A dash of color
Yeah, Germany. October. I’m sure you already thought of Oktoberfest. You know, that huge tourist-money-sucking festival in Munich.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for massive beer&alcohol consumption. However, I don’t like going bankrupt just to get drunk. And 9 bucks for a beer at Oktoberfest seems completely out of line, especially when you can buy the exact same beers at pretty much any supermarket for less than 1 euro. Since we’re living in Germany we kinda feel like we HAVE to go to Oktoberfest at least once while we’re here, but the beer prices really make me think twice
Fall festivals and fairs, expensive or not, indeed seem to be quite popular here in Germany. Bremen’s fair, Freimarkt, is actually the oldest one in Germany: it was first held in 1035 and has some very solid (and delicious) food and drink traditions. Freimarkt (also known as Ischa Freimaak in the local dialect) happens in the last two weeks of October and attracts people from all over Germany. The fair takes place at two areas downtown: around the Main Train Station in Bürgerweide (the fair’s main location) and on the central square of the old town (known as kleiner Freimarkt, or Small Freimarkt). I find the central square location is especially charming, as part of the tents celebrate medieval times with traditional food, drink, decoration and clothes.
This man is what AWESOMENESS is made of
… and what does traditional food and drink mean in Germany? Yeah, you got it: pork, beer, cabbage and potatoes, prepared in a million different versions. The pictured awesome gentleman and his wife were in a tent that had a little sculpture on the front, something between a wild boar and a pork. Whatever that thing was, it was so badass I decided I was gonna eat there. The tent only served one thing: altbierbraten in brötchen mit kraut und knoblauch quark. Basically a bread roll stuffed with some kind of pork meat cooked in beer – altbier, to be exact, a type of beer from Düsseldorf – with shredded cabbage and a type of garlic-fresh cheese spread. The description sounded nice, so we ordered; each sandwich cost us 4 euros. Not exactly cheap, but quite reasonable for German standards.
biting into deliciousness
This beast of a sandwich was absolutely memorable. When I saw the pieces of meat lined up in the wood oven with the bread rolls on the top basket I worried about two things: that everything would taste like smoke and that the meat would be dry. I shouldn’t have worried: the meat was extremely moist, tasty and literally falling apart. That thing tasted like it had been slowly cooked in beer for hours and finished in the wood oven just for the right amount of smokiness and caramelization that rounded up its flavor profile beautifully. The cabbage was thinly shredded and provided some refreshing crunch, while the garlic spread held together the whole thing. The bun seemed to be homemade and was studded with yellow mustard seeds that provided just the right bite. All in all a gorgeous sandwich; my only complaint is that I didn’t have enough money to eat 10 of those things (because I’m sure I would have enough space in my stomach for that).
see what I mean?
After the sandwich we decided to go for a dessert: apfeltasche and kirschtache. These taschen are fruit-stuffed, sweet dough pockets that are deep fried into deliciousness and glazed with sugar afterwards. Diet, anyone?
the beauty shot
cherry
apple
Something tells me a new trip to try out some other Ferimarkt deliciousness is in order…
