Thoughts on German food

This week I haven't really done anything exciting, but I did consume a good amount of food, bringing me to todays topic: snacking.

When I think about the snacks here, one name comes to mind: HARIBO!!! Not only do they make the tastiest gummy bears I can think of, they also make a wide assortment of other gummy wonderfulness. Their black licorice wheels are another favorite of mine. While they do sell Haribo brand gummies in the states, don't be fooled into thinking they are the same. The ones in the states are way squishier and for that reason just don't taste as good. This can partially be remedied by sticking those things in a fridge or freezer for a bit, but it's just not the same.

The next obvious thing to talk about would be wurst, but considering how I haven't consumed a single sausage since I've been here, I can't really talk about them.

The bakery. So yeah there are lots of those here. To get an idea as to how many, I'll use an analogy. The bakery density here rivals, if not surpasses, the Starbucks density in Manhattan, so there you go. I don't think you can go down any block really without running into some kind of bakery, which is fine though, since baked things are yummy. I have really come to love this one whole grain bread that's covered in like pumpkin seeds or some other puffy seed that looks like a pumpkin seed but maybe isn't. But I can't think of what else they could be anyway, so bread + pumpkin seeds = a good thing. Also good from the bakeries are their hot fresh Brezels and pastries.

Another thing that they have a lot of here is cheese. And luckily, I also love cheese. Most of my experiences with cheese here have been in the form of mystery on my sandwich. They're good, but then I never know what to go to the store and buy for home consumption. :( I guess this means that I have to improve my German some more so that when I ask the bakery people what kind of cheese is on the sandwich, their response will sound intelligible.

And now we come to my most favorite thing: chocolate! I don't think this really needs much explanation, but Lebkuchen (gingerbread--the soft kind, not the hard cookie kind) covered in dark chocolate reminds me of Christmas and is sooo good. And then there's also how when you go to the grocery store there is almost always a chocolate aisle separate from the candy aisle, 'nuff said.

All this talk about food has made me hungry, so I'm going to go make some spaghetti since that's still the only thing I can actually "cook" right now.