Douglas-fir Archives

Much of the adventure of living in a country and culture that one is not yet used to comes in the little things. It's learning to adjust one's daily habits; doing without some things you were used to at home, while exploring things and ways of doing things that one isn't used to. This seems particularly applicable to food. Even so, a common thread among American students seems to be the search for a reminder of home in the form of food. Although I was eager to plunge in to the "German" lifestyle when I came here, I must admit that food shopping has been a bit of a bewildering experience. The first several times I've shopped for groceries, I've just wandered around the store not quite knowing what to do.

Granted, It doesn't help that I can't cook very well. Any meals that I prepare are likely to be simple and won't require much preparation. I'm planning to have spaghetti in the near future, now that I've found spaghetti sauce in jars. (I'd still have to boil the noodles, though, which presents a bit of a challenge.) It took me more that a half hour yesterday wandering around two stores before I found soup in cans. And although my German is adequate to get me around in most situations, my lack of vocabulary is often glaring when I'm trying to find something specific. I bought a pudding cup to have for my after-dinner dessert recently, understanding only that it was mit Milchschokolade (milk chocolate). The package said "Grieß-Pudding," and although I didn't understand what Grieß meant, I figured it was just regular pudding. It turns out that Grieß means semolina, and the pudding was roughly like chocolate Cream-of-Wheat. Ug.
You learn something new every day.

I was in the Altstadt of Tübingen the other day and found a store that sold biologische foods, which are equivalent to "Certified Organic" products in the US. And what should happen to be sitting on the shelf along with jams, honey, and syrups but... peanut butter. It was even the good, natural kind, where the oil separates and the peanut butter must be stirred (I can't stand the stuff with all the added sugar and hydrogenated oils). They even had a choice of creamy or crunchy! I stood there for a minute just clutching the jar in wonderment. I bought a jar and some other groceries, and later that afternoon, I bought some sliced white bread in one of the grocery stores next to the Studentendorf. That night, I had peanut butter on bread with a glass of milk. It's harder to get closer to a taste of home than that.

Peanut butter seems to be one of the most sought after comfort foods for American students overseas. I'd read about the quests of students in various countries to find it, and now I got to experience it firsthand. I was talking with one of the students in the program recently who, when I mentioned how much I loved peanut butter, strongly insisted that peanut butter couldn't be found in Germany; my response to which was, "Sure you can, I just bought some the other day!" Granted, it can take a little sleuthing to find certain things. I didn't happen to mention that, although I had seen Skippy-style peanut butter in other stores, I had actually had little hope of finding the natural kind by the time I happened across it!

Anyway, food may not be as exiting as exploring 900 year old monasteries and the like, but it's truly a whole different adventure in its own right.


< »Crunchy« -- Ist das also Neudeutsch oder Denglisch? >