hazelnuts, Milk chocolate with espresso
German Potato Salad
Apfelkuchen (Apple Cake)
German Sauerkraut
Gulasch (Goulash)
German Lentils with Spaetzle
Kasespatzle (Cheese Spaetzle)

German lentils with spaetzle

German Restaurants I ate at

Doma Na Rohu

To the unsuspecting, this place sounds like it could be Japanese or Korean. According to Google Translate, it means ‘home on the corner’ in Czech. Here on a snowy evening when most wouldn’t dare to venture out, I tried my first chicken schnitzel and was not disappointed.

Heidelberg Restaurant

A charming old-world German restaurant conveniently located by my favorite cake shop (Two Little Red Hens). Tried a Radler (pilsner mixed with lemon soda), refreshing and light, then dined on Gurkensalat (cucumber salad), Marinated Herring, Kase-Spatzle, a Wurst Platter, Potato Dumplings, Schweinehaxe (oven-roasted pork shank), and Black Forrest Cake. My boyfriend says we must go back.

Scheweinehaxe (oven-roasted pork shank) with potato dumplings and a cucumber salad

Advice to my future food-blogging self

You have a lot of ideas, but little time (or daylight) to execute them all. Be patient. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you can’t check everything off your list each month.

Be more informative. Just because you’re familiar with some of these foods, doesn’t mean your audience is.

And finally:  Make a meal plan damnit! It’s not enough to have recipes and ingredients. Plan your meals (and snacks). You’ll waste less food and will be less likely to binge on whatever’s available when you don’t have leftovers or time to cook.

Just remember:  As long as you’re creating, you’re getting better at something. Keep at it.