Potato King!

Rasha Almaqaleh

 A couple of weeks ago, we went to the big mall of the city and, to our surprise, we found some lovely large farm pieces, placed neatly on the floor. 

seemingly real farms, there were 

scarecrows and some harvest baskets full of crops such as potatoes and pumpkins. It was then when we realized that the harvest festival season has started. October is the time when harvest is celebrated in Germany.  Erntedankfest or harvest feast is usually celebrated on the first Sunday in October and it is an interesting part of the German culture, especially in the countryside.

  Potatoes, particularly, are a very popular crop in Germany and an essential ingredient of German cuisine. While in Yemeni grocery stores, potato is just potato regardless of its type, size, and texture, in Germany potatoes are categorized into so many types and

each type is used for a certain recipe. If you go to the produce section in any local supermarket here, you’ll be amazed by the potato varieties; they are so many that one could use guidance. So, shopping for potatoes is a big deal and you may need someone to explain to you the differences between the astonishing varieties.

  Two weeks ago, we attended a nice event in the kindergarten which was called ‘Potato festival’, Kartoffelfest. All parents were asked earlier to bring along a large potato to the fest because there was a competition for the children in which the owner of the largest potato would win the title of the fest: ‘the potato king’! The fest was held at 4 pm in the kindergarten yard. All the celebrators gathered around a fire. Children sang an autumn welcome song, der Herbst ist da.

Then, parents with their children stood in a line in order to get their potatoes weighed. The ‘potato weighing board’ consisted of two kindergarten teachers who had a scale on the table. One of them would weighed the potatoes and the other wrote down the weights on a list and also on paper tags with strings. Those tags, which were shaped like potatoes, were given to the children to hang around their necks till the moment of announcing the winners at the end of the festival.

  After that, parents and children enjoyed the potato dishes which were prepared by the kindergarten teachers, such as potato soup and potato slices. Moreover, they played together some potato-related games such as potato sack race, collecting potatoes, and spoon balance.

  As in many German open-air fests, baking stick bread is a main activity which is greatly enjoyed by kids and adults alike. In this fun activity, dough is wrapped around wooden sticks and baked over charcoal fire for a couple of minutes and then you get fresh crispy bread!

Nice potato dishes were served in the festival such as potato soup and ‘potato slices’.

At the end of the festival, the parents and children gathered around three lovely tree-trunk podiums which were placed in order to announce three winners. Amusingly, three potato-shaped medals were prepared for this moment, just like the Olympics! Unfortunately, we did not win any medal as our potato weighed only three hundred and seven grams while the three wining potatoes’ weighed way more than that. A girl with a seven hundred gram potato won the title of the contest:  the potato king (or queen!). The second place went to a boy with a half kilo gram potato whilst another boy with a four –hundred gram potato won the third place.

Even though we didn’t win the competition, the event was really fun and entertaining.  We felt so lucky to attend such a festival and to have a pleasant experience that certainly is worth remembering!