Another question:

How do you keep a straight face ordering something like Badener Schneckensuepple?

I ordered pepperoni pizza in Nuremberg - boy was I surprised to learn that "pepperoni" in Germany is NOT the thinly sliced spicy sausage I was expecting. I had a pizza covered in icky bell peppers. Ack!

In general though, I think anyone who enjoys American cooking of European derivation - roast meats, potato anything, and some green salad - will do fine in Germany.

http://www.the-best-chefs.com/indexeng.html

nessundorma, this should get you started!

Forgot to comment about costs - last month my husband and I did very well on 100 euros per day including food, drinks, transportation, and addmission to museums, towers, and so forth. We had breakfast at the hotel (included in the room price not the 100 euros per day), then the rest of our meals in outdoor cafes and beer gardens, snacks from fruit stands and bakeries.

If he decides to survive on "weiners" he'll be in heaven. You didn't say what he will eat but German food is "not too strange". Most of it is easily identifiable.

I gotta add my 2 cents. My first visit to German was "spargle" (oh yeah, you'll correct me if my spelling is wrong...) which is white asparagus.
Once is yummy...at every meal? With little white potatoes?
And the cold cuts?! Salty. "preserve".
So we're in Erlangen to meet "the sister" and stayed at a guest-house that began its history as a butcher.
I HAD to go see if they even sold chicken or "fowl" to the home cooks.
Big butcher, lots of pork, some fresh beef, but lots and lots of sausages and cold cuts.
I wonder, what is haute cuisine? Huessenpfeiffer? (spelling buffs..go at that one as well)

In my experience, Germany is comfort food central. Your DH might want to try Gulasch Suppe for starters. Many times the green salads are made with butter lettuce - those softer, slightly curly light green leaves and the standard dressing is fab, IMO. I've had few meals in Germany that weren't quite good... and we never ate sausage at dinner, but at breakfast and lunch or snack only. A menu translator would be very helpful.

You'll have a wonderful time, I'm sure!

I've never thought about trying to make spaetzle at home. Now that is something I definitely want to try! Hmmm...., maybe I can surprise hubby with it this weekend!

Thanks for the links and the thought!

Tracy

You've received some great ideas, and I think your husband will be fine. Sounds like he's fun to travel with, and surely he would like the various snitzels, often with delicious potatoes, , salad etc.........All kinds of sausages are available, and chicken, and certainly pizzas. The sandwiches are wonderful also.

I think oversalt is a killer, but do use it moderately.. Last year while driving around Germany I don't recall things being way too salty as stated above, but of course the sausages would be.
About Portugal (where we lived for 2 years ), I've had friends who visited there in the past few years, and weren't so sure about the food. But I think that is completely wrong. There's lots of good seafood, soups, and the best roast chicken in the world (with a hot peri peri sauce), delicious Ffries, salad, ....steaks etc.
AND as someone above dared to mention....once or twice it's kind of fun to try a European McDonalds, Burger King etc..... I've never understood people being snobby about this...it's a very interesting phenominum (sp) around the world!
(I digress...excuse me! (:>)

Thanks for the link, logos. I'll browse through it and see if I can afford any of it!

All this talk about salt... I've found that food in the US is more likely to be overly salty than in Europe; and many sausages in Germany are quite mild. They are great dunked in mustard. Try German potato salad if you get a chance, too.

wow! Thanks for all the good advise and info!! Basically what DH does is he finds a couple of dishes he is confident will be consistant, and sticks with that throughout the trip.
For example, about a week into our 2 weeks in Italy, while restaurant shopping, he says, "Good! they have spaghetti bolognese!" I asked if that was getting tedious for him, and would he like to try something else??? His reply was "Nope! It's a safe one to order, I know I'll like it" I'm guessing he will order schitzel with the same regularity, much as in Paris it was steak and fries, Costa Rica it was chicken and rice. As long as he's happy, so am I!

Daisey, If you DH had Chicken in Costa Rica, he's way more adventurous than he thinks. lol

yeah, you do have a point! :)

We were in Germany and Benelux last month and dined very well spending an average of around 40 euro for dinner and not more than 20 for lunch. We did splurge on a Rice Table in Amsterdam--I think it was around 70 euro or so. Just get away from the most touristed areas--usually a matter of walking just a few blocks.

rufus-was that 40 euro and 20 euro for the both of you?

A 5€ schnitzel is not uncommon, so don't worry ;-)

>>A 5€ schnitzel is not uncommon, so don't worry<<

Apart from that I don't know a single place where a Schnitzel with a side of fries sells for EUR 5.00 or less, I'd be extremely wary of such a thing. Quality meat cannot be served at that rate IMHO.

>>Germans rarely eat out. When they do it is a great event. The event includes dancing between courses!<<

??? Where did you get that idea ???

>>What constitutes "great German food"?<<

Hard to define actually, as regions have different preferences and specialties.
To get an idea, you could actually look at Wolfgang Puck's menu at Spago's - or the recipes on his website. Quite a number of meals with a strong German/Austrian heritage

http://www.wolfgangpuck.com

You should have asked. I know a few places ,even one north of Schwabing. ;-) It's cheap, but it's quite o.k. Better than a few 14€ "rip-off" schnitzels in Schwabing anyway. :-). And you can try the Westend same thing around Heimeranplatz.

Well, I plan to go to Berlin and I don't want food like Spago's.

I'd rather eat what Germans consider their finest cuisine, just to try it. I'm assuming what we get in New York is pretty lousy. It used to be Italian and Chinese food (and especially Mexican food!) was also lousy, and then people realizing the slop they were eating wasn't the real deal.

On the other hand, it used to be that food in London was TERRIBLE, but now it's gotten much better.

So which is it for Berlin? Great food that never made it across the pond or a new generation of chefs motivated to change habits?