GETTING SETTLED: FOOD

A picture, finally! I got a snazzy new (compact) camera, however I have no clue how to use it yet so until then I will settle with the auto mode. We are in the process of getting unpacked and settling in to our apartment here but between garbage runs and trips to Ikea sometimes I forget that as a human I need nourishment to compensate for my activity. The first time I visited Germany I had a complete meltdown in a grocery store of H's hometown because I couldn't figure out what anything was and there were no fresh fruits or vegetables. The second visit a few months ago yielded slightly better results since we found a different (and better stocked) grocery store but there are still some very large obstacles for me.

one. Language

This one is quite obvious but also one of the easier ones to work through. As of now I do not have a working cell phone here (or handy as my German boyfriend says) but hopefully it will not be too long until we can jailbreak my current iPhone so that we can program it for Deutschland use. With a working phone and data plan, so long as I have reception I can use my handy translator to find my food.

two. Pre-packaged food/ Instant food

While I may not be the worlds healthiest eater, the bulk of my groceries come from the produce section. I don't know if it like this in bigger German cities but there are aisles filled with boxes of powdered sauces, gravies, and hamburger helper-esque types of meals where all you add is the pasta, water and meat. I am a big fan of making all my food from scratch so it is hard when the grocery stores are fully stocked in this department but are lacking in the produce, grain, spice areas.

three. Exotic ingredients

To me I feel like I have a pretty standard diet, but standard to growing up in a multi-cultural, metropolitan city. To say that I was spoiled in regard to the availability of ethnic food would be an understatement. Products such as  red curry paste, soy sauce, coconut water, chilies are harder to come by here

four. Health food

This one isn't so much a problem of availability (well I'm not sure yet) but rather of location. I am used to giant grocery stores that mostly contain a health food/ organic section but here I have to go to a completely different store. Part of it is a laziness factor, the other part is that I find it super intimidating going into small specialty stores and even more so when I don't speak the language.


D.