By
Anis Albasha
At the beginning, I thought that the issue of food differences
would be difficult mainly because of the language. It is true that what is
considered edible or even delectable in a society might be considered inedible
and unpalatable in another one. However, I was sure that there would be many
foodstuffs we -as human beings- can consume with no problem. I was thinking that,
whether in Yemen or in Germany, food products such as bread, cheese, flour or
milk would remain the same so we could always go with those familiar choices until
we improve our German language and get used to the new surroundings. Well, that
way of thinking turned out to be wrong and I have discovered that this issue
was more inconvenient than what I thought. The problem is, not only did we have
to coop with the different taste and flavors of the European cuisine, but we
also have to deal with the unfamiliar ways of preparing, cooking and serving
food.
When it comes to eating, people have two options; whether to
eat at a restaurant or to eat at home. In Germany, there are many foreign
restaurants such as Turkish, Chinese, Italian, Japanese and Indian as well as
the global fast food restaurant chains like McDonald's, Kentucky and Pizza Hut.
If we decide to eat at a restaurant, we would usually go with the Arab/Muslim
restaurants where pork is not served and the meat is slaughtered according to
the Islamic way ‘Halal’. The word ‘Halal’ simply mains that the animal was
killed by a knife and all blood is drained from the carcass. On the other hand,
if we have to eat at a non-Arab/Muslim restaurant, we would then order
vegetarian dishes or fish. Though we had to remove ‘fish’ as an option after we
had eaten it once at a restaurant with sweet cream!
You can click Here to read the
full story about the fish experience!
In fact, not only we refrain from eating ‘unhalal’ meat because of our
religious belief, but we cannot abide the idea of eating any kind of meat that
still has blood inside. So, if we had meat which is supposed to be Halal and we
found out that there was blood inside it, which indicates that the carcass was
killed by stunning, we would immediately feel uncomfortable. As for the pork, it
is stated clearly in the Quran, the holy book of Muslims that “Say, I do not
find within that which was revealed to me ‘anything’ forbidden to one who would
eat it unless it be a dead animal, or blood spelled out, or the flesh of swine
” 6:145. Surprising as it may be, we have met some Europeans who not only don’t
like to eat pork, but they also prefer to have Halal meat instead. According to
those people who have tried both Halal and unhalal meat, the former tastes much
better.
Eating at home simply means bringing grocery, which is not an easy task.
The strange ingredients of most food products make a normal grocery shopping
even harder for us. For instance, if my wife asks me to bring something from
the supermarket, it would take me quite a while before I get what she wants.
When she calls me and wonders that I am still in the supermarket, I always
respond by saying “Honey, I am sure that the thing you want is here, but I
haven’t found it yet!” Each time I go to the supermarket to buy something, I
have to go through certain steps. First, I have to find the sector that
contains the product I am looking for. Second, due to the great variation of
the products, it takes time to find the required stuff because I have to walk
through different aisles and look through many shelves.
When I finally find the required product, I then have to peruse the
ingredients to make sure that the components are compatible with those we used
to know in our country as well as to ensure that these ingredients do not
include unwanted substances such as pig derivatives or alcohol. Nevertheless, many
times I thought that I got the food products I was looking for and later at
home we found out that they just resemble the groceries we used to know. However, this huge diversity of food products in German supermarkets makes
grocery shopping a bit funny for us. For example, in our country, we have only
two kinds of flour, white flour and brown one. The variation of this product
lies only in the quality of its origin. But here in Germany, there are dozens
of flour types in the supermarkets and each type can be used for a specific
purpose. Moreover, these flour types have strange names such as, flour 405 or
flour 505 which sounds like we were talking about certain types of military
missiles! Moreover, when I go to buy some eggs, I wish that I had a poultry expert who
can explain to me the characteristics of the different types of German eggs displayed in the shelves!
 |
| many types of flour in all supermarkets |
 |
| Eggs! |
As time passed, grocery shopping has become easier and I have
started to distinguish between the different types of food products. However,
the issue of the pig derivatives remained annoying and complicated. I was already
aware that pork derivatives and alcohol might be found in many food products.
Therefore, I have looked these words up in the German dictionary so by reading the
ingredients; I would be able to tell if they contain pig derivatives or alcohol.
I have also learned some helping hints on this regard such as, the cheap
products are more likely to contain pork derivatives while the expensive
products -usually- do not contain pork gelatin. However, I have found that pork
derivatives and alcohol are included in some food products I never thought they
would contain these substances such as bread, fruit juice and chocolates. I even
saw a plain white cheese which contains pork fats while the name of this cheese
in German is pork cheese ‘schinken käse’!
 |
| Types of chocolates with a large proportion of alcohol |
 |
| Salad with pork |
As a result, pork’s issue has
become an obsession that chases me every time I go to the supermarket to buy
something. I became more skeptical and I started to scrutinize the ingredients of
all the products even if they were just chewing gum or yogurt. That’s why learning
German was so helpful. The more German I picked up, the easier it becomes when
handling the food issue and I started to feel more confident. One time, my wife
and I were shopping for some stuff when we felt tired and hungry. I then went
to fetch some snacks so we could have them with some coffee and then continue our
shopping. In similar situations, I usually go with things I already knew such as
butter croissant, biscuits or chocolates. But at that time, I thought it might be nice
to try something different. So I took one quick look at the pastries placed in
the shelves and decided to go with what looked to me like a ‘cheesy’ croissant
with small scattered brown pieces that looked delicious.
My wife and I got some coffee
and we started to eat. But I got the feeling that the taste of the new croissant
was a little bit unfamiliar. Yet, I continued eating silently. But my wife held
the croissant in her hand, looked at it doubtfully before she asked me,
"Are you sure that this croissant is with cheese?" I shook my head
with confidence and I continued biting and sipping. Unlike me, my wife remained
skeptical. She didn’t like the croissant, but she was very tired so she ate it
without finishing it though. Later that day and just before I went to sleep, a
sudden thought struck me. I vaguely remembered that there was a word written
next to that croissant we ate this morning, but I didn’t pay much attention to
it. Then I started thinking of those small brown pieces that were placed in the
croissants we had. Is it possible that those pieces were not cheese but were in
fact….pieces of pork??
Then my stomach muscles began
to contract. I looked at my wife who was sleeping peacefully, should I tell her
that she was right and we might had pork croissant this morning! The very next
day I went to the place where I bought the croissants. Unfortunately, in a
small font next to the croissant shelve, it was written that the croissant
contains two things: cheese, which was good news and it meant that I was half
right. And it also contains pork which explained the unfamiliar and the unpalatable
taste I retroactively felt then! That incident taught me that overconfidence is
not always good and I have become more careful since then. But at that very
moment I had another problem, how could I tell my wife that I made her eat not unhalal meat but pork!
To conclude, Moving from one
culture to another is not an easy experience. Those who come from different cultural
backgrounds have to deal with many challenges and to exert great efforts to adjust with the new surroundings where everything sounds unfamiliar. Food
culture is a challenge that requires time and efforts before getting accustomed
to it. Though we do seem to be making some headway in coping with the food differences,
becoming totally adapted to the new food culture would always be a strenuous and
a challenging task.
