Good Eats in Northern Germany

Well, I didn't write this post while we were actually in Germany, but I'm going to try to catch up while it's all still fresh.

The first thing we noticed when we left the Hauptbahnhof in Bremen--the first stop on our tour of Norddeutschland--were the huge carts filled with rows and rows of beautiful candied nuts and dried fruit. These stalls were common in all the cities on our trip, and they were dangerously delicious-smelling and tasting!

In Bremen, some sort of medieval-themed festival was going on, with bands playing strange instruments, booths selling furs and leather, and a stall selling Met (aka, 'mead' or honey beer). It was pretty chilly, so we grabbed terracotta cups of hot, yeasty Met and planned our walking tour of the city.

We also encountered signs of some well-known Bremen exports :)

While exploring Lübeck the next day, we stopped by the Holstentor, which included a city history museum. And any history of the city of Lübeck absolutely must include another famous treat, marzipan.

(left) elaborate marzipan molds (right) molded and painted marzipan

Lübeck has been famous for its marzipan since the Middle Ages, when the 'treat' made of sugar and pulverized almonds was considered a medicine. I had tasted marzipan before, but I remembered it as dry and sickly sweet. But all the books and reviews suggested visiting the Niederegger Cafe and marzipan museum, so we gave it a try. And it was delicious! We tried chocolate-covered marzipan, marzipan kartoffeln (potatoes), and cake with marzipan filling. We stuffed our backpacks with more to take home and send to family!

life-size famous historical figures, all made of marzipan

a model of the city, a model ship, veggies, and the guestbook

I bought even more marzipan in Cologne a couple weeks later when the stores overflowed with the Christmas-time candy. We're still hoarding some marzipan kartoffeln :)

Northern Germany is also famous for something less sweet, but equally delicious (depending on which of us you ask)--fish! We saw smoked and baked fish stands all over the place in the towns we visited, but especially in Wismar, which is on the coast. Most of the towns we visited became wealthy due to the fishing and industries in some way--salt from Lüneburg's mines was sent to Lübeck and either stored in the Salzspeicher or used to pack fish, and these products were then sent to Hamburg and other cities in the Hanseatic League for distribution inland.

In particular, the Raucheraal (smoked eel) was highly recommended, so I grabbed a sandwich while we were exploring the docks in Wismar. The guy took out an eel (young eels, so they're only a couple feet long and about 1.5" thick), chopped it in half, then skinned and deboned it before putting it on a bun with some creamy garlic sauce. It was really tender, smoky, and delicious!

Though it's not specific to Norddeutschland, we also enjoyed a romantic breakfast in our room in Lüneburg at a B&B that I found through AirBnB. We had the traditional German breakfast of soft-boiled eggs (thanks, Matthew, for teaching us how to properly eat one), cold cuts, cheese, and tasty bread with coffee and orange juice.

I've got a bunch more posts in store (northern Germany, the Christmas markets, and more) -- til then!