Food in Swabia - Shopping

I admit when I moved here, I had fears about the type and quality of food - both ingredients and at restaurants - I'd be able to access here in Stuttgart.  And I have jumped the gun in believing some of the stereotypes about the German palette caring only about wurst and kartoffeln (sausage and potatoes). In fact, a wide range of products and ingredients that I commonly use for cooking can be found here, albeit not in normal grocery stores. I think the fact is, large metropolises are maybe not that different worldwide - regardless of the local cuisine, any city with an international population (and it is estimated that 1 in 5 Stuttgarters are not German-born) is going to have a diverse range of ingredients available.

My first realization of this took place on our very second day in Germany, when I visited Stuttgart's famous Markthalle (Market Hall). It reminded me of San Francisco's Ferry Building Market, until I realized that market was based on indoor European markets! There was stall after stall of high-quality meats, cheeses, produce, and specialty food products from all over the world. I was delighted to recognize familiar ingredients such as high-quality tortillas and habaneros, and excited to try some produce I'd never seen before, not even at the famous Berkeley Bowl. And truffles (the fungus, not the confection) for reasonable-ish prices! Totally a foodie's dream, especially the affordably priced European cheeses.

Also, international markets do exist here!  Whether it's GoAsia, a Chinese chain grocery with 37 locations in Germany, or the lovely little shop underground at the Stuttgart Rathaus U-Bahn, high quality Asian ingredients can be found for reasonable prices.  There are also specialty Italian, Greek, Turkish, and Russian stores, so almost any ingredient can be found.

There is also a large farmers' market in front of the Rathaus (City Hall) three times a week, which carries almost all the basic kinds of produce I'd see at the Grand Lake farmers' market in Oakland as well as a few new exciting varieties of European winter squashes.  And the smaller squares usually have a once-a-week market as well, usually Saturday morning.  

German grocery stores are relatively easy to navigate, and not dissimilar to American ones except they seem to be smaller than a typical supermarket, and have a much better bread, cheese and meat selection (they take that stuff seriously here). Beer is incredibly cheap - a large bottle of any local brew is usually under 1 Euro, although the catch is you can only get local beer, aside from a couple of nationwide brands like Becks, everything is either from Baden-Wuerttemburg or Bavaria. 

All shops - literally, everything - are closed on Sunday. This lead to quite an adventure when we realized Sunday morning we were out the cat food we'd packed for our cat. I walked about a mile through the suburb of Moehringen looking for some store that would be open, to no avail. We finally went to the "Shoppette" on base, which had no cat food, but it did have packaged tuna, which apparently has made my cat quite happy.

Up next: Restaurants and wine in Germany - we might have a few annoying American complaints for this section, as I'm badly craving a glass of good California chardonnay and apparently that is NOT going to happen.

Food in Swabia - Shopping

So I may have jumped the gun in believing some of the stereotypes about the German palette (see the previous post about my Bay Area foodie bucket list). Contrary to what I'd heard and assumed, a wide range of products and ingredients that I commonly use for cooking can be found here, albeit not in normal grocery stores. I think the fact is, large metropolises are maybe not that different worldwide - regardless of the local cuisine, any city with an international population (and it is estimated that 1 in 5 Stuttgarters are not German-born) is going to have a diverse range of ingredients available.

My first realization of this took place on our very second day in German, when I visited Stuttgart's famous Markthalle (Market Hall). I wanted to compare it to a more practical version of San Francisco's Ferry Building Market, until I realized that our market was probably largely based on European markets! Stall after stall of high-quality meats, cheeses, produce, and speciality food products from all over the world. I was delighted to recognize familiar ingredients such as high-quality tortillas and habaneros, and excited to try some produce I'd never seen before, not even at the famous Berkeley Bowl. And truffles (the fungus, not the confection) for reasonable-ish prices! Totally a foodie's dream.

A week later I found the German equivalent of "Andronico's" or "Whole Foods" in the city center, where I found even more international products. While I don't regret my last-minute shopping spree at Richmond's Ranch 99 (A Chinese-American supermarket chain that carries a huge selection of products from all over Asia) I was relieved to see high quality Shoyu (soy sauce), Sriracha (a Thai chili sauce), Sambal Oleck, soba noodles, and other condiments and products I utilize on a regular basis.

There is also a large farmers' market in front of the Rathaus (City Hall) three times a week, which carries almost all the basic kinds of produce I'd see at the Grand Lake farmers' market in Oakland (winter veggies, herbs, eggs, chilis, olive oil, honey, wine, citrus and some other fruit) as well as a few new exciting varieties of European winter squashes. I did get the impression that some of the products came from a bit further away than a California farmers' market would have - I saw that some of the produce was from southern France, Italy, and Greece - but then again Californian markets often have produce from all the way across the state, so it's not that huge a difference for a half-hearted, wannabe localvore such as myself.

German grocery stores are relatively easy to navigate, and not dissimilar to American ones except they seem to be smaller than a typical supermarket, and have a much better bread, cheese and meat selection (they apparently take that stuff seriously here). Beer is incredibly cheap - a large bottle of any local brew is usually under 1 Euro, although the catch is you can only get local beer, aside from a couple of nationwide brands like Becks, everything is either from Baden-Wurttenburg or Bavaria. Grocery stores sell underwear and socks.

All shops - literally, everything - are closed on Sunday. This lead to quite an adventure when we realized Sunday morning we were out the cat food we'd packed for our cat. I walked about a mile through the suburb of Moehringen looking for some store that would be open, to no avail. We finally went to the "Shoppette" on base, which had no cat food, but it did have packaged tuna, which apparently has made my cat quite happy.

Up next: Restaurants and wine in Germany - we might have a few annoying American complaints for this section, as I'm badly craving a glass of good California chardonnay and apparently that is NOT going to happen.

Taking The Waters

Anyone who's known me much knows I'm a fan of water. Swimming pools, baths, hot tubs, rivers, even the ocean (if it's warm enough!) are pretty much my favorite places. So I was thrilled when I read that Baden-Wuttenberg, our new home state in Germany, is famous for hot springs and the various mineral baths and spas that one finds in such places.

Our hotel even has a large spa complex, Schwaben-Quellen ("The Waters of Swabia") which we'd meant to enjoy sooner, but as it's a bit pricey and we had so many other things to do, it took us a week to finally venture in. Virtually every American who'd told us about the spa mentioned that, "Hey, it's Europe," followed with a warning about the nudity. Indeed, bathing suits are not allowed at the spa except on special "Textile bath" days, also advertised as "American sauna" days. Our country's prudery is well-known, apparently.

But we're from Northern California, where wearing a suit in a hot tub can be a faux-pas as well, so we figured, why not? The spa offers special discount rates after 9pm, which we figured would be a good introduction.

It's hard to explain what Schwaben-Quellen was like. I've been to some of the few mineral baths in the US that remain, such as Evan's Plunge in South Dakota, but I've never seen quite a shrine to aquatic relaxation as this. It felt very foreign and very confusing, but also very cool.

Apparently we were supposed to get towels from our hotel reception in advance, but we didn't realize this, so we both entered the changing rooms and then started freaking out about the idea of walking around totally naked the whole time. Luckily the slightly exasperated yet polite women working the front desk loaned us very nice towels and waived the typical 5 Euro fee for rental. We were each given a bracelet with an electronic device which gave us entry to the facility, chose a locker for us, and apparently can even be used to pay for additional spa services such as massage and skin treatments, and even food and beverages.

The complex can best be described as a sort of grown-up watery theme park. There is a central cool pool done "Caribbean style" with a volleyball net and waterfalls, surrounded by palapa lounges. The other main pool is an "Icelandic geyser pool" which is warmer (although far below the 100+ degrees that hot tub aficionados like us are used to), and is partially outside. Swimming in a warm, bubbly pool as snow falls on you is a pretty amazing experience, although running
around barefoot on actual snow to make it to the next sauna room was a bit uh, chilly.

Surrounding the pools are at least 20 differently themed steam rooms, saunas, relaxation areas, and tanning beds. I found the relaxation areas kind of silly (I am paying nearly 10 Euro an hour to nap? No way!) but they seemed quite popular with the locals. Everything was themed to a different culture and decorated in a sort of Disney-esque approximation thereof, so we hung out in a "Mayan" steam room and a "Canadian hut" sauna. (This, by the way, is probably some of the last offensive cultural appropriation we've seen so far. Oh, Germany.) There are also special showers located everywhere with water jets in all directions, foot baths, and private rooms for people who pay extra to not have to mingle with the masses.

Overall it was very cool and relaxing, although I wish we'd known a few things in advance, such as that you can (and should) wear slippers, and that even though they don't let you wear clothes in the pools or saunas, many people had bathrobes for walking to and from the different areas. The weirdest part was the restaurant overlooking the main bathing area - you can use your bracelet to get a smoothie, a cocktail, or even dinner - while wearing a towel! Definitely a different experience from an American spa but overall pretty enjoyable, although I have to say that this is one of those times that being extremely nearsighted might be a good thing.

European Products To Love - A Series

A few years ago, a couple we knew invited us to visit the cabin they rent out every August on the Russian River. We're no strangers to cabin trips, but Ivy and Andre always stayed a week or more, and we realized when we arrived that meant they'd done some serious shopping. Let's just say the bar was well stocked. They also had a large box of something we'd never heard of before - Underberg.

It just so happened that we were both having some unpleasant indigestion that day (McDonald's breakfast may have been the culprit) and as a result we had to stay behind for the big river tubing trip. Skeptically, we decided to each try one an Underberg, as it advertised itself as a "digestive herbal tonic that promotes a feeling of well-being."

It doesn't taste good. It's basically herbal booze, packaged in it's trademarked paper-wrapped tiny bottle. Think Fernet, but uh, yuckier. And yet, within just a few minutes, we did feel better. Maybe it was the secret recipe of herbal infusion or maybe it was that we'd basically had a 40 proof shot, but our stomachs felt better and we were revived. Sold!

Unfortunately, Underberg is both hard to locate in the States, and very expensive. German restaurants in the Bay Area usually sell it for around $4 a bottle, and you can buy the large boxes at BevMo, but you're still paying nearly $3 per bottle.

So one of our first missions in Germany was to find a source of Underberg. The MarketHalle in Stuttgart sells individual bottles for 1 Euro! Score! Better yet, our local grocery store stocks Underberg in a variety of sizes, including a decorative tin that we just had to get, for even cheaper. And given the heavy starch and meat-based meals that are mostly unavoidable, Underberg isn't just a cute curiosity - it's a necessity!

Taking the Waters

Anyone who's knows me much knows I'm a fan of water. Swimming pools, baths, hot tubs, rivers, even the chilly California beaches are pretty much my favorite places. So I was thrilled when I read that Baden-Württemberg, our new home state in Germany, is famous for hot springs and the various mineral baths and spas that one finds in such places.

Even the hotel that is our temporary home has a large spa complex, Schwaben-Quellen. Virtually every American who'd told us about the spa mentioned that, "Hey, it's Europe," followed with a warning about the nudity. Indeed, bathing suits are not allowed at the spa except on special "Textile bath" days, also advertised as "American sauna" days. Our country's prudery is well-known.

But we're from Northern California, where wearing a suit in a hot tub can be a faux-pas as well, so we figured, why not? The spa offers special discount rates after 9:00pm, which we figured would be a good introduction.

It's hard to explain what Schwaben-Quellen was like. I've been to a few mineral baths in the U.S., such as Evan's Plunge in South Dakota, but I've never seen quite a shrine to aquatic relaxation as this. It felt very foreign and very confusing, but also very cool.

Apparently we were supposed to get towels from our hotel reception in advance, but we didn't realize this, so we both entered the changing rooms and then started freaking out about the idea of walking around totally naked the whole time. Luckily the slightly exasperated yet polite women working the front desk loaned us very nice towels and waived the typical €5 fee for rental. We were each given a bracelet with an electronic device which gave us entry to the facility, chose a locker for us, and can be used to pay for additional spa services such as massage and skin treatments, and even food and beverages.

The complex can best be described as a sort of grown-up watery theme park. There is a central cool pool done "Caribbean style" with a volleyball net and waterfalls, surrounded by palapa lounges. The other main pool is an "Icelandic geyser pool" which is warmer (although far below the 100 plus degrees Fahrenheit that hot tub aficionados like us are used to), and is partially outside. Swimming in a warm, bubbly pool as snow falls on you is a pretty amazing experience, although running
around barefoot on actual snow to make it to the next sauna room was less so.  Can you say shrinkage?

Surrounding the pools are at least 20 differently themed steam rooms, saunas, relaxation areas, and tanning beds. I found the relaxation areas kind of silly (I am not paying nearly €10 an hour to nap!) but they seemed quite popular with the locals. Everything was themed to a different culture and decorated in a sort of Disney-esque approximation thereof, so we hung out in a "Mayan" steam room and a "Canadian hut" sauna. (This, by the way, is probably some of the last offensive cultural appropriation we've seen so far. Oh, Europe!) There are also special showers located everywhere with water jets in all directions, foot baths, and private rooms for people who pay extra to not have to mingle with the masses.

Overall it was very cool and relaxing, although I wish we'd known a few things in advance, such as that you can (and should) wear slippers, and that even though they don't let you wear clothes in the pools or saunas, many people had bathrobes for walking to and from the different areas. The weirdest part was the restaurant overlooking the main bathing area - you can use your bracelet to get a smoothie, a cocktail, or even dinner - while wearing a towel! Definitely a different experience from an American spa but overall pretty enjoyable, although I have to say that this is one of those times that being extremely nearsighted might be a good thing.