4 Culture Shocks In Germany We NEVER Expected! 🇩🇪🇺🇸
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- Опубліковано 9 лип 2024
- In this video, we're going to discuss some unexplainable culture shocks between Germany and the USA. If you're planning a trip to either country and are curious about what to expect, this video is for you!
We'll discuss topics like the differences in driving, the food culture, and more. After watching this video, you'll have a better understanding of the culture shocks that you'll encounter when visiting either Germany or the USA! 😊
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❤️Aubrey was a Speech-Language Pathologist and Donnie was a graphic designer, but we both had a dream to #travel the world and experience cultures. After three years of being married and dreaming about if something like this great adventure would be possible, we decided to quit the rat race and take on the world. We sold everything we had, quit our jobs, and took off! After 9 months of aimless and nonstop travel, we now get to fulfill our dreams of #LivingAbroad as #expats as we move to #Germany!
00:00 - Beginning
1:18 - Rhyme Time & Thing 1
5:14 - Thing 2
8:10 - Thing 3
11:13 - Thing 4
14:11 - Thing 5
Do you make eye contact with the driver of a car you are passing on the highway?? 😅
No, everyone I know keeps their eyes on the road.
Why should I? Never thought about doing it before. :D
No, there is no reason for doing this.
No, bad experiences. Sometimes they guesture like I'm doing something wrong, I'm going to feel bad, I will never know what I might have done wrong, I avoid this.
Looking at 90 degrees away from the road to make eye contact? Unbelievable reckless.
It never came to my mind to make eye contact with a driver I pass on the autobahn. I only look to the driver if he did something stupid before, so I can see who that was.
😂😂 In the US, if nothing stupid was done, a blank stare at each other is normal. But, if something stupid was done, then ya, it sounds the same 😅
@@PassportTwo I have never looked over at anyone as I passed them on the highway unless there was some problem. By the way I’m American. I would view someone staring at me as I pass them as low-key aggressive. Be careful with that man you could definitely trigger somebody.
I'm in the US (Texas) and never knew people looked at each other while passing here. I also only look if the person did something annoying and I want to see who it was and maybe give them "a look" 🤨 I'm also originally from up north so maybe looking is more of a southern thing? Curious!
I remember when I went home for a long weekend, when I was in the Army, (I needed a good 11 hours), I sort of flirted with a nice beautiful woman on the highway as I was going back to my duty station on Sunday. We did look at each other and for awhile we played this cat and mouse game. I'd pass her, she'd pass me and we did look over at each other and smiled at each other. I never did get to know her because I even was ahead of her and pulled into a rest stop but she didn't. But it was a fun good half hour on the highway. I was only about 19 at the time and she looked like she was in her mid 20s. But I found this drive enjoyable even if it did only last about half hour.
Here in Germany, that would never happen although once sitting in the bus, I had my Superman Tshirt on, with the big S and a young girl looked at me and made a comment saying, cool I'm riding the bus with Superman. Before Covid. She was cute but this time, the other way around. She was maybe in her mid 20s but I am over 55, under 60
@@jefferyoetter6884 There even was a song about this topic in Germany in the 70es "Im Wagen vor mir" (In the car in front of me)
Germans even invented the fridge because they didn't want to rely on ice harvested in winter in the Alps.
I'm a bit annoyed by people, especially Americans equating spice with only capsaicin. We use tons of spices like cumin, mustard, horseradish, black pepper, thyme, rosemary, vinegar, fennel, celery, majoram, lovage, juniper, wormwood, chervil, mint, balm,... there is more than chili and more than just "hot".
This is a translation thing.
Spice tends to specifically refer to things that are spicy. Horseradish, wasabi, chilis etc.
All that other stuff is seasoning, not spice. Spice means to say "scharf" and seasoning meaning "Gewürz".
And it is true that Germany at large is terrible at hot&spicy food. The thing labeled "Hot Chili" or "Hot Salsa" in our stores is pathetic, it barely registers as spicy.
@@redshirt49 all those another things are "spices" though and spicy and hot is not always interchangable
@@redshirt49 I don't really know why people brag about eating spicy things. It's just tolerance. If you taste x and feel it's a-level hot or a different person tries x+10 and feels the same level of hot ... who gives a damn. The subjective level of heat is exactly the same.
Seasoning with chilli is pretty much seen as just one dimension of cooking, yeah. And for good reason.
@@redshirt49 it's just a really confusing shift of meaning, spicy used to mean strongly seasoned, but now it's just hot. English really needs some clean-up there
I'm really annoyed by people (specifically cooking UA-camrs) assigning moral value to your spice tolerance. Like that somehow food without a certain amount of spices is lesser because its not made to their taste and that OBVIOUSLY a certain amount of spice is what we should all want in our food that's definitely universal.
Like, you just told this story of how you were bullied as a kid for your food and the next words out of your mouth are "Use the right amount not the white amount?"
Like are you seeing what you are doing at all?
The amount of spices in your food doesn't make it better!
I can eat spicy food as a German, but most time it doesn't make sense to me: I want to taste the different ingredients of a meal, the meat, vegetables and herbs and so on. This is fine dining for me. If a meal is too "hot", the spicyness is so overwhelming for me, the cook could have put anything in it and I wouldn't recognize it.
My boyfriend is American and we argue about this sooo sooo much.
Was about to comment something like this. I admit, I don't like it too spicey (and that level would be pathetic for others), but that doesn't erase the fact, that when I do eat something a bit spicier, like (germanized, so again, not as spicy as could be) curry variants, I always feel like I could put literally anything in it and wouldn't taste a difference because I can only taste the spicy sauce. Don't get me wrong, I really love some spicy dishes/sauces and once in a while they're great! But with the mild german (or italian or whatever) food, I can taste and appreciate what I eat and how everything tastes different even with one swapped out ingredient.
Thing is...the more often and spicy you eat, the more you can eat spicy foods while still tasting everything.
A great story told to me by an American living Germany says a lot about both cultures. The American exchange student was looking for ice in a German supermarket because he was having a party. He finally managed to get assistance from the staff and was leaving very pleased. A "helpful" German woman advised: Sie wissen dass Sie es selbst machen können".
He was looking in the wrong place. Gas stations will have bags of ice, but only in the summertime. You'll usually find it outside in the barbecue section right next to the charcoal.
it always makes me nervous when i see a guy standing on a autobahn bridge. There are several cases of psychos, who threw stones from a bridge.
Ya, unfortunately in the very rare occurrences that people are on bridges in the US, this also is a weird problem I've heard about as well. So sad!
Or wood logs, there was this tragic incident. But it’s really rare.
Him: We lived kind of close to Mexico
Also him: *proceeds to show it on a map, where literally whole Germany can fit in the space between Oklahoma and Mexico*
in fairness, a third of the neighboring states of oklahoma used to be part of mexico.
so while many americans settled there afterwards, the culture might have already been engrained in communities.
I remember a story when an American exchange student that stayed at a friend's house told his family they lived "close to Berlin". My friend's family lived in Bavaria...
I'm German and I grow my own chili peppers as a hobby, so I'm used to a fair bit of spice in my meals. But when I cook for my friends, they often complain that it's too spicy for them, while I feel like it's just about reasonably spicy 😄
Haha, there are always the exceptions! 😅
If you don't taste anything else of the food but spice, you waste your cooking. If a spicy potato tastes the same as a spicy carrot, why using potatoes and carrots at all - one is enough - it all tastes the same. Just exaggerating, but that's the idea. Besides, it can physical paralyze the sensors on your tongue. Maybe you like the feeling, but that is not taste.
@@holger_p You're right in that spice alone doesn't make a good meal and can be overpowering. You have to increase overall flavor as well. I often put things like cumin or herbs or garlic in my spicy dishes to make sure there's enough flavor going on besides the spiciness.
@@holger_p But a good pepper adds so much flavor themself to a dish..
Dont put chilli everywhere, but put it, where it belongs
I remember vividly, when I ate at a friends house.
Me: "I would say, that this is very spicy."
Friend: "That isn't spicy at all."
That can mean one of two things:
1) He can eat very spicy and is used to it.
2) I can eat very little spicy.
I tend to No. 2.
The whole spice thing is mostly a regional thing I guess. Just consider how few spices are actually native to Germany - next to none. Germans do sauer very well, thanks to Rhubarb and a few other really sauer fruits, but not spicy. In addition, in the German mind spices have to be used carefully to not overshadow the natural taste of whatever you are cooking. We just don't ruin our palette at young age (especially not if we grow up in a household which avoids ready-made meals, which tend to be overly salty), hence we are still able to taste even the softer flavors.
rhubarb is not a native european plant either... it is from nepal/ india etc.. also most spices are not native to the americas either...
I think the whole eating 'hot and spicy' in the US is because of Caribbean, Mexican and African influences. In Europe, we tend to use herbs. In Germany, I noticed that a lot of Kümmel, Schnittlauch, Dill and Petersill were used. I loved it!
@@carmenl163 Rosmarine is also a favourite in German cuisine...my personal favourite.
Why water down your drink with ice, it is better to cool the drink.
That is why we have large refrigerators in the kiosks that cool the drinks.
In Germany, it is actually no problem to get a cold drink for which we do not need ice.
That's what I said in the video, but when you say "why water down your drink with ice..." that doesn't explain why Germans wouldn't use ice in water, a drink that obviously can't be watered down even more than it already is 😂 It is a cultural difference 😊
And of course in kiosks in the US we also have large fridges that cool drinks, Americans wouldn't use ice in those situations typically.
@@PassportTwo Maybe because we are used to our drinks being served cooled without the need for ice, especially when we go out to the pub or restaurant.
In addition, there is the risk of contamination with ice by the defrosted water.
For example, in Spain or other warmer EU countries, I always make sure to say "without ice" when ordering.
And of course you can water down a good mineral water with ice.
@@PassportTwo I get brain freeze from drinks with much ice.
@@PassportTwo The only way to water dilute: Kölsch 🤣🤣
Growing up as a Syrian-German, I don't feel like I have a much higher spice tolerance, but a bitterness tolerance.
From my (North/East/Prussian) German side I have a taste for salty licorice, from my (Arab) Syrian side, I have a tendency to drink unsweetened black tea.
And for takeaway or a fast food dinner, I prefer Vietnamese noodles, but enjoy Japanese sushi and onigiri (rice balls) too.
Ah, man, I've tried onigiri multiple times and for some reason I just haven't found one I like unfortunately! I love almost all things asian food, but that is one thing that I just haven't enjoyed like most people seem to...but those are great answers 😊
@@PassportTwo Also, fun fact:
Eastern Germany had two waves of Vietnamese migrants.
The first during the Cold War with international programs between East Germany and Vietnam
and a second wave after reunification.
That's why nowadays you'll find a lot of Vietnamese fruit and veggie vendors and restaurants there.
@@dansattah That fact is so obvious in Berlin. Most of the vietnamese groceries, and the huge Asia market center, are in the eastern part of the city, the former capital of the former GDR. On the contrary in the western part of Berlin there might be some vietnamese stores only in Charlottenburg along Kantstraße
Wait... Licorice is bitter?! I grew up loving licorice, but I never perceived the flavour as bitter...
Germans only look at other drivers on the motorway if they are annoyed with them and want to check out what the specific moron looks like ;-)
They do nod or give a slight wave at cars passing in the opposite direction in their own neighbourhood. Also, people driving certain cars, e.g. Jeeps, greet each other on the road.
Water company: "How much water do you want to waste in your grocery stores?"
Americans: "Yes"
I'm pretty sure most German supermarkets have a water spray system in their storage room to keep the produce at optimal moisture and temperature. But I have never seen one in the customer accessible area.
The biggest supermarket chain in the Netherlands is using this system, but I don't like it at all. Everything is soaking wet, and I haven't noticed any improvement.
It's an unwritten law: if a kid on a highway bridge waves at you, you wave back! No matter how old or cool you are!
In Germany the Icemachine is also not allowed standing in a kind of Public way cause it´s not hygienic. Think of it what ppl. can put into the box of the Icemachine where the ice is actually laying. I would never ever use a Icemachine where everybody can put his Hands on. It is correct to ask the Staff at the hotel in Germany for Ice than you can be shure you won´t recieve "Salmonellen" or other worse things and they have to clean the machine once in a Week, if it is used more often than 2-3 times in a Week !
Do you have any source you can provide showing ice machines aren’t allowed to sit in public? Would be interesting to see if that’s true!
thing 2: why is food automatically considered better if it contains plethora of spices and its as hot as possible over correctly preparing the food thats in season so one is actually tasting the flavours of what they eat without overdoing it with unneeded enhancements?
The overusage of spices both in Europes past and in large parts of less developed world today was and often still is due the rather lower quality of the available food, lacking hygienic standards and various accompanying health risks of eating such food and the spices were and are rather than to enhance the flavours used to either cover the taste of it and to preserve it to last for longer.
I dunno but for example good sushi( not European food for wimps but example of excellent Asian cousine) doesn't use much if any spices only quality products like rice, fish, vinegar etc and the accompanying soy sauce or wasabi is not used in litres to make it as hot as possible to the point one doesn't know if they eat sushi or razor wire set on fire but only in small doses to enhance but not cover and overpower the flavour of the actual sushi.
I like spicy food but for example during my visit to India within few hours all the food started to taste more or less the same exactly cos it was almost uniformly all spicy and so spicy that it was only spicy so the only way how I recognised if im eating cheese and not e.g. rice was the texture cos it all tasted the same, hot.
theres place and time for everything but spicy food isn't automatically better than not spicy one just like no-one would claim totally unseasoned food is automatically the best one- when it comes not only to food moderation and right time and place and amount is everything.
BTW when it comes to spiciness and hotness of food I never saw bigger crybabies and fussy eaters than Americans and Britons when the meal contains the slightest hint or trace amount of garlic or freshly shredded horseradish or actual onion( the normal ones that has taste not those big nice looking but watery and tasteless ones).
I've noticed one thing: In English you often say "sitting", where in German you say "liegen". You said: "The vegetables are sitting on the shelf" - in German the vegetables LIE on the shelf ("Das Gemüse liegt im Regal"). Another example: The money is sitting in the bank account. In German the money lies in the bank account ("Das Geld liegt auf der Bank").
Maybe this would be a video idea (even if I don't know exactly if this fills a whole video ...)
From my experience in Germany glancing over to the other driver while passing usually happens when the other one did something stupid before. E.g. if someone is driving ridiculously slowly along the middle line, so you need to pass them to keep a decent pace, you'll give them the German stare while passing to make them feel ashamed for their foolish driving.
The fact that our cuisine in Germany isnt based on Sharpness doesnt mean we are unable to eat hot and spicy Food. Most of our Dishes are more hearty because most of the times we prefer Umami-based Dishes. But you also can get hot Food here. Chilis are no typical european Plants so we dont use them that often but Pepper isnt our hottest Way to eat Food ^^ Even our famous Currywurst you can get sometimes with different Types of Sharpness and some are reaaaaaly hot.
Der Grund warum ich keine Eiswürfel in meinem Getränk mag ist ganz einfach:
Es ist mir zu kalt.🤷♂️
Und man hat bei jedem Schluck immer die Eiswürfel im Maul
Using spice destroys the taste of the other ingredients.
Using ice make no sense (except cocktails and maybe some other exceptions)
If it's cold outside it's better to have a hot drink and if it's hot outside it's better to drink something that has the temperature of your body.
So there is just no reason to use ice in normal drinks.
Sometimes you can only get a specific taste though with spiciness. Some peppers have really good flavor but are spicy and you just can't replicate it with another pepper. You also get used to spicy food so what's hot to someone who avoids spicy food may not even feel spicy at all when you eat it all the time. If it's so hot though that you can't taste anything then it's not enjoyable. Maybe just for sport! 🥵
I disagree there. I can't drink anything warm or room temperature when it's very hot outside. It's like drinking iced tea when it's cold outside too. A colder water will cool me down much faster than a hot tea or coffee, just as in the winter a hot tea or coffee warms me up more. Logic.
Being in Germany, a hot Glühwein is a booster
You're factually incorrect about cold drinks not helping on hot days. If you're from Germany, I don't think you understand what a "hot day" is.
@@bunnypeople it does get hot in Germany at times but the Germans have a strange way of showing it. They drink hot tea or coffee but running to the bathroom more often than I do drinking Coldwater. They run there to splash off with COLD water.
The ice machines are definitely not for drinks, they taste so chlorinated.
The ice machines DEFINITELY are for drinks and tastes chlorinated because it IS chlorinated tap water in the US 😅 Which is 100% potable 😊
My gift to my daughters 18th Birthday was a short travel to NYC and Her culture shock at a 4 Stars hotel was , that the cutlery and the plates at breakfast was one way plastic stuff.never Seen this somwrhere Else at a 4 or3,stars hotel,😊😊😊 perharps only at children Birthday or at Barbeque Sessions in the wilderness…
It's also not our fault that many of us Germans can't take spicy foods, because even if we try to, many food producers don't let us. I can't count the times I went for the "hot pepper" flavored potato chips, or "hot and spicy" chicken wings, and got something that had once been close to a picture of a jalapeño.
The lack of spice level is real. You want weird looks from the staff in a restaurant? Just ask the waiter for a spice level the cook is used from home… While we were leaving the restaurant where I had eaten a deliciously hellish spicy curry, even the chef came forward to see what this strange German looked like :D
i often ask in the indian resturant if can make it hotter for me i prefer it spicy in my daily life
You really have to convince people to make your food really hot! At least there's a great Indian restaurant in St. Pölten, where you get proper hot Indian food! 😁
Outside of asian and mexican restaurants we don't really get the exposure to lots of hotness. You can get your Döner with hot sauce, but "mit scharf" is optional.
And spice tolerance will adjust to the food.
Now that you mention it, as a kid I definitely used to regularly go to a grocery store with my mom that had a mist spraying system in the produce section, although not as extreme as the one you've shown. It was more of a wafting mist dropping down from the top of the shelf, not a spraying system.
However, I can't for the life of me remember which store it was, and have never encountered it since.
That's funny! I wonder if it was a Rewe? 🤔 So far that is the only one that seems to be the most consistent about doing this in Germany from what I can see online...
@@PassportTwo
In that Rewe here, the produce section is at the entrance. You have to go through. But there is no mist.
I can handle fairly spiced food but probably not what you call "hot" in the US. Personally I have two points of too spicy, the higher one is when I'm physically not able to eat it anymore. The lower one is when I can see all the other ingrediends but all I can taste is the spice. For me that's either a total waste of perfectly good ingredients or a sign that the ingredients weren's so perfectly good and the spice was used to cover it up. Either way it's not enjoyable.
oh, I get that. At some point it's so hot, it's only hot. So time to adjust the tolerance.
An ice machine technician told me he always orders his drinks without ice. Guess why.
(🤢)
In southwest Germany, there are some supermarkets that spray their vegetables with water mist. However, this is now hardly done for energy-saving reasons.
As a German who as grown up in Berlin I love my spicy Döner Kebab sauce and other stuff like chili con carne and a good Curry.
But cooking for my Grandma I life together with is always a challenge, because like you said: her "that's very spicy!" already starts at black pepper xD
But, is Döner Kebab, chili con carne or curry in Berlin really _that_ spicy?
I have experienced what Donnie mentioned, restaurants having spicy-for-Germans and _really_ spicy food thing. Döner Kebab in particular (which originates in Berlin but is sold by Turkish vendors Europe-wide) is less spicy in Germany than say in the Czech Republic. The last time we were in Berlin (this September), we went to a Croatian restaurant, and I had to ask the owner to bring me Ajvar (a mildly spicy paprika sauce and the most basic sauce there) as an extra that wasn't even on the menu.
Yet I am not even all that into spicy food - I used to when I was young but now I have a stomach sensitivity to it, so I only eat what counts as mildly spicy where I live. (I had a really hard time when I was in Korea - I insisted to only eat local food but almost everything was too spicy for me, even if it was just normal background level for locals.)
@@Daneelro If you eat them with that turkish hot sauce/paste they are hot. And if you want more, they have chili flakes on the tables.
1. I can't drink my soda of choice (Pepsi Maxx Cherry Zero) without ice cubes, so I usually buy a bag every 2 or 3 days. 2. I worked 14 years at an Edeka and 3 of these years we misted fruits and veggies. Then we stopped because it did not affect sales, it was just additional cost, so they got rid of it. 3. Chinese over Japanes food wise, only because we have an abundance of Chinese restaurant for over the last couple of decades now and most Japanese places only have Sushi, which I hate (no problem with the raw fish, I just don't like rice or seaweed).
I'm the total opposite. I hate cold drinks and love stale, lukewarm Coke zero.
What is always forgotten when it comes to ice cream is that some drinks have an optimal drinking temperature. If the temperature falls below this, the drink tastes different. For example, the optimal temperature for red wine, brandy and whiskey is 15-18 degrees Celsius, for white wine and rosé between 9 and 13 degrees. By the way, the optimal temperature for lager beer is between 6-8 degrees.
Really spicy food is eaten in more tropical or subtropical countries. Not in Europe and also not in Japan, but many in between. Spicy food also has an antibacterial effect - drinking water quality? I like to eat sometimes spicy (like homemade with dried chili peppers 🔥🔥 eg), but it must also fit the food: Garlic or chili on white asparagus is an absolute no-go. Spices should support the taste and not mask it.
One of the grocery stores I go to, the lights flicker and a sound goes track of thunder plays before the mist starts.
Yupp, bridge people are a thing here in Germany. When we go for a walk, my children really enjoy standing on the pedestrian bridge and waving at the trucks or watching for special vehicles.
Our REWE im Slazgitter Bad recently got a vegetable shelf with a misting device recently. But it’s a very small section with mostly salads and cabbages.
I work in a large grocery chain in germany, and i have never, in my whole life, heard of spraying/misting vegetables and fruits in supermarkets.
I had never liked spicy food. 5 years ago I was in Mexico for 2 months. At some point I couldn't avoid chili anymore. And I learned that even spicy food can have different tastes. Back in Germany, however, I quickly gave up the new habit. If something is spicy here, you usually only burn your mouth and don't taste anything else.
ice cubes don't play any role in germany... did you ever notice that drink taste more intensive when not cooled?
I mean, Germans still drink drinks cooled, just not with ice 😅
Back in the olden days before even pepper had arrived in Europe yet the only option for a german to spice things up a bit was mustard - which can be god damn spicy on occasion though.
The saying "Must du denn zu allem deinen Senf dazugeben?" - "Do you always have to add your mustard?" is a callback to these times.
Glancing over to a car driver usually is jugdemental and means, that one of them misbehaved while driving.
I never look at the drivers I overtake. Before, I am more focusing on what's going on behind me and to my left, during I look ahead where I'm going and only after I've passed them I look back at the car I overtook to get in front of them.
But as a passenger I'll often inform the driver about what's happening inside the other cars as I have more time to look.
in Europe vegetables are grown using "Mist" but they are not being misted in the shop :-)
Sometimes on extremely hot days vendors might mist their produce on display outside ...
Foodstuffs in Europe have a nice taste of their own and don't need to be jazzed up with spices.
I mean, I love food over here as well, but I wouldn't say that other cultures' foods that traditionally have spices are because it doesn't taste good and they need the spice to make it taste good 😅 It's just different cultures and what ingredients they had available to them traditionally. But, everyone is entitled to their own opinion! 😊
@@PassportTwo
I once noticed, that the countries with much spices are more in equatorial regions. I think In the past they used the spices to make them more durable. Here in Germany there was used much more salt for that. And that, I think, are the origins.
Ignorance is bliss...
Yeah and this is why you think water is spicy ☠️
The last time I checked, not only Spain and Italy were in Europe, but mustard has a very strong flavor and is used in Northern Europe
The REWE store in my neighborhood has such a mist spraying system for the vegetables on display.
That's what it seems to be in Germany, primarily just some Rewe stores that do this. I wonder why Rewe but the others have started doing it 🤔
But that’s really wasting water.
What's the point of spicing up your food to the point where you don't taste anything from your food anymore and your senses focus on overcoming the burning sensation in your mouth.
Just take sips from your favorite hot sauce. Mission accomplished 🤣🤣
in germany we use more herbs and/or garlix to spice up the foods (influence of mediterranean Cuisine). BUT the last years it is more and more common to use chilis, habaneros etc. etc.. f.example, i let grow/harvest in my garden more than 25 varienties from chillis, from mild to extremly hot since years
About the spice: It's not that we don't eat a bit spicy. But why should I desperately try to destroy my tastebuds only to impress some people that seem to think callous in my mouth is more important than any other achievement? I eat peppers and put curry and cayenne pepper into my meals. But moderately. The only reason to put as much spice into something is to cover some other flavour up - rotten meat, for example, or some cooking disaster.
On the eye-contact-when-passing: I have noticed that most drivers don't look over, but I usually am in the passenger seat, so it's safe that I look. My husband, who drives, doesn't look over, either.
And about the water-spraying: I'm happy we don't have it that regularly. It's not only ripping customers off by faking a heavier product, but it's also a huge expenditure of water that in my eyes is unnecessary.
Sushi rulz.
My favorite Edeka has a misting device for the veggies and I love it
Was living for 47 years in Germany, Bavaria - never seen a mist for vegetables in Stores.
Horse Raddish is literally the only native plant in central Europe which could be considered pretty spicy. Black pepper was a luxury import from the eastern mediterranean, and that's kind of it.
Like, Americans tend to be even more dumbfounded about the lack of burn in Spain. But it obviously makes sense.
"It's all New World plants? Always has been"
mustard can be really spicy too, same chemical though. and we have some spicy menthol based stuff, too.
@@Bioshyn
Oh, forgot mustard. I mean it's technically not a native plant in Europe, it did however become popular before 1500. Though also mostly for the wealthier.
If someone passed me and I'd notice them staring at me, I'd be so freaked out.
It has happened once or twice and now I'm staring ahead even more firmly, just so I would not notice someone looking straight at me from the side, because like I said, it freaks me out.
You have time to look at the side while driving on the autobahn? That just means you are driving too slow. Overtaking on the autobahn means part of a second and in the US it is seconds because everyone drives just 65 mph. So it just comes down to physics.
On the hot stuff: I think you just know the wrong people because lots of Germans like it spicy. But I think in general you have the right idea. Greets from Karlsruhe!
im sure ive never seen water being sprayed upon our vegetables, but i sure often see some cold fog being generated above them that sinks down and keeps them moist i guess?
you often see that, when looking for vegetables, that need to be kept cool, like the Romanesco Cauliflower and specifically in Rewe, Penny, Lidl and Aldi (i think ive seen it in these brands anyway)
In Germany I like to by my vegetables on the Farmer Market. It is so fresh it does not need to be sprayed with water.
When travelling in the US,always ask for a hotel room far away from the Ice machine.
The population density of Germany is just higher than that of the U.S. There are more villages and more people living close to highways.
Most fridges have/had(?) an icecube form as an accessory. We used it rarely, more often in the RV. I prefer the icecube replacements which are sealed plastic or metal cubes or balls filled with some liquid. So if is really hot in summer you can have your drink longer cool without watering it.
when I visited the usa I wondered why is there an icemaker on every floor? from cheap motels to 5-star luxurious hotels everyone had plenty of ice makers.
You'll find out soon that taking your toddler to a highway bridge is one of the cheapest forms of entertainment. Kid gets fresh air and is thoroughly entertained while it requires minimal effort for the parent.
When I drove down the highway in San Diego, LA and San Francisco, hardly anyone made eye contact with me. On the drive from Barstow to Las Vegas it often happened because there were very few cars on the road through the desert. The closer we got to Las Vegas, i.e. the more cars there were on the road, the less eye contact we had.
There's more to spicing your food than drowning it in chili:
A pinch of salt, a few turns of the peppermill, some taps on the basil/oregano/thyme/muscat container, a branch of rosemary, garlic slices...and so on.
All while preserving the individual taste and enhancing, rounding or complementing it.
And then there's Currywurst that can be both tasty and spicy (hot).
my way to school was over a bridge of the autobahn and through a park. most of the time i used the bike because it was about a 30min walk. with the bike it was 15minutes from my door to the school room. the car wouldt be much faster because it obviosly cannot go through the park XD. so it was a much longer way. and as you only allowed to drive alone at 18 years it only was a option for my last year. (have done 13 years to be able to study)
Yeah, no, as a German who NEVER liked any carbonated drinks, going to the UK and the States was a revelation and delight being able to get still water EVERYWHERE and ofter for free :)
Ive seen those vegetable sprayers in the netherlands, but in Germany maybe 4times my whole life. And in our city (Bielefeld) is the best Rewe of the country but they also dont have this. We have just food watchers who check the vegetables are fresh ✌🏻
I haven't been to the US, but herein Germany I've never looked at another driver passing or passed by me.
Ice machines in hotels. Now I've seen every unnecessary thing there is. To think Americans can't live without ice for a night 😂
I make a mean mango habanero hot sauce whenever we find habaneros in Edeka and mangos wherever they're on sale. It's perfect with chicken, especially nuggets.
There was steam in the supermarket for a short time in Germany too. I don't know why it doesn't exist anymore. probably because the boxes were soggy.
I was totally perplexed when I saw this in the Netherlands this summer, now this video explains it.
You need to try Bestwurst currywurst! They have a spiceometer to choose how spicy to go. My partner dips pizza in sriracha and finds level 3 perfect but it goes much higher!
sriracha is that nice hotness with a garlic tang. Very nice on meat.
By the way, have you ever tried a real Hungarian Gulasch? That can be quite spicy.
@6:30 I like spicy stuff be born and live in the Ruhrpott area. 😊
@7:41 I cannot imagine that being the case because hot sauce and chilly peppers are still a thing. It must be a generalization because there are enough people who enjoy it.
When it comes to spicyness my tolarance is quite high. I tend to use Sambal Olek (asian chilli paste) with asian dishes to spice them up and occasionally use it with Bratwurst instead of ketchup or mustard. But I have the feeling most Germans don't really object to food being hot spicy as opposed to the overpowering flavours of some spice mixes. And black pepper just adds some neutral hotness without breaking the other flavours.
Zooming along the highway at 200 km/h I prolly well keep my eyes on the road 😁
I'll go with chinese food, because it is available near me. I only once was in a Japanese restaurant and I really liked, too. But Chinese is simply more available, except for the occational sushi tray from the supermarket.
Especially freshly grounded black pepper adds more than just spiciness, there is more flavour to it, that is pretty much gone if you buy it as power.
And Sambal Oelek is great, I put it on my eggs.
Concering traffic and driving I have noticed two differences, mostly driving in LA: In the US there is this lane on the highway only allowed for cars with passengers, which is really a great idea. And I also liked the traffic lights and street signs being on the other side of an intersection, so it is much easier to see them. In general it was more comfortable to drive in the US with mostly broad and straight streets, but lacking the experience of occaional speed thrill 😝
Placing traffic lights on the near side of the intersection prevents people from crossing the stop line. This is very important in European cities, where there are a lot of pedestrians and cyclists directly after the stop line. In a more car-oriented culture, it makes more sense to place the traffic lights on the other side to make sure the drivers can see the lights.
@@carmenl163 And often the bike lane extends in front of the stop line.
In many driving schools(in Germany)you are taught:"Act like every other driver is an idiot---in the maiority of cases,you will be proved right"!!!!Inofficially: 99% of Germans are convinced,they are world-champion drivers--superior to others!(which gives them the right to lecture others!)🤣
While driving in the U.S. if I see young people looking over a bridge I'm fearful that they may drop a rock on my windshield. Here in Texas, we are informed not to make eye contact with other drivers because of the high incidence of road rage shootings.
I love spicy food. My best friend makes some chili con carne that has about 4-5 jalapenos per 200g in it and i love it! (Most of our friends always almost die when eating it xD)
As kids we had this game to eat the Peperoni and who had to drink or eat first would have lost. I never lost 😉
Meanwhile its quite hard to get some spicy food as most restaurants have to put less spice into the food as to many customers would complain. That's why i always carry a tiny bottle with spicy sauce with me when i know that i'll eat somewhere else.
In my town there opened a japanese Restaurant with fresh made ramen and other japanese food at the start of this year. Until then i only were able to get some sushi ... and because of and thanks to that i now can say, that i prefer japanese food. But chinese/vietnamese/mongolic food is really tasty, too.
And indian food (also asian cuisine) is awesome, too!
If the food at an asian restaurant is not spicy enough you have to tell them original spicy, not western spicy :D also you should try indonesian food. Thats where Sambal comes from. When they said the food is not spicy, it was quite spicy, KFC hot wing level spicy, my max tolerance for spicy. When they said it is just a little bit spicy, I could only eat half of it before putting my mouth under running water because it was extremly spicy and everything was on fire. If I ever eat anything an indonesian person calls spicy, I will literaly die
Bridge people: Yes, that's a thing in Germany. Its even better if its over railroad tracks and you get the train driver to honk greetings to you. 🙂
You can easily fix a bad dish by making it hot as it overshadows all other notes. Reversely, you don't need much spice if the food just tastes great on it's own. There's a reason the food industry sells us mashed up crap with too much seasoning. It's cheap to make and people buy it.
When it comes to spicy food, there is one thing most Americans in Germany never will know. The more you live in the east of Germany, the spicier food you will eat. When I, born and living in Saxony, travel to western Germany, food is mostly laxly spiced.
The spicy food is weird, because when I (German) was in the US Florida), I didn't find the food very spicy. It was more sweet that savory, especially the salad dressings. Or just bland. Exceptions were the Mexican restaurants.
When I was invited to home-cooked dinner by co-workers , I was stunned when the vegetables weren't seasoned at all. Frozen vegetables just warmed up in the microwave with no seasoning or sauce. Very weird.
Also, the fact that Thai restaurants are very popular in Germany is an indicator that a lot of Germans do like spices. I personally don't, but my mom does.
to answer your last Q: European-adjusted Chinese food.
I have never glanced at other drivers while driving, only sometimes when stuck in a traffic jam. I often glance at drivers as a pedestrian, to see if they have noticed my intention to cross the street. I too noticed more people on bridges in Europe. Never gave it a thought. Pedestrians on roads in western states are so rare...when we went for a walk in rural Ca. a police car stopped to ask if we needed help.
I've asked at hotels for some ice and usually got a glassfull. Only once did I get a small bucketfull.
Here in Hessia we have a relatively high spice tolerance, heck there's a bratwurst franchise that sells them with up to 1,200,000 SCU (lowest level after none is 4,000) that's hotter than a ghost pepper... (lowest ca. Tabasco)
I just ordered my second set of Hot Ones sauces. But hearing now that I probably don't have the palate for it - should I cancel it? I mean I lived through the first set but apparently I just didn't know at the time.
Growing up in a town that is devided by Autobahn 5 north of Frankfurt, we naturally had to use bridges across quite frequently. And when out walking we would stop and count cars or wave and see how many drivers wave back. Still fun today with our own littles.
REWE used to mist vegetables (gefühlt in den 90ern) but discontinued this as well as cooling them on a bigger scale.
Not looking over is better depending on road rage. But sometimes people speed up not wanting to be passed ... so each situation their own safety measures (as stated: close to FFM near A5 ... lots of awfully fast and aggressive driving!)
Ice i always found ick in Hotels in the US ... would not/never ingest it! Also, the amount of chlorine in the water used makes anything taste awful
Regarding the misting. I have seen it but only at Rewe.
This water mist at vegetables we have here in Germany at grocery stores too. At least here at my city in Koblenz. The Penny-Markt for instance. Strange is, I made long road trips already to nearly all states in US (incl Oklahoma ;)) and I have never recognized this water mist in stores there. 😆 But this is maybe because I didn’t find it unusual and just don’t remember if I saw it over there 😊
I'm Australian, and while plenty of people here like ice, I've never seen an ice machine in a hotel. We also don't have water misting over grocery stores, as far as I know.
I do not like to use ice in my drinks because the colder the drink is the less the flavour emerges.
Im German, somewhat same geographical region where you guys live, and i grow my own chillis, with carolina reaper beeing the hottest stuff i grow, so my spice tolerance... is higher ^^
But if you want spicy in germany, you most of the time dont get it.. Despite at the Döner store or at a good asian restaurant, youll get spicy stuff... (sometimes at an indian restaurant) ^^
But yeah, we are not participating in the spice game ^^
0:09 What kind of track is this?
I‘m German and grow my own different kinds of chili peppers 🌶️
But I just do that because I love urban gardening and they are easy to grow and super cool to see them developing. Because I hate spicy food I always give the chili peppers to my Indian work mates - they love them ♥️😆🌶️
That's funny (-: I love the US ice machines. I used the ice bucket in the room to keep the bottle of champagne chilly - which is very European. The champagne from the liquor store and not from the 6x as expensive hotel service.
I would say I'm quite well travelled. But I have never seen an ice machine or ice box in a hotel. To be fair I stayed in an airbnb when visiting the US. But usually I stay in hotels.
If you‘re looking for spices you need to visit some currywurst or kebap houses. It‘s not a thing here but if you know where to look, you can have some hot experiences.
lmao at the 'bridge people' :D
In Germany we don’t have this culture of iced drinks like the USA. And it’s just too cold, some people getting sore throat if they drink too many cold drinks.
I haven't seen such vegetable watering things in stores here. However, I am rarely in such stores and ignore the vegetables section, as vegetables are bought at the market (aka farmer's market, but they are not all farmers so the term is not fitting at all). There stuff is usually that fresh that it stays good for the whole week in our fridge. I remember however, that in one supermarket the spray some vegetables by hand. So maybe this practice is hitting German stores right now.