German Food

Food is a huge part of every culture: what you eat, how you eat, and traditions surrounding mealtimes. With my sister (& her German boyfriend) as our guides we learned some lessons about how to interact with German food culture.

Thirst is only beautiful when accompanied by beer.

Always “Proost” before drinking your first beer

…if not, you’ll have bad sex for 7 years! YIKES! “Proost” is just the German equivalent to “Cheers.” This is something we totally screwed up, like every time, but it was funny! Oh and you HAVE to look into the person’s eyes when “proosting” with them. Again, this was hilarious because we were awful at it.

Hope you like sausage

I personally love a good sausage and sauerkraut, they’re surprising one of my favorite foods, but even I can’t eat it for 2-weeks straight. Although sausage is not the only thing on German menus, it is a staple! My sister’s boyfriend is German and vegetarian and I have NO idea how he does it!

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Ethnic food means Turkish

There are a bunch of people of Turkish descent in Germany and with new cultures comes new foods. Street food especially in Berlin, is mostly Turkish. We had some great doner (like a gyro) and this Turkish “health” drink (above). No idea what was in it but it was so warm and yummy!

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Beer is essential to life

Really this should be #1 because beer is everywhere, every time. Americans certainly drink a lot of beer but woah, there is no comparison! Mostly I just notice there is a different beer culture, they a lot more casual about day drinking. Also their beers are a lot lighter, which certainly allows you to drink more without feeling full. Personally I like beer but I can’t drink it at lunch and dinner in large quantities. I certainly didn’t fit in when ordering water or tea at some meals, oh well! 🙂

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Curry sauce is the new ketchup

These people but curry sauce on EVERYTHING. And it is super delicious, but then again I am a fan of curry. I am assuming it’s influenced by the Turkish immigrants??? I dunno, but it’s great.

Christmas BONUS!

If you go during the holidays the Christmas markets have fabulous food booths with sumptuous mushrooms, mulled wine, and hot chocolate, among other yumminess!

JMF