Not Your Mama's Meatloaf

Several people have asked me why I wrote so much about food. I'll be honest, I wasn't aware that I did until a few readers pointed it out to me. Nevertheless, I'm not all that surprised. There are three big reasons why I think food is a key part to this blog...

a) I love food. I enjoy cooking, I enjoy eating, but I also enjoy the adventure of trying new things. The worst that could happen is you get a bad taste in your mouth until you find a drink, or maybe a little heartburn. It's a fairly riskfree adventure and I like that aspect of eating.

b) Mealtime is one of the few times that we--The Viking Orchestra crew--were all together doing exactly the same thing. Our tours were divided into smaller groups and during our free time we were on our own, but we were all connected during breakfast and dinner. If I say we had apple strudel, I know I'm not leaving anybody out. Meals were very important because it's that special time when we could all catch up and find out how everyone spent their days...what they bought, what they saw, and what they liked the most. (And in some cases, um, what they ate.)

c) Along with music and art, food is one of the most unique things to any given culture. You can learn so much about a group of people based on their diet, and every region's is special to them. Just look at the wide variety of culinary delights we have here in the southeast that are just ours: sweet tea, fried chicken, collard greens, Cheerwine, really good barbecue sauce. If you went to Boston and tried to get these things they wouldn't know what you were talking about, much less in the Czech Republic! Food identifies us, and it's one of the fastest ways to get in touch with a new place, whether it's sharing bread with one of the natives or just buying a bratwurst from a street vendor.

A few examples of our cultural differences...


Breakfast. Frankfurters and potatoes.


Yep. That's corn you see sprinkled on top of this pepperoni pizza.


Meatloaf the way they like it in Germany. (It tasted like fried bologna.)


Sachertorte. Originated at the Viennese Hotel Sacher, this chocolate delight satisfied a lot of empty tummies. Some even brought samples home in the trademark wooden box.