When I went to visit Germany, back in  2017, I remember the first night, one of the dishes I was served for dinner was German Red Cabbage.  What stood out to me immediately was that the cabbage was quite sweet with some bitterness, which caught me off guard because, the cabbage I had tried up to that point was not very tasteful. I wanted to learn more about this dish, and learned the ingredients and process to make German red cabbage. I did learn in the process that there are red cabbage dishes that are made differently in different countries.

The recipe that I found for German red cabbage Taste of Home.The ingredients that go into making this dish are sliced apples, sliced onion sugar, white vinegar, salt, pepper, and of course, red cabbage.  You start by cooking the apples and onion until they both become tender. After that, you mix in the rest of the ingredients, and stir occasionally for about an hour before it is ready.

The recipe for Danish red cabbage, from Nordic Food & Living, has some similar ingredients, but is prepared in a much different way. The ingredients for this recipe requires red cabbage, vinegar, sugar, salt, and either currant or elderberry juice.  To prepare, you put the cabbage in a pan with the vinegar and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Then, you add the sugar, salt, and juice and let it simmer for another 30 minutes, and then it’s all ready.

One ingredient that makes these two dishes differ from each other is the fruit used in these dishes. In the German dish, apple is used, while in the Danish dish, currant or elderberry juice is used. I found this ingredient difference quite interesting and have tried to figure out the reasoning either using apple or currant or elderberry juice. My first thought was that Germans use apple in their dish because there are an abundance of apples there, and it looks like I am correct. “In terms of area, apples are by far the most important deciduous fruit species in Germany, which account for about two thirds of total German deciduous fruit area.” (Lieberz 2017). I then did a little bit of research on the use of currants or elderberries. I found that  are “commonly used as a base in both home-made and store-bought cordial mixes in Scandinavia” (Thompson). While for elderberries, they originated in “Europe, from Southern Scandinavia in the north to the Mediterranean” (Lugg 2012). Scandinavia was one of the original locations, however they are now commercially grown around the world. 

Based on the information I found, I believe that a person’s food, identity, and culture is heavily impacted by the person’s geographic location. People have had to learn how to cook with what they were given before countries were able to globally export food, making food more  accessible, when geographically it isn’t. It is always fascinating to learn the differences in food culture between different countries, whether it be the way food is prepared, or the types of food in a typical dish. 

References

“German Red Cabbage” Taste of Home. https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/german-red-cabbage/

“Danish Red Cabbage” Nordic Food and Living.

https://nordicfoodliving.com/danish-red-cabbage/

Lieberz, Sabine. “Results of The German Fruit Tree Census” https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Results%20of%20the%20German%20Fruit%20Tree%20Census_Berlin_Germany_12-22-2017#:~:text=Page%204-,3.2%20Species%20of%20Trees,total%20German%20deciduous%20fruit%20area

Lugg, Ann. “Elderberry” Herb Society of America: Pioneer Unit.

https://www.herbsocietypioneer.org/elderberry/#:~:text=Origin%20%E2%80%93%20Europe%2C%20from%20southern%20Scandinavia,North%20America%20%E2%80%93%20especially%20the%20northeast.

After hearing about this Scandinavian microbrewery in class, I decided to give it a try. Instead of ordering one entre, I chose to get a sampler platter or as they. called it a. smorgasbord.

I was able to try 5 different items on the menu. Which were frikadeller (Danish meatballs), mashed potatoes & mushroom gravy, smoked pork sausage, flatbread & toum, and agurksalat (cucumber salad). The frikadeller was probably my favorite out of the five, and it came with a musturd dill sauce which was delicious. The mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy was good, and thought it was saltier than most mashed potatoes I’ve had at a restaurant. The smoked pork sausage had. good taste, however it was about room temperature when served which was a surprise to me. This sausage was a little more dry than I expected, however that might be because it was smoked. The flatbread & toum was much better than expected. The bread was warm and delicious and the toum, which is a garlic sauce, was really good with the bread, and hope to see it on menus. The agurksalat was interesting because the cucumbers were prepared in a way I have never had before. Because of the cucumbers are pickled, they were sweet, which I enjoyed.

What also made the Viking Braggot Company interesting is that their beer were all braggots. A braggot is mead made with honey, and there was a selection of braggots on the menu. I chose the the Freya blonde braggot, and something I noticed while drinking it is that it was much smoother than beer and tasted better overall in my opinion.