Tony Robol, Business, Technology and Engineering: The German Way Summer 2023
As far as food goes, we always ate out. There was a small kitchenette at the hotel, but none of us really had any time to cook with the way the program was structured and with all of the other things we wanted to do. The only thing I really used the kitchenette for was drinking water, as tap water is very clean and safe to drink in Munich. I tried plenty of new foods in Munich, but also resorted to several of my favorite foods to see how it was done differently in Germany, if at all.
The first thing I had in Germany was Leberkaese sandwich, which was German meatloaf on bread with a sweet mustard. Simply put, it made a great first impression of what German food was like. The next of the new foods I tried was this potato dumpling at the Hofbrauhaus, which came along with my pork entrée. This was also very good, and something I would order again. The next day, the professors took us out to a Bavarian dinner, and I got to try several new foods there. First, the professors ordered white asparagus for us to try. It was good and better than regular asparagus, but I would not buy it on my own given the price they were charging for it. The other new food I tried was called Kaiserschmarrn, which was sort of like a thick, caramelized pancake. Other notable new foods I tried include Weisswurst (very popular breakfast food in Germany), Doener Kebab (similar to gyros), and Schnitzel (German pork cutlet).
While trying new foods was a great experience, I was also curious to see how some foods from back home held up in Germany. The most notable of these foods was gnocchi, my favorite pasta. I got to try some at an Italian restaurant I went to with some of the other students, and it was excellent. To be honest, I have had better gnocchi than the ones I tried that day, but it was certainly up there. Next, I tried soft pretzels in Munich, one of the foods Germany is best known for. And it lived up to the hype. I got a pretzel from the bakery in the central station, and I’m not sure what was on it, but it was the best soft pretzel I have ever had. Another food popular in both the US and Germany is pizza. However, I got a type of pizza in Germany that I have not seen offered in the US – seafood pizza. It had mussels, squid, and octopus on it… and it was phenomenal. I’ve had some excellent pizza in the US, but it is safe to say Germany offers some excellent pizza as well. We also ate at chains found in the US like McDonald’s and Five Guys, but those were not much different from what you are getting in the US.
One of the coolest food experiences I had in Germany came from one of our German student buddies on the program, Max. He was actually a professional chef for a few years and is very passionate about cooking. He made us dinner twice, one of which was Mediterranean themed, and the other of which was a pizza dinner. It was very fascinating to see the fine attention to detail he paid to his creations, and it showed when it eventually came time to eat. From the ingredients to the tools to the process of preparation, everything was accounted for. And as a result, it was some of the best food I had on the trip, and perhaps ever. Huge shoutout to Max for his awesome food and his generosity.
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