Eating Smoked Eel - yes Eels in Germany!
 

This summer we spent our usual annual holiday in Bremen, Germany my wife's home town. This historic capital of the old Hanseatic Kingdom is replete with Gothic architecture and a magnificent DOM Cathedral where we got married 50 years ago. But after decades of visiting with old relatives and friends, I wanted to sample something exotic, a local favorite: Eating Smoked Eels!! So my wife and a couple of friends headed just outside Bremen to Bad Zwischenau on the north Coast of Germany. This is a really neat picturesque town with manicured gardens, windmills, boutique shops and more Seniors per square mile than anywhere I've been, so the pace of life is very peaceful and leisurely. But at our age, it is Just What the Dr. Ordered. The German Govt is so convinced about the therapeutic value of this place that their healthcare system sends their recovering patients, seniors, etc to this resort to recover quickly by eating Smoked Eels! Lying on the shores of one of the largest, deepest lakes in Germany, you can add excitement by going on a short cruise. But the highlight is definitely sampling the Exotic Cuisine and the abundance of Lake Shore upscale restaurants. Happy Recovery!

Well, how was it? Did you like eel? Did it taste like chicken? :-)

smoked eels - a favorite on East Coast around Delaware River but not noted as a health food per say anymore than any fish-type critter- also popular there are jellied eels which I suspect Germans do not have?

Interesting report - never heard of that town and glad to do so - thanks!

Eel is hardly exotic, at least not in Europe. Nor Japan for that matter, I ate it several times there this year. Quite nice, did not remind me of chicken, but the sauce was too sweet for my taste.

It is supposedly endangered. A fascinating animal that travels extensively. It has always been eaten in many places, mostly coastal but also inland (different species or varieties?), not even really as a special "delicacy" (at least when I lived in Switzerland), just as an alternative to other fish.

Hi PQ - surprised you haven't heard of Bremen! (Clearly you didn't read my Nordic TR last year, lol.) But I preferred Lubeck, another former Hanseatic port.

So nice to read all the comments about eating Eels! Yes it is definitely a fish but there is always the first time...and last time!
Yes, I do love Bremen and have been visiting each year for the past 5 decades but I had not been up to Bad Zwischenau before nor tasted Eels so that was a first EXOTIC for me. As a world traveller, I have sampled many local "Delights" such as Turtles and Dogs in Vietnam, but I do so more out of politeness and not to offend my hosts I smell it and take a nibble. I usually stick to very basic US cuisine but use my travels to explore diets around the world. I love to explore Wines and Beers - please read my travel report on the magnificent Alsace wine region between France and Germany with its Exquisite Petite France half timbered houses.

As a child we used to go eel fishing in our dam at night . We'd eat them fried for breakfast ..

<i> Eating Smoked Eel - yes Eels in Germany!
Posted by: SateeshL on Dec 21, 16 at 7:41pm</i>

Smoked eel is paling in Holland. Ugly but delicious.

If the grown eels intrigue you, you should also try the baby ones. They are called Angulas in Spain, Elvers in England, or glass eels elsewhere. They are tiny little things only about two or three inches long. I used to have them frequently in coastal Spain where they are harvested from rivers, where they transform from embryos to tiny transparent eels before going back to sea to mature and breed in the Sargasso Sea.

We used to have them often, but they are scarce and very expensive now (possibly endangered), so we no longer indulge. If you do try them, make sure they are not the fake ones the Japanese make by squeezing fish paste through a screen. You can tell the difference because the Japanese "Gulas" have no tiny black eyes.

I remember a kid from the big US air force base that used to be near us. On seeing paling for the first time he declared in a loud voice declared "Look Mom, they eat snake!"

European eels are under threat, in fact they are critically endangered. They can't be farmed, because of their life cycle, and too many have been fished or been collateral damage in other fishing. Smoked eel is very expensive now.
American and Japanese eels (different to European eels) are also under threat.

Smoked eel is not that unusual in Northern Germany. Eel is als served fried, in jelly, or "green", i.e. cooked in a sauce with fresh herbs. I have to admit that I don't like it in either shape, though... But many people consider it a delicacy.

By the way (whispers), the name of the spa town is Bad Zwischenahn not Zwischenau.

Every fun fair in northern Germany has fish stands with a variety of fried fish, pickled herring, and also eel. If you transit Schiphol airport in Amsterdam you can also pick some up both at the grocery store outside of security or the (very much) pricier boutique shops inside security. Eel is delicious, but very oily (which helps make it so delicious). It has twice as much fat per serving as salmon.

Smoked eel is popular in the Netherlands. And in Belgium they serve 'paling in 't groen'; eels in a green herb sauce.

Uh, eel isn't weird nor exotic.

Unagi is some of the best sushi you can get.

Hi PQ - surprised you haven't heard of Bremen! (Clearly you didn't read my Nordic TR last year, lol.)>

Yes I have been to Bremen but never head of Bad Zwischenau to which I was referring.

<So my wife and a couple of friends headed just outside Bremen to Bad Zwischenau>

Wow! What a lot of interest in Eels. I was mainly commenting on our Summer vacation to Germany & Austria this year. The curiosity of Eels was one aspect of our short trip to Bad Zwischenahm (thanks for the correction quokka). Other reports on this trip covered trips to Bad Fuessen near Passau in Bayern on the border with Austria which enabled us to visit Salzburg, Passau, and BURGHAUSEN. Read my reports for nuggets of information for example Burghausen has Europe's Longest Castle. I am happy getting this forum buzzing with tidbits of travel information from Europe. Also read my travelog on Canadian Glacier Park and Whistler, and my Yellowstone and Grand Teton report will be published soon. Next my report on the Caribbean Cruise and then my travels in S.America, surviving a 8.3 Earthquake in Santiago, Chile, conquering Macchu Picchu, and the unique people on Lake Titicaca,Peru. Happy Travels!

Still not right. It's not Bad Zwischennahm, it's Zwischenahn. And it's Füssing, not Fuessen.

And eels are hardly something new and surprising in Europe. Almost every country here has them and eats them. I don't think you're going to get this forum "buzzing" much unless you come up with something a bit more original than you have and get the place-name spellings correct.

Buzzing? Hardly.

Please don't advertise your other blogs on non European subjects here, Sateesh. It makes it look like you are advertising something you want to sell. We take an interest in your "nuggets" when they are relevant to a discussion, but they hardly "get the Forum buzzing".

Is this the place to tell my eel story?

My husband fell asleep on a beach on Cape Cod (no, not in Europe but somewhat relevant). The tide came in and woke him up rather abruptly so he stumbled back to the car and drove home. When he got out of the car he was quite startled to find he had been sitting on a dead eel that someone had thrown in through the open window at the beach.

I told this story the next day to my friend the fishmonger and he wrapped up a smoked eel for me to bring home as a present.

Amazing that spiteful nitpickers (StCirq)have time to pick apart every word in a post. Constrast this with how nicely quokka corrected my misspelling. I post to benefit travellers with interesting items, not to have them picked apart. No I have absolutely NOTHING to sell (nukesafe) so please do not read any of my posts US or abroad. I guess the internet brings out the best and worst in people just buzzing.

I told this story the next day to my friend the fishmonger and he wrapped up a smoked eel for me to bring home as a present.>>

perhaps we could all try this, Nikki! I can get smoked eel here but it is expensive - luckily you don't need much of it for a starter with some smoked salmon and nice bread.

I've never had jellied eels, though it's a popular delicacy around London, or it was, 50 years ago.

SateechL - The furthest north I've got in Germany so far is Hannover, though we've been many times to visit our friends who live in the Pfalz. It sounds as if we've missed out by not going to Bremen; I must put it on my list!

First I found this thread interesting.
Then I realized what an eel is - indeed we do eat ' anguilles au vert' in Belgium. Still on a lot if menus but I don't like it.
Then I Found strange the advertising fir the blog.
Then again I found the list quite a show off, esp with the remark about the buzz.
Maybe it is my not understanding English that well.
But the last stroke was the attack on StCirq.
I guess I don't understand how one makes a buzz.
So OP I wish you the best with your trips and your blogs. Don't broadcast too much that everything you see is exotic you may like a fool.
But since I won't be reading your blog and will probably abstain from much more commenting your thread it is no big deal.

I am not sure where OP traveled, but Bad Zwischenahn is not located on the North Sea but 60kms away from the coast.
The lake of Bad Zwischenahn, the "Zwischenahner Meer", described as one of the "largest, deepest in Germany" is neither large nor deep. But less than 6 square kms large and 6 meters deep. That's 18 feet.

@Cowboy - yes, the OP does seem to be given to exaggeration.

<<starter with some smoked salmon and nice bread.>> smoked eel is nice on some dark rye bread with scrambled egg and chives.

I know that this will sound patronising [sorry Sateesh] but I suspect that english may not be the OP's first language. Some of us here no just how difficult it is to get the nuances, even in a second language we speak well, and how much harder on a public forum where our lapses are there for all to see.

I for one am grateful to Sateesh for him pointing out a part of Germany to me that I've never thought of going to before. Buzz or no buzz? I don't really care.

What I have learned from this thread is that no matter how honorable your intentions in providing information on your travels, there will always be some people who will pick it apart and denigrate you. The reason I will continue to post my travel experiences is because of travelers like annhig who appreciate reading travel posts. For the spiteful ones in this thread, PLEASE DO NOT READ MY TRAVEL BLOG. I hope I never hear from you so that I can spend my time travelling and not dealing with nasty petty minded nit pickers.

<i>SateeshL on Dec 30, 16 at 10:37pm
not dealing with nasty petty minded nit pickers.</i>

Picking nits is a time-honored tradition on the Fodor's Forum, particularly by Europeans. I am surprised that the Dutch guys from Rotterdam and Leiden have not heaped on you. They get on me all the time.

Thanks for posting.

Thanks spaarne. Guess I stumbled on a nest of hornets thinking it was a Travel Advice site offering genuine tips from travelers to off-the-beaten track destinations. Some of the nitpickers turned out to post such detailed trip blogs that the only thing missing was how often they visited the restroom each day on their trip ;-)