I love eating! And I love cooking. Perhaps even more than eating. Whoever is surprised by this does not know me well. Cooking for me is far more exciting than eating the final product. Perhaps because it has no more secrets. The interesting part is to figure out if everything went smoothly, as I had hoped for. And rather than for me alone, I cook for others―the more the better. Eating is the most direct way to show someone you like them, and I haven’t yet met anyone who does not appreciate that.
Food is―besides language―one of the most salient features of a culture. But more often than not, the most famous dish is not everyday food. When it comes to national cuisine, we all go back to stereotypes: as a German, of course, I love beer, miss bread with crust, and would die for bratwurst with sauerkraut.
Darkly, people have prophesied before my arrival in LA that I will be a wabbleing lardass in no time, thanks to a diet of hamburgers, French fries and donuts. What else do Americans eat…?
But wait! Americans love good food. They celebrate it! There is a TV station which broadcasts nothing else, there are countless journals, websites and local groups, sharing insider tips, recipes and restaurants. And California is especially ideal for this. You get everything fresh: meat, fish, vegetables, fruit―the producers are only a few minutes drive away. Accordingly, there are Farmer’s Markets in each district, and the supermarkets carry everything your heart desires. And at any time.
Each immigrant group has brought their own recipes, adjusted them to the local produce, and all peek into their neighbor’s pots. Americans are new to the international market of cooking traditions, but they have no inhibitions, they’ll try everything. And without the ballast of tradition, they pick from each recipe the best and continue from there on.
Californian wine can easily keep up with Bordeauxs, but costs only half as much. And, it has to be said: American beer is excellent! I have found a lot of great beers, often by small local breweries, which are not exported. What you get in Germany is waht nobody here drinks. (And no, German beer is not automatically the best in the world. Purity law or not: some insipid brews I have chugged out of patriotism were no advertisement for the German brewing tradition).
Downtown, there is restaurant with the beautiful name “Wurstküche”, and from Knack to Bratwurst and rattlesnake-rabbit links, they serve everything you can cram into guts.
Only the bread here still needs practice. No crust and fuzzy consistency―this can pass as “bread-like pastry” at the most. I’m doing my part to educate and provide home-baked goodies for my colleagues. Multigrain with spices, coriander with apricot and pistachio, or chocolate with cranberries―I have adjusted my palette to the local palate, spread the recipes and wait for it to bear fruit. The reactions are unanimously positive. The only setback: The crust was too cross, I was told. But there I am not willing to make compromises! As I said, we still practice …
The problem with German stereotypes, actually, is that although they are not representative, they all apply to me… Bread, sausage and beer? Bring it on!
My eaten Donuts, on the other hand, I can count on a few fingers, for the Hamburgers I need two hands. In fact, I have lost 10lbs within 3 months, simply by eating more consciously (and a little stress). Even in America there is salad…