it must be similar to how people felt in the former german democratic republic (gdr) when they got a Westpaket, a care package from relatives or friends on the Western side of the iron curtain.
we never got any of these packages for a lack of knowing people on in the West.
but oh joy! when rare items arrive wherever that maybe. i can buy some of my favorite german products in specialty stores, which has become a hobby horse to locate. but not everything to my desire shows up there.
see the big golden package on the right of the photo labelled Zetti and Knusperflocken? well, they are a staple sweet for me. yet, as an eastern product (manufactured in my hometown) the crispy chocolate flakes never make it across the ocean in a commercial way. the same goes for the dark chocolate version seen in the middle of the photo. or Bambina chocolate bars. or Herzstärke, a sugary pink-white colored peppermint flavored fudge.
other items that are most frequently sent in my Ostpaket include bread and Kinderschokolade, which some u.s. americans around me have developed a liking to. nutella used to be a staple but i think i finally got the message across that nutella is pretty wide-spread in the united states. also hollow chocolate items were a standard until most of them arrived in sad shards. sometimes small books and clippings from my home town paper are among the contents, post cards of familiar places, brochures of local sights. whatever an Ostpaket brings, it makes me think again in german immediately.
as people around me frequently ask what else i miss in terms of food or products, here's a run down of items that are harder to find (or to ship):
- pudding powder (Ruf brand only)
- Rote Grütze with Sago (a kind of red jello with tapioca pearls)
- scharfer Senf (hot mustard) and herb mustard
- organic vegetarian Apfel-Zwiebel-Schmalz (a kind of apple-onion bread spread)
- Milchreis (rice to be boiled with milk and served with sugar and cinnamon or a chunky fruity sauce of cherries or raspberries)
- Salzgurken (salty cucumber pickles)
- Senfgurken (mustardy cucumber pickles)
- Quark (a kind of Greek yoghurt)
- Back-Camembert with Preiselbeeren (pre-deep fried breaded baked Camembert cheese with lingonberry sauce)
- Kloßmasse (potato dumpling dough)
- kohlrabi (similar to a big turnip or radish, coming in purple and green)
- celery root for soups
- Pflaumenmus (dark plum marmelade)
- Sonja and Marina (a margerine for baking)
at one place or another i ran into almost all of them or items that come pretty close. and i have found allies. my favorite u.s. american has joined my hunt for german things; he proudly presents new discoveries and comes up with creative solutions to diminish my yearnings.
indeed, he located a german Kühne brand mustard at big lots a few days ago, has cooked pudding from scratch and found out that old pickles are in fact german salty pickled cucumbers. his home-made potato dumplings beat my pitiful dumpling attempts by far and are probably better than using pre-prepared german potato dumpling dough anyway. he long has learned to say Krumpel -- say krrroom-pell --, the small cube of toasted bread fried in butter and salt that is pressed into the center of each dumpling. and was a favorite snack of mine as a child to be snatched away in the kitchen of my grandmother.
because when it comes to homeyness, you just want exactly the thing you ate before, not a substitute, not something similar. at least sometimes. my care packages from the east, my Ostpakete, send a dose of home, of memory, i guess, in some way even of identification.
the hardest part: preserving the precious products instead of giving in to greedy hunger. after all, Ostpakete don't come every day.
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6 comments:
Haha. Yes, I know exactly how you feel. I like reeses pieces peanut butter candies when my mother sends them too me (though I never buy them when I'm state-side). It's funny like that.
I have heard of/seen lots on this list, but the apple-onion spread sounds very intriguing.
The first time I heard of quark was from my midwife, and I said "what is quark?" Then I realized it was always there at at the grocery store and I never noticed it. I'm still not sure when/how you eat it - like cream cheese on bread/crackers?
Food sometimes has so many memories attached that it is the memory as much as the food we want to replicate. Mom's cinnamon rolls, Grandma's sugar cookies - nothing can substitute. But even packaged foods can have associations that can't be duplicated so maybe that is why the same thing in Germany from Germany doesn't taste the same here. Just a theory!
Kathybou: I love your Quark comment. How interesting that you could overlook it because in most German supermarkets it's right next to the yoghurt and takes up a pretty sizable section. Ever tried "Leckermaeulchen" brand? It's of East German origin also. You can eat Quark with herbs and onions on bread or sweet with fruit or sugar. Often Quark also comes already with a flavor such as the yoghurt varieties. "Leckermaeulchen" is neat because it is extra foamy or airy inside to make it very creamy.
I totally understand your peanut butter assocation. PB&J sandwiches and other peanut butter products seem to evoke the memory of mom's kitchen for most U.S. Americans.
It's all about socialization when our taste buds are still blank and get wired for the first time. It's interesting though, that you miss thinks you otherwise wouldn't eat so much in your home country.
Roberta: Thanks for your comment! It is very nice you share it with everyone. It is true that it doesn't matter if it is home-cooked or processed food. It is whatever you have eaten a lot and rather than what is the healthy option.
I know that it is probably better to make my pudding from scratch instead of buying an industrially concocted powder but that the latter is what I grew up with.
What are your homey foods, by the way?
I have visited the ostapacket store in Berlin and I was really shocked. It feels like a time amchine taking you back in time, a very strong and emotional feeling.
I never experienced east berlin but certainly knew the same sensations back in cuba.
I wrote about it in my blog.
@algobuenobcn: thanks a lot for your comment. i will try to read your post but it will take some time because my spanish is a bit shaky.
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