While the last post talked about the differences between McDonalds, it was only intended to show you the literal "tip of the iceberg" regarding the difference in what consumers of both countries are willing to accept.
I so love German food.
I remember my first experience with sauerkraut in Germany. It was not sour, but sweet. I explained to my host that I did not like sauerkraut in the US because it is full of vinegar. My host explained to me that you're supposed to rinse it out before you use it. A lot of things we have are very similar but we miss a step, like not rinsing out the sauerkraut before we use it.
I agree, although when you buy sauerkraut in a German Store, it still isn't vinegary like it is here, but here in the United States I'm not sure what they do when they commercially produce sauerkraut. Do they add the additional acid to prolong storage time?
I was taught to always rinse the American made sauerkraut with water a couple times as you indicated, then lightly press to completely drain, and then add some wine or beer to the replace some of the moisture. It should never swim in liquid, just a small puddle, it gives remarkable added flavors. Our German friend also taught me that traditionally; sauerkraut is either roasted or fried, but not cooked in a lot of liquid, it is meant to take on some of the flavor of what you cook it with. Germans usually add thinly sliced onions that have been sauteed until translucent, a pinch of caraway seed, and a touch or brown sugar. But when cooked you can't see the onions, and the other ingredients give it a sort of balanced savory sweet flavor, lightly browned (caramelized).
But on other foods;
As I visited the different large chain grocery stores, I learned that ALDI is a German owned company. All large grocery stores ALDI, Globus, Kaufland, and many more did not have shelves. They were all self serve from boxes stacked on the floor to form isles. Produce boxes were positioned on stacks of pallets to make them more accessible. All this helps to lower overhead costs.
One thing I quickly realized is the German / Bavarian people love freshness. Their fruits and produce are not harvested when green in hopes it will ripen in the supermarket. They don't have greenhouse tomatoes or hydroponic tomatoes in any of the supermarkets we visited. However things might be different in the off season or in large cities where people may not care. My first experience was biting into a red plum purchased from a large supermarket; there was a deluge of fresh sweet juice which flooded the front of my shirt. Not like the mealy textured plums we get here at the market. Yes we can get fresh here but we have go to the farm stand, but freshness is a standard demanded by the German consumers even at large grocery stores.
Even with the different sausages I ate in Germany, Bavaria, and Austria; the grind of the meat is much more coarse than what we sell stateside, and they didn't have any bits of gristle in them. Bratwurst everywhere I had it, (with cheese or without) used cured meat. The Bratwurst were much larger in diameter, pinkish in color, the only exception were the White Pork Bratwursts. As you see in the first picture, the fried sauerkraut with onions is a common addition to their bratwurst sandwiches.
Venison is a staple food in Bavaria, it can be found in grocery stores and on almost every restaurant menu. I loved the Venison Goulash and had it at several places, large tender pieces and no "gamey" flavor.
The mentality of the restaurants are much different than here. Wait staff are paid a full wage like everybody else, they don't rely on tips, so you don't have continually changing wait staff, and you don't have somebody unhappy with their work just to have a job. We arrived late night at a restaurant as the kitchen was closing, we said no problem and started to leave. They said no, please come in and have a seat... Shocked. They said they'd be happy to serve us but the menu would be limited, which was no problem because we were hungry. When I paid the bill, I gave them a generous tip for their inconvenience, and they argued that I gave them too much. I explained that we were grateful for the service and it was a tip to split among themselves, and she stated they don't get tips. I simply told them it was a gift for great service and thanked them for their hospitality, and they were willing to accept that. The sad part is that while the wait staff is paid a full wage, the food is fresher, so the food tastes better, even with tips, we paid less that what we would pay at a comparable restaurant back home.
We had Venison Soup, Roast Pork with Roasted Potatoes, and Fried Red Cabbage, a fantastic meal from a closed kitchen...
The freshest food best tasting food at various locations.
As I covered in earlier posts, the bakeries were out of this world....
Fresh handmade pretzels 3 times a day completely selling out within an hour of baking them.
The selection of rolls and breads made me speechless.... I also noticed there was never any of our sliced white sandwich bread to be found anywhere, even in the large grocery chains.
Even the Ice Cream was homemade, so rich and so good.
Now also noteworthy is the German energy program, many windmill farms and many solar farms. The difference is that they are not obnoxiously obvious and not so obtrusive in the surrounding environment.
Their recycling program is amazing, you don't have to look at what type of plastic it is, all plastic is recycled. All metal including aluminum foil is recycled, and they don't have pretty pictures on plastic coated food boxes so all paper is recycled. They even have a bin for food waste which goes to a composting plant. They do not have the plastic carry sacks at the stores, except on the military installations we visited.
Garbage - Recycle - Compost
They limit you on the size of the garbage container in an effort to facilitate using the larger recycle and compost bins.
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