Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Wurst War

In Freiburg's Münster market, six licensed vendors traditionally sell grilled bratwurst to natives and tourists alike at their stands. The Freiburger Long Red (wurst) served with slightly stewed onions in a bun is my favorite, but you can also opt for a Polnische (is this the same as a Krakauer?), a Krainer with and without cheese, and a Thüringer. There is a wurst made from veal and cholesterol-poor turkey. An orderly market order orders that the order of the stands in the Münster market rotates daily such that each vendor, in turn, is first in line.

Mr. Meier, at his Wurststand, proudly holds up Freiburg's Rote in a Brötchen for an iPhone photo shoot. Note the brin of an onion looking out on top of the bun. 
Presently there is some agitation among those traditional vendors as - l'Union Européenne oblige - the precious licenses must be newly tendered Europe-wide! Imagine some Turks disguised as Greeks selling döner wurst! A scandal? But if it's good, why not. But do not be afraid: the inventive German talent does not sleep, wenn es um die Wurst geht (when dealing with wurst). In a letter to the editor, a tofu producer from Freiburg would like to make the business of his life, demanding that one of the future six licensees must be selling veggie wurst.

Mind you. The idea of vegetarian meat ersatz has been introduced previously. In the Vegetarian Journal, you can already read as early as 2000: Veggie burgers and dogs are generally lower in calories and fat than hamburgers and hot dogs. Even extra lean ground beef gets more than half its calories from fat; most veggie burgers have less than 20% of calories from fat. Meat has no fiber; most veggie burgers have at least 3 or 4 grams of dietary fiber per serving. While veggie burgers have little or no cholesterol, a 3.5-ounce hamburger with extra lean ground beef has 90 milligrams of cholesterol. Veggie burgers, especially those made with soy, contain generous amounts of protein and iron. Vitamin B-12 is added to some veggie burgers. The only negative for veggie burgers is that most are higher in sodium than ground beef.

I don't know about the quality of veggie burgers in the States, but those I have tasted in Germany were awful. Maybe, contrary to the States, the ones sold here contain less salt. That indeed makes them 120% healthy food but uneatable too.

Veggie dogs are also lower in calories, fat, and cholesterol than hot dogs. Some veggie dogs have more protein and iron and less sodium than hot dogs. Both hot dogs and veggie dogs contain little or no fiber. So what will a roasted tofu wurst served at a vegetarian booth here in Freiburg contain?

In the States, they already sell the Veggie or the somewhat speedier Leaner Wiener, the Meatless Frank (the poor guy), the VegiDog, and the slightly hotter Veggie Chili Dog. Take a Tofu Pup when you don't like adults served (a Wiener and Frank). There is a SoyBoy Not Dog on the market for all those cat lovers. 

All this stuff is not roasted, so what will happen to a tofu wurst on a grill? We may know by World Veggie Day, October 1st, 2011.


I wish you all a Happy New Year!
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Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Winter is icumen in

Winter is icumen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing Goddamm.

... wrote poet Ezra Pound once in a persiflage of the well-known poem from the middle of the 13th century:

Sumer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!

Pound's appreciation is too rough. Also, winter has its charms. My friend and English mentor Jim took this amazing photo on December 1st, 2010. Fresh snow had just powdered streets, roofs, and trees.

The photo shows Oberlinden, a square in Freiburg you cross when you enter
the city through the Schwabentor (the gate opening to Swabia).
Note the linden tree in the middle decorated with Herrnhuth Stars.
In the back, you sense the steeple of Freiburg's Münster Church
Herrnhuth Stars became fashionable in Freiburg last year. I bought one for my balcony and took a photo last year. For those who haven't yet seen one up close, here is my photo:

It's twilight time. You can make out trees of the Black Forest in the background.
 The illuminated windows mark study rooms
for the students of the Max-Planck Institute of International Law. 
In the meantime, last week's snow has completely disappeared. Freiburg is likely to be the only major city in Germany without a white Christmas.

I wish you all a peaceful Christmas!
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Monday, December 20, 2010

The Lost Cause

Today the Thema des Tages (The Topic of the Day) in the Badische Zeitung commemorated the 150th anniversary of South Carolina's secession from the Union. When the resulting Civil War between the Yankees and the Rebels ended, bemoaning more than 600.000 dead, many a man in the South instead moaned about the Lost Cause. So far, so bad, but then the author, in his article about the Civil War, managed to smuggle in the German Dolchstoßlegende (stab-in-the-back legend), and Not all was bad (in the Third Reich). The author eventually considered the sentiments of those Americans way down South as something in between.

Propaganda drawing from 1860?: Black Union army men under the command
of a white officer attacking the Confederates.
Notice the couple below on the left-hand side fighting to the finish:
 Is this a stab in the back?
 I shake my head! The Dolchstoßlegende, born after the lost First World War, claimed that it was the home front and socialist Jews who had not supported the German fighting men in those trenches in Flanders. They virtually stabbed them in their backs. It was one of those brainwashings of the people by the right-wingers and later by the Nazis. 

However, in the Civil War, the conspiracy theory accused the Southern generals of being traitors.

Germans remember it well! Philipp Scheidemann, who had proclaimed the German Republic
dagger in his hand with Matthias Erzberger,  a catholic Jew of the Center Party, watching. 
In the background, wealthy Jews sit on their gold and count their paper money. 
Whether in the South it was not all bad before the Confederate States were forced back into the Union, I cannot judge, but all was bad as far as the Nazi regime is concerned! The Nazis started with total domination of the people, changed to total war, and ended in total defeat.

Here is a lesson: Be careful when comparing historical processes and events!
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Friday, December 17, 2010

Mark or Franc that is no question

My son found the following cartoon on the internet:

This only reinforces my remark made in the blog below. Don't bail out of the Euro to reintroduce the Deutsche Mark but don't buy Swiss Francs either. Our chancellor has the perspective:  If you can't beat them, join them.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

The Freiburg Gipfel

Without comment
Ouff, the Franco-German Gipfel (summit) in Freiburg between Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel is history. Last Friday, the town came to a standstill. From 8h30 to 17h30 no streetcars in the city. Bag-pack-loving Freiburgers passing through had their Rucksacks checked several times by security forces.

A hundred-strong police unit kept some demonstrators disguised as clowns encircled. As they were polluting the air with some terrible sounds, one officer confiscated a small drum, but being a perfect German official, he handed out a receipt to the drummer.

When a bystander criticized the expense of such summits, I answered, "One day in Afghanistan costs more than ten Gipfels." 

Let Angela and Nicolas be guided by the Archbishop in person, visit the Münster church, sign Freiburg's Golden book - with our Lord Mayor watching from behind -, and let them eat a free lunch (?) specially composed by the one-star cook in town; all this doesn't disturb me if it helps French-German friendship.

 However, it annoys me when those two leaders pretend to protect the euro.

Spraying Sarkozy. A French guy splashes his President with a water gun.
The clustered security force reacted much too late but arrested the man. 
Addressing the demand of Luxemburg, Italy, Spain, and Greece for issuing euro bonds, Merkel said, "We cannot allow mutualizing the (financial) risks." Nicolas paid her lip service by adding, "I don't see how far Germany would be selfish. Germany is the biggest (financial) contributor to the European Union."

Greece and Ireland, for years indeed, lived on credit striving beyond their financial possibilities. They now must pay more for bonds on the international market than Germany to refinance their debts. But since we have a common currency, the old German proverb holds Mitgefangen, mitgehangen (Captured together, hung together).

In fact, Euro bonds will be only a small remedy for curing the imbalance between the rich and the poor European countries. These bonds present a lesser evil for Germany than a Länderfinanzausgleich (balancing budgets between different countries). The latter is practiced in the Federal Republic between various States. From time to time, this compensation creates fury in those Länder that always have to pay to the States that, according to the givers, don't do their financial homework correctly. I agree that such a European system will require a more united community than countries bound together by a common currency.

In stirring up public opinion in Germany against the issue of euro bonds, the opponents deprive the man in the street of higher interest rates for his money. With those, he could compensate for inflation. In the meantime, people without confidence in either the euro or the dollar buy gold, although it has become so expensive that some have started to change their money into Swiss francs.
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