German Breakfast

Magda has been home from her school's exchange for about a week. Although the German students are getting together later this week to discuss there experiences, I've heard a few of the things that the German students thought about their stay in the Chillicothe, Illinois. One oft-commented impression was that their American families rarely took time to lay out a breakfast. Everyone seemed to be on their own to grab something quick, or to skip breakfast entirely. It is not that the German students expected the family to sit down together every morning to eat. What was generally surprising was that no one took the time to lay out the meal, if for no other reason than to make sure the kids are eating something and eating healthy.

The picture here gives an idea of a typical breakfast for these German students. There is usually some sort of meat or cheese. In this case, there are cheese slices, two types of salami and some schinken (smoked ham). Just about any kind of sliced meat is possible, but the meat is thinly sliced. Germans will talk about a "window pane" slice especially with highly flavored meats like schinken. This refers slicing of meat that is thin enough that you can see through it. This way, you really don't eat much meat or cheese.

The meat, cheese or jam is placed on a slice of bread or a half of bread roll, often buttered, to make an open faced sandwich. There are so many bread choices in Germany that it is hard to fathom. In this picture are a couple of rye rolls and a pumpkin seed roll. Darker breads based on rye are more traditional, but white rolls, which use to be reserved for special occasions, have become more common.

This picture also shows yogurt and quark. Quark is a bit like cottage cheese, but it is in the form of a single cake, rather than small curds. For breakfast, it is used like yogurt, mixed with jam. But quark is also used to make cheese cake, dips, fillings for pasta or sweet rolls. It is really an inexpensive staple of the German pantry.

Finally there is some sort of fresh fruit available.

There are some variations possible. For instance, a lot of people like to mix muesli with yogurt or milk for breakfast. Milk and corn flakes (or some other breakfast cereal) is an American contribution to a "typical" German breakfast. And yes, sometimes a sweet roll can be found, although donuts are very rare.

But that leads to another surprise for the German students. Things like sweet rolls, cakes, cookies and other pastries were too sweet in the USA for them to enjoy. Certainly we have found that in adapting a American recipe for use here, we often cut out at least half the sugar (and often two thirds) to get something that our German friends and family can enjoy.