The Munchies

Food is not only a necessity to survive, but a comfort in times of need, an alternative to nasty habits, and sometimes it’s just pure deliciousness. In my first year in Austria, I dedicated all my efforts in German towards learning the names of foods, dishes, and sweets. But let’s jump back years before my move to Austria.

California is awesome. That’s a fact. Anyone who wishes to state the contrary can know that my door is always open. Its diversity only highlights the laidback atmosphere of Hippyland. Do you know what diversity means? It means loads of people, from all over the world,

converging in one place to coexist and teach each other a little something about other cultures and customs. And do you know what that means? That means you are being exposed to a very diverse menu. Yum!

I’m talking Mexican, Guatemalan, Ecuadorian, Korean, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Indian, Ethiopian, American, Spanish, among hundreds of other delicious options. I’m sorry if I’m drooling; blame it on the vivid image in my head. So, years later, when I moved to Austria, I managed to be disappointed by the poor selection of foods here. It’s not as if Salzburg doesn’t supply those cuisines, it’s just that in San Francisco there was a demand for originality, affordability, and variety even within a specific kind of cuisines.

For example, I knew that if I wanted to get good Thai, I had to take the tram downtown to pick up my favorite Pad Thai, but if I wanted Pumpkin Curry I would have to take the bus to Japantown. As long as there were no cockroaches crawling around in my Pho, I never feared entering a hole-in-the-ground restaurant or ordering out of the back of a truck. Food is food, and it should be judged on a scale of deliciousness.

My wide range of expertise on the matter seemed to have died when I moved to Austria because the only thing I really had any knowledge of was the Schnitzel and McDonalds. And considering that I hadn’t had fast food in ten years, there was no point in starting now. Or so I thought.

In California, because healthy take-out was so affordable, it never crossed my mind to eat unhealthy to save a buck. Maybe I should have left my organic, free-range, freshly squeezed, soy-latte, skim-milk, vegan, wheat-grass mentality at home, but it’s always hard to get rid of habits.

In Austria things are a little bit different. It’s much cheaper to buy a Kebap or frozen pizza than it would be to get Chinese food. The price of Chinese food in Austria far outweighs the quality. But then this amazing thing happened; I started to eat Austrian food.

I’m talking: fruit dumplings, roasted meat, mulled wine, warm apple strudels. The really filling stuff. Never have I been out to an Austrian dinner and come home hungry. Not that that normally happens, but it’s just potatoes, on top of meat, on top of sauce, on top of this, on top of that. All washeddown with a Stiegl.

Soon, I started to notice some things. First, I needed a new pair of pants. And second, good work Austria. After having jumped into the pool that is Austrian cuisine, I could no longer stop treading water. Then came the Milka (which is actually Swiss), the different cheeses, the cooked foods, the Frittatensuppe. The frickin Frittatensuppe. I think I spent 2 weeks completely obsessed with a soup that is just beef broth and sliced up pancakes.

I’ve had to cut back on all the fried, greasy, heavy foods, but all I can say is: double-thumbs up Austria.

Signed,

Dude, Where’s my Schnitzel?