1. Breakfast!
When I was still in school I hated breakfast. Not only did I grow up in the one region in Germany that is entirely void of good bread (they sell it in plastic bags *headshake*), I simply wasn't hungry that early. I joylessly munched some chewy bread, drank tea and then usually bought a cheese roll or something during recess.
I don't think I really started to like breakfast before I moved to my current town. We're one of those towns that are thoroughly dominated by their universities, and to suit students a lot of bakeries offer affordable small breads that are manageable even if you don't share with your housemates. And then I kind of fell in love with breakfast (and bread, zOMG bread...).
Since I started cycling in the morning I usually split breakfast in two. A wee bit of cereal in milk with berries (frozen) before I head out, and a "proper" breakfast consisting of bread and tea (black, plain or with ginger) once I'm back.
This is what I had the last two days:
Today's was two small slices of rye bread, one with cream cheese, cucumber and nigella seeds, one with almond paste. NOM. No fresh veg or fruit today since I was out :( The one on the left features the best pottery teacup ever.
That I eat bread and savoury topic is the only part that's typically German, I think. Most people drink coffee in the morning, and sausage or cheese (sans veg & weird seeds) on their bread.
2. Meat eater Vs. Pescetarian Vs. Vegetarian Vs. Vegan
Let's have a look at today's groceries:
Yup. Clear case of almost-vegetarianism ;).
I've never been particularly fond of meat and fish. There were a few meat dishes I rather liked, but when my sister turned vegetarian when I was six I started sharing her food rather than my parents' rather quickly. I'd still eat meat if my parents cooked something I particularly liked, but on most days I stuck to veg. When I slowly started to learn how to cook it was usually dinner for me and my sister, or the entire family, so I never really learned how to cook meat (ok, I also absolutely refused to touch raw meat (yuck), that might've been an issue as well...). (As a result the only traditional German food I can make is potato salad... oops.)
It's still pretty much the same. I'm not strictly vegetarian. I don't mind gelatine and rennet, and I'll very occasionally (maybe once a month) eat meat, though not usually prepared by myself. Mostly to make life for my friends easier, occasionally because the dish on offer is just too bloody delicious to refuse. The only thing I prepare myself is the occasional taco beef (well, and I tried to make beef curry a while ago, but it wasn't that great, so I'm unlikely to try again for quite some time)...
My main issue with meat (aside from veggies simply being yummier) are the conditions under which most most meat is raised. Growing up in a small town in a rural traditional farming region our butcher could usually tell us what meadow that cow had been standing on a few weeks earlier, and farmers generally took good care of their animals. Now I live in a bigger city and it's quite a bit more difficult. The only thing I can be certain to have been raised under decent conditions is lamb/mutton and venison, which (of course) are a bit too expensive for a slim student budget (especially when you have no idea how to actually cook them). For some reason it's much easier to get dairy from happy dairy cows than meat from happy meat cows :(
As for my vegetarian diet... I really hate meat substitutes. I guess it kind of figures, since I'm mostly almost-vegetarian 'cause I don't like meat. I just fail to see the necessity, because you can cook much, much better (not to mention healthier) just sticking to traditionally vegetarian dishes. But I guess a lot of people who turn veg for ethical reasons miss their meat.
Did I mention fresh veg is delicious? Because it bloody well is.
No comments:
Post a Comment