Almost two months since my last post! There is so much to write about, where do I start?
For the majority of December, I was fortunate enough to explore Germany (the Berlin area) while being a part of a beautiful wedding for a friend of mine. The area and the people were wonderful, and the food - oh the food! Now perhaps after making a stink about our GMO'd food I already had it in my head that their food would taste a bit superior, but it just seemed so much more than that.
Most mornings we would head down to a lovely little restaurant called Cafe Eterna. Almost before even sitting, we were sure to order a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. Now, when you ask for fresh squeezed orange juice in the United States, you have to just trust that they are actually "fresh squeezing" it in the back (at least at most places). But here you watched them squeeze it. It was so fresh, so amazing - I could have drank a gallon of it and still asked for more!
Even walking around their larger grocery stores you saw more fresh food than you ever would in the United States. You still had a butchers section where you got your fresh cut meats. Packaged ones could still be found, but the ratio was completely opposite than in our grocery stores. Seeing and tasting so much fresh food was so nice, so delicious! But the biggest difference I tasted was not in the food itself, but rather in the taste and feel of the atmosphere and the people around us as we dined.
In the United States we seem to be so busy with everything in our lives that we pay very little attention to almost anything around us. As a server in a restaurant, nothing would drive me crazier than a family coming in for a nice dinner only to watch the kids play on their iPads the entire time while mom and dad send emails or text others. So much for a nice family night. We also seem to expect everything to happen faster, everything to-go.
I remember my first time at a coffee shop in Italy - I went up to the counter and asked for my latte. Being accustomed to our coffee shops, I waited patiently to the side for my coffee to come up. The lady behind the counter kept staring at me and finally said, "what are you doing?". I told her I was waiting for my coffee. With a smirk, (you know it if you've been to Europe, the 'oh, an American' one), she said, "go sit down". I'm sure I came off as completely impatient and ignorant of the people and feeling around me. You do not go into a coffee shop when you are in a hurry. You go into a coffee shop to sit and enjoy your coffee and watch as the morning unfolds. At least, that's what you do around Europe.
Dining in Europe is an experience. You go into a restaurant not expecting that you will come out for AT LEAST two hours. You are not there to get in and get out, and your servers are not there to rush you through your meal either. If you want that, go to McDonald's or Burger King (but even there you will not find a drive through, and most people will be sitting enjoying their meal). To have to "wait" for at least 40minutes to get your food is completely reasonable - and why shouldn't it be? If you are making something from scratch at home, how often can you have it ready within 40 minutes? My guess is not often. But my guess is not many of us take the time to make a meal like that anymore. It's all about the 20 minute hamburger helper, the microwave meal. But is quicker better?
Actually sitting and enjoying my food and the people around me I discovered two things: 1) You learn so much more about your friends and the people around you when you are 'forced' to sit and listen to them. 2) You learn to listen to your body and whether it is full or ready for more when you take longer to eat.
Ok, so the second one is something we have all probably heard of a lot, but how many of us actually do it. Hardly any I would imagine. Instead, we hurry through our lunch so we can get back to work, we eat breakfast in the car so you can get to the office before anyone else, you go through the drive through or pick up take out on your way home because you are just 'too busy' to bother with making a meal.
Did you know that in Germany, Monday is like an extra Sunday for many places? Most shops and restaurants (even in big cities like Berlin) are closed. and in Italy, lunch breaks are a minimum of 1 hour (but really more like 2 hours) where the shops close to enjoy a nice big lunch. My first couple days experience this was a little stressful, I will admit. There were things I wanted to do, places I wanted to go! Then, I sat back and realized that there was no need for that. I realized that I was being 'that' American and that I needed to learn to enjoy life the way they did (of course then I come back to the USA and just get frustrated at the far too fast pace of life).
Now I know this is not the norm for everywhere or everyone, but as a culture it is how we are and how we expect things to be. Already cooking a lot at home, I feel I have been better at not letting myself be in such a hurry, but I definitely catch myself more often than I would like. I consciously work on trying to make sure I am taking the time to pay attention to what I am cooking, who is around, and just enjoying the entire process. And that is something I challenge you all to do! You will be amazed at how your body, mind and spirit will respond!
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