The Edeka supermarket chain proudly proclaims Wir Lieben Lebensmittel! (We Love Groceries!) From time to time, to show their love for groceries, they scour the world for exotic foods. Thus, customers at the Edeka in Munich's multicultural West End enjoyed American Food Week.
American Food Week ended some months ago, but the display remains. I suspect they still haven't sold all the American food they had in stock. Luckily, the art of the American chef is multi-faceted—he creates food that is not only delicious and nutritious, but durable. It will last forever, with a minimum of maintenance. In this, American food resembles German cars.
Among these groceries, on the top shelf to the right, we find Arm and Hammer Baking Soda.
For locals reading this, note that Americans open the box and leave it in their refrigerators, which is surprisingly effective in removing smells. Europeans tend not to have this problem, since we shop daily for fresh food and don't leave perishables very long. Backpulver comes in little plastic containers that suggest it's used pretty much for baking. This large box was a godsend, I thought, and bought one to deploy against a ripe, stinky French cheese we had stored. The cheese won.
Ah, those French people think they know from cheese. Pah! American cheese not only doesn't smell, but it comes in much more convenient forms.
A couple of shelves devoted themselves to sweet sauces. As the All-Natural Bosco Chocolate Syrup proclaims, American food is Oh So Thick, Oh So Rich!
Another memo to you French people: put some sugar in your mustard. There's a bottle labelled French's on the shelf—that means it's for you to study. You're welcome.
Speaking of American food named after European countries: One would have thought there would be no need to import Swiss Miss drinking chocolate, when Switzerland is right next door. But it has a special taste to it, to do with the accompanying marshmallows. Marshmallows qualify as an exotic food here in Germany.
Amid the root beer, Bisquick, Mac 'n' Cheese, Jiffy-Pop, peanut-butter cups and Paul Newman's Own Salad Dressing, we find All-Vegetable Crisco. Great for those health conscious vegetarians we have here in Europe. Messages like this Crisco label taught generations of Americans that vegetables could be viscous, and thus Ronald Reagan's statement that ketchup is a vegetable makes much more sense.
Of course, American style food is available elsewhere in the supermarkt. The Golden Toast brand of bread makes items that are distinctly not German. In fact, the English word toast gives it away—toasting bread is a habit of Anglophone cultures. Have you tried pumpernickel toast? I rest my case.
Golden Toast's hamburger buns—which, of course, have nothing to do with people from Hamburg—tell us what the customers expect form American food. The Mega-Burger on the left is extragrossen (extra large) and the standard American burger bun is an extra soft recipie.
The buns sell a little better than the spray cheese, I notice.
