Essen ist leben, to eat is to live. And I love living, especially when it involves mouthwatering cuisine. Naturally, I wondered how I would find good produce beyond the requisite apple and potato. What about Thai curry, tortillas and salsa?
Back in California, I somehow had the idea that Germans rode bikes everyday to the Farmer's Market, where they would fill a woven basket with only the freshest produce. Big box stores were anethema, what grocery stores there were would be open seven days a week, and people always always always carried their pwn paper or plastic bags.
Wow, was I ever wrong! Germany and the Bay Area are more similar than I thought.
Let's start with the Farmer's Market. There is one every day in different parts of the city. Our local one at Eidelstedt happens five days a week with Saturday being the most popular time. However, it isn't a political statement to buy from the Farmer's Market; rather, it is a place where farmers bring their wares to a table, prices are similar to that of the grocery store, and everyone from grandmas to grade-school children mull over the produce, cheese, and random household goods. No campaigning, some organic (but not all), very relaxed. Germans like to nibble, and there are always several Frikadelle and Wurst venders offering tasty sausages, soups and french fries for about $2. Yum...
Did I mention the German obsession for fabulous bread? OMG. I love it. Bread is inexpensive, and bakeries are on nearly every corner in the city. The little "brotchen" (little breads) are bliss--pumpkin seed, sesame seed, multigrain...and then there are the sweet breads like poppy seed cake, plum tart, chocolate croissants. On the weekend, Dan zips over to our local bakery and picks up several brotchens and a special treat for breakfast. It is fantastic. Because the flour is less refined and doesn't have preservatives or additives, the bread fills me up and provides longer-term energy...I keep reflecting on Michael Pollen's
Omnivore's Dilemma, and am thankful that Germany seems to be keeping food as real food.
The bags--it is true that grocery stores do not automatically offer a bag. If a shopper doesn't bring one and wants one, it costs about 10 or 25 cents for a small one, and up to one Euro for a big bag. I've learned to either carry a big purse or always have a bag handy! However, at the Farmer's Market and at clothing/drugstores, the customer always gets a bag.
Speaking of grocery stores, I'm amazed at the selections in some. The cheaper stores (Penny, Lidl, Aldi) plunk down cases of various products (coffee, pudding, clothes, cereal...) and it's no-frills shopping. The nicer stores (Edeka, Rewe, Toom) are like Safeway--and they have great Asian options and even a bit of a Mexican selection! Real butchers and cheese sellers cut the amount to order, and they can offer good advice on their products.
The downside of the grocery stores: the hours. Monday - Friday usually from 8 am until 8 pm (bold Penny stays open until 10pm), Saturdays until 7 or 8, and closed on Sundays. Now before you say, "that's not so bad!", remember that everyone else is shopping for food on Saturdays, too, so it's Berkeley Bowl crowded. A few times, we went away on Saturday, only to return at either 7:45 or 9:45 pm and realize that we had no milk or food in the house--STRESS!! Or think about cooking a nice Sunday dinner for friends, and realize that you forgot one key ingredient...can we even make Plan B? Fortunately, restaurants are open seven days a week. :-)
About the box store. The mother of all Ikea stores is right here in Hamburg. I tell you, little Ikea stores like Emeryville or Torrance are birthed from this place and crawl or transmogrify to their destination. The Box exists. However, unlike in the States, The Box is usually independently owned or part of a small local chain. Many other options exist (especially mom and pop stores), and The Box doesn't always have the best deal in town. I don't think that The Box will overtake the smaller stores; it's just another option, albeit a trendy one.
However, we both nearly had heart attacks when we visited Dodenhof (http://www.dodenhof.de/kaltenkirchen/359.htm ), a GINORMOUS mega-box. I'd heard that it had good baby furniture, so we went. We approached the five story building (something out of Wall-E) and gulped. In front was a "Schnappechen", a super sale in a fenced-off area. Every half-hour, a product was offered at a reduced price. Scores of people were scrambling for 12 Euro sweaters! We dodged the flying elbows and coathangers, and bravely navigated the escalators, wove around sofas and vases to arrive at the baby section on the fourth floor. No luck there. Then an announcement over the loud speaker broadcast a Schnappechen in housewares--50% off all small appliances. Like lemmings to a cliff, we trotted to housewares, and found the last waffle iron, and it was good price... finding the car again was like looking for a friend at a rock concert...the upside is that Dodenhof is adjacent to the regional train, so if we decide to visit the Monster Box, we'll take the train.
We decided to purchase some of Sophie's baby furniture from a local baby store--prices were better than The Box, it's around the corner from us, and the employees were super helpful. We did not get a bag, either!
Time to cook dinner--local salmon from the Fish Woman (and daughter) who sets up her stand in front of the grocery on Tuesdays...
Here are some pix of the growing belly... little Sophie is getting bigger ... :-)
