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Title: About German Food
Yield: 1 Servings

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Instructions

Germans are famous for their "Gemuetlichkeit" (friendly joviality),
their hearty cuisine that has adapted to healthy trends and tastes of
recent immigrants, their dairy products and sausage industry, and
their cheering spirit, which in time has given impetus to an industry
of beers, wines, and distilled spirits, like Hacker-Pschorr and
Lowenbrau beers, Asbach Uralt brandies, Joseph Freiderich's wines,
and Fuerst Metternich Sekt.

Typical German cuisine varies according to each German state's
culinary tradition, to its regional agriculture, and to the new
tastes of new Germans who have settled in the reunited Germany.
Nordrhein Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland and
Baden-Wuertenburg's traditional spec- ialties, for example, include
ingredients typified in the agriculture around the Black Forest and
the Rhein river, and by a wine tradition influenced by the proximity
to Belgium, France and Switzerland. They include dishes like the
"Badener Schneckensuepple" (a snail chowder flavored with herbs),
"Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte" (Black Forest cake), and "Rheinischer
Sauerbraten" (beef roast stewed with wine).

Bayern/Bavaria and Hessen's cuisine, with their abundance of beer,
meats, and dairy products, feature specialties like "Spannferkel"
(spit roasted baby pig), "Handkaes" (a smelly type of cheese mixture
made with sour cream) and "Schwaebische Kasespaetzle" (small
drop-shaped flour dumplings topped with cheese and butter).

Thueringen, Bremen, and the Saxonian states (Niedersachsen/Lower
Saxonia-Sachsen-Sachsen Anhalt), include "Dresdner Stollen" (a
holiday fruit cake shaped like a wrapped infant and covered with
confectioner's sugar), "Blechkuchen" (a simple flat layer of cake
dough covered with seasonal fruit), and "Welfenspeise" (vanilla
flavored dessert made with wine).

Schleswig Holstein, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg and
Berlin, with their access to the North and Baltic Seas, their
availability of spices, and their exchange of culinary know-how with
Scandinavian and Eastern countries, include "Rote Gruetze" (fruit
soup), "Sauerfleisch" (meat in aspic made with fish gelatin),
"Bulletten" (meat balls), "Helgolander Krabbensalat" (Helgoland
shrimp salad), and "Soeier" (pickled eggs).

Principal crops grown now throughout the German states and used in its
regional way of cooking include hops (Germany is the second largest
producer in the world), sugar beets, barley, wheat, potatoes, oats,
and rye. Cabbage and carrots are the most important vegetable crops,
and apples, pears, currants, strawberries, and raspberries are the
most important fruit crops.

A typical German meal today may include from two to seven courses. It
is commonly made up by an appetizer (Vorspeise), a soup (Suppe), a
main course (Hauptspeise) with one or two either raw or cooked side
dishes (Beilagen). After-meal treats are called "Nachspeise." With a
fine meal, Germans drink either beer, wine or "Sekt" (champagnoise
type sparkling wine). With their meals, young and old Germans also
like to drink soft drinks that have interesting names like "Radler"
(literally translated, "bike rider" -- a light beer mixed with
lemonade or apple juice) or "Limo" (sweetened sparkling water
combined with lemonade).

Throughout the day, Germans love to drink drip coffee brewed in large
automatic coffee makers with either paper or metallic filters, and
then serve majestic "Torte" or "Kuchen" (cake). No good German
"Hausfrau" would want to be so rude to not serve coffee and cake to
her welcomed guests! German coffee is usually lighter in caffeine
content compared to Austrian and Italian coffees. When it is very
light it is also called "Bluemchenkaffee" (small flower coffee). The
tradition of this last term originates from wartime, when real coffee
was substituted with the roasted roots of chicory, which has a small
blue flower.

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