Never  hear about St. Martin?

Martin of Tours was a French Roman soldier who later on became bishop. He is most famous for his cutting of the cloak in half to share with a beggar on a cold winter evening.

In memory of him hiding from becoming a bishop in the goose pen and being betrayed by the sound of the geese, people share a goose with friends or family the night of the 11^th. In the really old days people started a 40 day long fasting period the day after this feast. This period was shortened later on by the church and is now known as Advent – the 24 days leading up to Christmas eve.

From being a French tradition it spread all over Europe and is well known and celebrated in most countries.

In Germany most kindergarten or school classes have a little lantern procession on the 11th or the night before – so today. For weeks they prepare lanterns and rehearse famous St. Martin´s songs. The most famous song is probably this one:

So why does she tell us today and not tomorrow, the 11^th ? … Well…. There is another fancy tradition coming up tomorrow, which I would like to introduce to you. And beside that. You might be inspired and spontaneously invite your family, friends or neighbors for a little feast. Bon appetite!

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Oom-pah music, beer tent, Dirndl and Lederhosn.

Unfortunately this is not representing Germany. All those things very well describe Bavaria. Some part of Bavaria. The southern part.

I hope during one month of introducing different cultural aspects of Germany you will get a different picture of this very diverse country. But up to now we are still quite in the beginning of the months – therefore some stereotypes are of course allowed.

So here we go:

All people in Germany are like Bavarians….. Tell that to a person from Hamburg and the chance to become friends will very fast go down to zero.

Germany has all the same traditions. North and South – East and West.There are some quite significant differences. Carnival is the biggest event in the Cologne area. Try to call a business partner on “Faschingsmontag” – the Monday of the festivities. I would assume the chances of reaching anybody are quite low. In most other parts of Germany people might dress up a bit, but honestly, it is not the biggest event in Hamburg.

Everyone in Germany speaks the same language. German ≠ German. I have a friend in Berlin who just loooooves when I role the “r” the way we do it in the northern part of Bavaria. Little side note – the rolling “r” is not even the same in north and south Bavaria. And some people in Aachen would not understand what a person from Saxony with a strong accent tells them.

Roasted pork with dumplings is Germany´s national dish. Ah, nope. The north eats a lot of fish dishes (logic, since they have the sea right in front of their doorstep.) The south eats a lot of roasted pork and dumplings. Berlin is known for its Currywurst while the cuisine in the southwest is very much influenced by the French kitchen (again they are quite close to France).

Fashion = Dirndl and Lederhosn. If you would like to out yourself as a tourist, wear a Dirndl in Hamburg. You better not wear a Dirndl or Lederhosn outside of southern Germany – around Carnival times it is ok though. And even in Bavaria – again north and south differs here as well – not everybody has a Dirndl in their wardrobe. Coming from north Bavaria I got my first Dirndl when I moved to south Bavaria – Munich. It might be different nowadays, but back in the days running around in Dirndl was a definite no-go and considered really conservative – even strange – when you were under 65. There is by the way some great and quite famous German designers out there that you probably already know. Karl Lagerfeld, Bogner, Guido Maria Kretschmer, Wolfgang Joop to just name a few…. and you probably don´t know them for their Dirndls.

German music = oompah music. Yes – also. But again – Bavaria – in beer tents – at the Octoberfest. And even with the oompah music there are hugh differences. If you are not particularly into oompah music – try this one. LaBrassBanda. They are really cool and almost made it to the Eurovision Song Contest for Germany … but that´s another story.

Eventhough you thought you understand German you have not understood what this song is all about? Don´t worry – even as a native Bavarian (to be very specific Frankonian – which means I speak a very different language myself) I could not fully translate this song to you.

There are many more stereotypes on Germany and we will touch upon some more in later posts.

What stereotypes do you have about Germany?

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The pastry “Krapfen” in Bavaria is called “Pfannkuchen” in Berlin while the Berliner meat-burger “Bulette” is called “Fleischpflanzerl” in the south.

What you get also depends very much on where in the country you are. If you order a “Jägerschnitzel” in Hamburg you order a veal Schnitzel with creamy mushroom sauce while in Dresden you will get a thick piece of a special sausage coated in breadcrumbs with noodles in tomato sauce. East and West – there are still differences.

One dish though does not have many variations and has its origin in the south. Käsespätzle. Homemade egg pasta (that doesn´t really look like regular pasta) with melted cheese and tons of almost burned onions on it…. Sounds weird? I guess it is. But it is soooo yummy! Try it out and I am sure you will love it.

Here is how I make a good portion for 4 people:

 Mix the flour, the oil, the salt and the water. It should be a smooth semifluid dough.

Prepare cooking salt water.

Put the dough in a “Spätzlepresse” or – in case you don´t have one – put some dough on a little wooden board and scrap pieces of the dough with a knife into the water.

After just a short moment the Spätzle will pop up. Fish them out of the water and put them in a bowl or a casserole. For every “fished out” Spätzle portion put some shredded cheese on top and blend it.

Repeat and repeat those steps until you have no more Spätzle dough and cheese left.

Keep in mind that the water needs to have a decent amount of salt in it – it gives a nice taste to the Spätzle.

Peel the onions and cut them in rings. Fry them in a pan until they are dark – almost caramelized and put them on top of the Spätzle.

You can eat green salad with a simple dressing with it or just plain.

By the way…. Käsespätzle are also delicious the next morning – it is a bit like the thing with the cold pizza … you think this is not really a healthy start into the day – but at the same time you just cannot not eat it … specially after a long night out.

Think about me when you try the recipe and let me know what you think!

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