A week and a half ago, my WG hosted a small decorating party to prepare for the holiday season. Of course, we didn't really get to the decorating part; we were too busy talking, eating, and drinking Gluehwein. :)
If you ever need to make something "American" for a German party, I recommend Rice Krispie Treats. It's hard to find Rice Krispies in Germany, but you can find Choco Krispies in most large grocery stores-- and let's face it, chocolate improves most recipes. Marshmallows can be a bit more difficult to find, but I lucked out and found them (only slightly stale!) at the local Real, which is kind of like a disorganized version of Wal-Mart.
Really, the biggest problem was that most Germans have never considered the combination of marshmallows and Choco Krispies. The entire WG stopped by the kitchen as I was melting marshmallows, and all (except for Dumpling, the 6-year-old) had skeptical looks on their faces. The skepticism turned into confusion as I dumped the sticky blob onto a sheet of Backpapier and told them to let it cool for awhile.
And then it was ready to eat! We had Stollen, Gluehwein, pumpkin pie, some other cake, and my Chocolate RKTs. The conversation was pretty interesting-- when I'm not scared of WG-A, she's very funny, and Fulbright-J and S&S (neighbors who are also Americans) were also at the party.
Fulbright-J stayed after to work on GRE math, while I finished my German homework and worked on my own math problems. (I offered free math tutoring sessions to my friends in Berlin; I figured it would be a more interesting way for me to review for the CSET!)
After J left, I decided that I wanted another small slice of Rice Krispie Treat, so I wandered into the kitchen and began to poke around. Poke, poke, shuffle, slide, where are they? I saw the cake, the one remaining piece of pumpkin pie, the Stollen, and the bottle of Gluehwein, but I didn't see the RKTs anywhere... and I knew that there was about 1/3 of the batch left when the last guest left. Then, WG-A poked her head around the corner and said with a guilty look on her face, "Deine Marshmallow Kekse sind verdammt lecker... Ich war skeptisch, als ich die Marshmallows gesehen habe, aber..." (Your marshmallow cookies are damn tasty. I was skeptical when I saw the marshmallows, but...") She said that she may even consider making them in the future! LOL. Okay, so, no Rice Krispie Treats for the rest of us! :)
The funny thing is that I don't eat or make Rice Krispie Treats in the US. The last time that I made Rice Krispie Treats was in Munich, when I had to bring something to a birthday party! I find it really strange how certain foods are ingrained in my brain as being typisch amerikanisch, even though I don't eat them on a regular basis. For example, as soon as I got here, I started to crave Mexican food and really good salsa. Do I eat chips and salsa in the US? Unless my family left a bowl of chips and salsa on the kitchen table, no! Qdoba and Chipotle are nowhere close to the top of my favorite restaurant list. Yet, for some reason, I noergele regularly about the lack of spicy Mexican food.
On the other hand, Germans have
equally even stranger ideas about typisch amerikanisch food. In Munich, the Mensa (cafeteria) regularly offered Pizza Amerikanisch. Typical American pizza is something like tomato sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni on a thick crust, ne? It was a thin-crust pizza with canned corn!!! I think it must have been a regional thing because I haven't seen "American" corn pizza in Berlin, but I definitely saw it in multiple pizza places in Munich. Several of my students have also asked why I'm not fat. Believe it or not, liebe Schueler, the vast majority of Americans cook for themselves at least part of the time! Why aren't you Germans fat from Schnitzel and beer? :)
In reality, there are a few things that actually
are American or at least very North American-- peanut butter, marshmallows, and microwavable hot dogs come to mind. (Also, we probably can claim fast food as one of our brainchildren.) But why is it that we turn to certain types of food while abroad when we feel homesick, and why do we present certain ideas or foods as being "typical american" dishes when in reality, they're not reflective of what we eat on a regular basis? And what was it with that "Pizza American" with corn? The best that I can come up with is that Muencheners must see canned corn as especially American, or maybe the local pizza makers had a competition to come up with a new creation, and "Pizza American" was a perfect mix of sounding familiar and slightly exotic, just enough to pique interest. Okay, the latter idea is a little far-fetched, but not as far-fetched as the idea of corn pizza being American!
... and this is how this former English major turned a post on Rice Krispie Treats into a (very shallow) babble about cultural commodification. Just be glad I wasn't talking about Turkish food.
Oh, and just so you know, the average German has very little experience with marshmallows. A few days ago, I noticed that a lot of the remaining marshmallows were missing, so I asked what happened to them. They put them in the advent calendar-- unwrapped-- and some of them are scheduled to be eaten next week! Sigh. Silly Germans.
