Breaking Bread

The final hours that I get to spend with Eric before he leaves for Germany are fast approaching. It is crazy how fast 4 weeks can go by. Luckily this time it should only be about a month until I get to fly over and join him...if all goes as planned of course. It is still hard to believe I will be living in Germany for three years. There will be a lot of adjustments to be made. 


Speaking of adjustments..it is Meatless Monday. Everyone keeps saying how hard it will be for me being a vegetarian in Germany however, our views of German food are a bit skewed. German food..yes, I am sure Sausage and beer come to mind but believe it or not German food has changed and modernized a bit. "Chefs trained in Switzerland, France, or Italy return to Germany to open Continental restaurants, and Italians and Turks, many of whom originally came to Germany as "guest workers," own restaurants featuring their own culinary traditions." 


Believe it or not there are fresh fruits and veggies in Germany just as there is here. It might be hard at times but it is hard here sometimes too! I am trying not to generalize German food to only sausage and beer...I wouldn't want people to generalize American food as burgers and fries..because obviously we have a bit more than that here. 


The best part about German food is the fact that they love bread as much as I do. 


"Bread is a big part of the German diet, and usually eaten for breakfast and as sandwiches in the evening, rarely as a side dish for the main meal. The importance of bread (Brot) in German cuisine is also illustrated by words such as Abendbrot (supper, literally Evening Bread) andBrotzeit (snack, literally Bread Time). In fact, one of the major complaints of German expatriates in many parts of the world is their inability to find acceptable local breads. German bakeries produce about 6,000 types of breads and approximately 1,200 different types of pastry.
Bread is served with almost every (non-main)-meal. Bread is not considered a side dish and is considered important for a healthy diet.
Germany's most popular breads are:

1. Rye-wheat ("Roggenmischbrot")
2. Toast bread ("Toastbrot")
3. Whole-grain ("Vollkornbrot")
4. Wheat-rye ("Weizenmischbrot")
5. White bread ("Weißbrot")
6. Multi-grain ("Mehrkornbrot")
7. Rye ("Roggenbrot")
8. Sunflower seed ("Sonnenblumenkernbrot")
9. Pumpkin seed ("Kürbiskernbrot")
10. Onion bread ("Zwiebelbrot")

Darker, rye-dominated breads such as Vollkornbrot or Schwarzbrot are typical of German cuisine. Pumpernickel, a steamed bread, is internationally well-known, although not representative of German black bread as a whole.
There are hundreds of different dishes and beverages many of which are typical only to some German regions. You are not likely to find many of these dishes in any other country than Germany.

I love bread baking...possibly even more than cooking. So this is a cuisine that I can find home in. 


So in this month or so that I am left here waiting to leave, my goal will be to give all 10 of these breads a go. I might fail miserably but it will be fun regardless. Looks like Rye-Wheat is first on the list.


Wish me luck.