Transcript​​

Rehrücken…Pfälzer Saumagen…Ochsenmaulsalat...Spargel mit Kartoffeln und Butter...Blutwurst...Schäufele...Handkäs mit Musik...Bismarckhering…Stutenkerl...Rote Grütze…Rauchbier…Schwäbische Maultaschen…Frankfurter Rindswurst…Thüringer Rostbratwürste…Leipziger Allerlei…Riesling und Roggenmischbrot.

 

All of these are traditional German dishes, coming from various regions of the country. They range from deer roast to blood sausage to white asparagus with potatoes and butter to spicy sour milk cheese and smoked beer. Surprised? German cuisine is so much more than the cliché bratwurst and sauerkraut with a frosty Bierstein or a glass of sweet Riesling wine.

 

Welcome to What They Can Teach Us: The Podcast. My name is Frank Brückner and I created the series to provide additional context to the website “What They Can Teach Us”, which was developed from interviews with four women who immigrated from Germany to Canada in the early 1950s. The website and podcasts were initiated and are supported by the Chair in German-Canadian Studies at the University of Winnipeg.

 

In these podcasts you will learn what life was like in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when Barbara, Lisa, Alma and Anneliese, like so many of our parents and grandparents, left Germany and crossed the Atlantic Ocean to begin their lives anew in Canada.

 

This is part 2 of a series of short podcasts accompanying the interviews of “What They Can Teach Us”: What They Were Eating. Let's get a taste of it!

 

When Barbara, Lisa, Alma and Anneliese, like so many of our parents and grandparents, immigrated from Germany to Canada in the early 1950s, they would have had a hard time finding dishes they were accustomed to eating in the old country, certainly not in a restaurant. And if they wanted to cook it themselves, many of the ingredients would have been difficult to find.

 

They shared a similar experience with many immigrants to Canada in the 1950s. Imagine a French person searching for one of the incredible variety of cheeses in France. Or someone from India missing the spices of their homeland.

 

Despite all these delicious dishes mentioned in the beginning, if there's one thing that native Germans would miss once they moved abroad, it is bread. There are about 3,000 types of bread in Germany, more than in any other country in the world.

 

Bread is ingrained in daily life. A typical day starts with a few slices of bread topped with cheese, cold cuts or jams, and it ends with Abendbrot, which literally translates to “evening bread”. Even now, it can still be very hard to find a loaf of good bread that would satisfy a German bread lover's sensitive palate.

 

Luckily, more than 70 years after Lisa, Alma, Barbara and Anneliese arrived, thanks to globalization, many foods, spices and other ingredients have become available in Canada. Even delicious German bread can be found, made here by Canadian bakers.

Roggenmischbrot…Roggenmischbrot…Roggenmischbrot…Roggenmischbrot…

Roggenmischbrot…Roggenmischbrot.

 

The situation was very different around the time our four protagonists arrived in Canada. Immediately after the war, food was rationed, and millions of people in Europe suffered hunger, many of them dying of starvation.

 

In Germany, they could not afford to be picky to stay alive. Hoarding of goods, black markets, theft and even prostitution were more rule than exception. For many, Bertolt Brecht's quotation from his 1928 Threepenny Opera rang true: erst kommt das Fressen, dann die Moral. First comes a full stomach, then comes ethics.

 

People used manual coffee grinders to turn dried potato skins into powder, which was used, along with salt and water, to bake long-lasting potato crisp bread. Acorns and chestnuts, collected in parks and forests, underwent time-consuming procedures to turn them into usable flour.

 

They made fake cocoa powder from red turnips and sugar and “ersatz coffee” from roasted barley. They didn't match the taste of the originals, but during wartime, creature comforts make people feel human again.

 

Although these clever solutions staved off hunger, the nutritional value of these makeshift meals was often very low. Finally, after more than ten years, food rationing was lifted in Germany in 1950.

 

Even in Canada, food was rationed between 1942 and 1947. An adult received food ration stamps to purchase: one cup of sugar – half of what the average Canadian eats today; two ounces of tea or eight ounces of coffee; 113 grams of butter; about 800 grams of meat, little more than 100 grams per day. That was a weekly ration. But by the end of the 1940s, everything was available again in Canada.

 

It took a few more years in Germany, and a major boost was the Währungsreform from 1948.

 

[News report] Überall Schlangen. Rekordschlangen. Mit der Währungsreform wurde übernacht auch das Obst reif. In den Schaufenstern dasselbe Bild: die Regale füllen sich, die Lager geben her, was so lange nicht zu haben waren.

 

The Währungsreform, or currency reform, was the most significant event in post-war Germany. After the capitulation of Nazi Germany, the four Allied forces, unable to agree on a common monetary strategy, issued occupation currency for each of their respective zones.

 

In 1948, the bi-zone of the Western Allies, the United States and the British, was joined by the French, forming a tri-zone. To prevent a second hyperinflation in western Germany, they decided to introduce a stable currency, which would become the famous Deutsche Mark. The new money was printed in America, shipped to Bremerhaven, transported by train to Frankfurt, and from there distributed to jurisdictions in western Germany.

 

On June 21, 1948, the Deutsche Mark became the only valid currency in western Germany. Shops that had shut their doors a few days earlier, often with signs announcing renovations, reopened and many shop windows were filled with chocolate, toiletries, cigarettes and, of course, food.

 

Although this conversion was not always smooth, it marked the beginning of the admired Wirtschaftswunder, or economic miracle. The tri-zone, or Trizonesien, even had a humorous song which became something like the unofficial national anthem of the day.

 

[Anthem plays]

 

The new and easy availability of culinary delicacies after years of austerity even led to early warnings about healthy eating and body weight. However, that was certainly not the case during our four heroines’ journey.

 

Alma and Anneliese and over 33,000 other people crossed the Atlantic, heading to Canada on the Beaverbrae, an old cargo ship that held more than 700 passengers. On every westward voyage, the Beaverbrae stored, quote, 10 tons of potatoes, 9 tons of fresh meat, 3 tons of smoked meat, 7 tons of pasta, 4 tons of vegetables, 7 [sic] tons of butter and cheese, 300 jars of baby food, 10 tons of sugar, 1 ton of jams, 16,000 chocolate bars and 36,000 bags of candy, end quote.

 

Passengers on the Beaverbrae could expect three big hot meals a day, including meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This was something many passengers had not experienced since before the war.

 

American bacon was new to them, but travelers were often seasick and were barely able to eat anything. And when they finally arrived, they were happy to set foot on steady land and grateful for every lunch packet that was given to them on their way west or wherever their next destination was.

 

The new arrivals had to adapt to new diets, new ingredients, new ways of cooking, but they also used their knowledge about the cuisine of the old country to reinvent traditional recipes. Following are the German dishes mentioned throughout this podcast. Can you think of any Canadian foods that may have their roots in these specialties from the old country?

 

Rehrücken. Deer roast.

 

Pfälzer Saumagen. Pork stomach stuffed with potatoes and pork, usually spiced with onions, marjoram, nutmeg and white pepper.

 

Ochsenmaulsalat. Salad with beef from a cow's muzzle and a vinaigrette.

 

Spargel mit Kartoffeln und Butter. Juicy white asparagus with potatoes and butter.

 

Blutwurst. Blood sausage.

 

Schäufele. Franconian roast made from a pig's shoulder meat.

 

Handkäs mit Musik. Small, translucent, yellow sour milk cheese with a pungent aroma.

 

Bismarckherring. Pickled herring.

 

Stutenkerl. Pastry made of sweet, leavened dough in the form of a man.

 

Rote Grütze. Sweet fruit dish from northern Germany and Denmark.

 

Rauchbier. Smoked beer.

 

Schwäbische Maultaschen. Large meat or vegetable-filled dumplings from Swabia.

 

Frankfurter Rindswurst. Beef sausage from Frankfurt.

 

Thüringer Rostbratwürste. Thin spicy sausage from Thuringia.

 

Leipziger Allerlei. Vegetable dish from Leipzig.

 

Riesling. Aromatic, flowery and dry. World-class white wine. Sweet Riesling is virtually unknown in Germany.

 

Roggenmischbrot. Rye wheat bread.

 

Guten Appetit!

 

The voices belong to the actors: Emily Beer, Los Angeles. Björn Ole Blunk, Berlin. Frank Brückner, Winnipeg. Stefan Goldbach, Portland. Alexandra Leitenbauer, Berlin. And Kaja Zestahen, Meissen.

 

This ongoing series will add new podcasts in irregular intervals, so stay tuned for What They Can Teach Us: The Podcast and check back regularly for new episodes.

​