Exchange Student from France

binx
Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:36:40 +0000

My D had two friends from her German high school here for 2 weeks in June. They were rather adventurous eaters - one more so than the other. I had the advantage that I knew what things would be familiar and what would be different - and I tried to offer them some of both.

They were used to eating cereal for breakfast, and liked to do that here, too. They loved Krispy Kreme donuts; were lukewarm about bagels. They liked our bacon, even though it is very different from German bacon. They enjoyed hamburgers on the grill (only American hamburgers they were familiar with had come from the golden arches.) Be aware that meats taste different here - animals are raised differently. So even if they like ham or beef or chicken back home, it may not taste quite right to them here. (Pork tastes the same.)

They both tried PB & J sandwiches, but only one liked it. I had an array of sandwich meats and cheeses; they both went for hard salami and provolone.

We had pizza, and they ate it just fine; it is rather different from German pizza, though (which is more like Italian).

Steak restaurants always go over big here, with both younger and older German guests. Texas Roadhouse is fun because of the line-dancing and atmosphere.

Corn used to be considered animal feed in Germany, and not everyone is fond of it. Our German teens were surprised that we buttered our corn on the cob - they are used to only salt. They don’t use butter on their bread, either.

Our young German friends love the Mexican restaurants here. I was surprised, because they aren’t usually big on heavy spices. I remembered, though, how much they liked my homemade nachos when we were in Germany, so I thought that might happen.

I didn’t cook a turkey this time - but that has always gone over big with all our international guests. Usually brings out the cameras. American watermelons are better than European ones, too.