Day 56: Food

Phew... Food... This is a tricky topic. How can I talk about this without sounding like the typical person who says, "There's no place like Spain for food," or without falling into clichés about sausages and the like? How can I sum up the variety of "flavors" that an Erasmus student in Dresden might encounter? I think the best way is to break it down by where you eat:

In Restaurants

There aren't many traditional German restaurants. Some are in the historic center, mostly catering to tourists, while others are scattered around the city, varying in price and quality. Some are affordable, while others won't let you in without a suit jacket. German restaurants typically serve stews and roasts, mainly pork and beef. Mustard is always on the table, along with a basket of various breads. Most diners are drinking beer, which, in good restaurants, is often brewed on-site. The most traditional dish is roasted pork knuckle with Klöße and sauerkraut (I don't know how to spell it because I don't like it), but my favorite is Zigeunerschnitzel (Gypsy-style schnitzel).

However, most restaurants in Dresden serve foreign cuisine. There are many Italian restaurants (one amusingly called Il Trullo (jail in Spanish), with windows covered in bars). Asian restaurants are also common, and unlike in Spain, Chinese food here isn't greasy. They always serve dishes with an incredibly spicy sauce that I find addictive. You'll also find Greek, American, and, of course, kebab shops—so many that they deserve a section of their own.:

In Supermarkets

I can only talk about supermarkets because, with my level of German, I haven't dared to enter butcher shops, greengrocers, or any store where I can't serve myself.

Supermarket food is varied but not extensive. Let me explain. There are mainly four supermarket chains: Lidl, Aldi, Rewe, and Plus. They carry many products, but usually only one brand—often their store brand. Legumes are scarce, replaced by a wide variety of pickled vegetables such as beetroot, cabbage, and rhubarb. Onions are small and purple, and cold cuts are abundant, mostly smoked. I've never seen a fishmonger, and in supermarkets, the only options are frozen hake or salmon, or whole vacuum-packed smoked herring.

At the checkout, alongside candy and batteries, supermarkets also sell sensationalist newspapers. Bakeries are large and offer many types of bread. In the dairy section, curd and cottage cheese (as well as the in-between product, quark) are particularly abundant.

At the Mensa

Most Spaniards here like the Mensa food. I don't. At all. Mensa is the university cafeteria. The Technische Universität Dresden has several, all quite similar. I usually eat at Große Mensa, the largest one, where my friends and I gather for lunch.

There are four meal options, priced between €1 and €3. One is always vegetarian, and another is usually a sweet dish (I don't understand how people choose a plate of sweet bread with sugar and apple jam for lunch). The cafeteria has a hall with four entrances, one for each dish. A screen displays the menu, complete with photos, and shows which entrance corresponds to each meal.

You queue up and wait to be served. The kitchen runs like a Ford assembly line: one person adds the side dish, another the meat, another the sauce… The best part is that if you say "eine große Portion, bitte" before they start assembling your plate, you get double the food for the same price. Drinks are paid for separately.

At a German's Home

Most of my meals at German homes have been in student apartments, so my observations may not be entirely representative.

That said, I've noticed a few things: Cooking tends to be elaborate. A simple steak with potatoes isn't enough—it must be accompanied by something extra. Germans use a lot of sauces (I recommend the mild mustard, orange mustard, and remoulade). And one small but consistent habit I've seen—they don't wash vegetables before using them…

At My Place

My diet in Germany has been pretty decent. I usually eat at the Mensa and have a sandwich with ciabatta bread from the supermarket downstairs for dinner. The cured meats I brought from Spain are stored in a vacuum-sealed box inside my wardrobe—not because I don't want to share, but because my housemates don't appreciate them. When I open a pack, it's a whole ritual: I prepare my sandwich and savor each bite as if it were my last, reminiscing about Spain and its food, almost teary-eyed.

I used to keep the cured meats in the fridge, but my housemates would devour them in one sitting—or worse, cook with them (one day, I caught Thomas frying jamón serrano).

On weekends, I usually cook. Since there's no ready-made tomato sauce, I eat pasta with packet sauces from Lidl. Sometimes I make a Spanish omelet, and last week, after realizing I hadn't eaten them in ages, I treated myself to fried eggs with chorizo and potatoes.

I don't cook much, though, because my housemates never wash the dishes. Cooking means having to clean a massive pile of dirty plates and mugs.

Kebabs

The ultimate Erasmus meal. I have so much to say about them, but since this post is already long, I'll save it for another time...

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