Pretzels and schnitzel and sauerkraut, oh my!

My American friend Catherine (hi Catherine!) from Mainz (aka where I lived my first year in Germany) sent me this link to a post about Bavarian food, and it's both accurate and funny. Go read it.

Yes, I have eaten everything on that list and yes, everything on that list is delicious. And yes, before anyone asks, I have given up even the pretense of partial vegetarianism for the duration of my stay in Germany. There is just too much delicious meat in this country.

I foolishly waited almost a year and a half in Germany before trying sauerkraut because, let's be honest: sauerkraut does not look appetizing, nor does it smell appetizing. But you shouldn't judge a pile of pickled cabbage by its cover, because proper German sauerkraut is the food of the gods. Hence, I give you the first commandment of foreign food:

Thou shalt first judge, when thou putteth a foreign foodstuff in thy mouth, cheweth, and swalloweth.

Obedience to this commandment is how I ended up eating a dried caterpillar a few weeks back, but that's a story for another time.