Who Said This?

[L Verge]

Except for the fish and chips sold by street vendors, England took the cake for the worst food when I was there. I loved Germans' beer gardens and most of their sausages. For dinner, I particularly loved wiener schnitzel and have yet to find one as tasty here at home. A mom and pop restaurant in Clinton used to serve it under the name of breaded veal cutlet, and it came close to beating the German variety.

Austrian food was much the same, but I have to share something. My friend and I arrived at a small hostel in the Austrian Alps right after they had cleared their communal table from lunch. The proprietress offered to find something for us in the kitchen, and we said that a sandwich would be fine. I don't know about now, but forty years ago, sandwiches were not easy to come by in Europe. She offered us some steak tartare -- and, of course, we had no idea what that was.

When a patty of raw hamburger with a raw egg in the center of it was placed in front of us, we behaved and showed no emotion - just thanked the lady and wondered what to do next. When she left the room, we started forking up small amounts at a time and stuffing them into our large, linen napkins. When we got back to our rooms, we opened a window and started throwing the bits out to some dogs below. I'm sure that the lady must have wondered what happened to her napkins, but loose lips sink ships and get you thrown out of places.

That night, we shared a table with two German couples who were delightful. At first, we were a little concerned because, when they found out we were American, they told us that they had been German p.o.w's of the Americans for the last two years of the war. We started to apologize (it just seemed the right thing to do), but they quickly told us that they were treated better by the Americans than they were ever treated by their Nazi officers. They then introduced us to schnappes and proceeded to see if they could get us drunk. Again, my lips are sealed...

When we finally returned to New York, my fiance met me at the airport and asked if I was hungry. It had been about a seven-hour flight from Amsterdam, so yes I was. And the first thing I wanted was a McDonald's Big Mac, french fries, and a large Coke WITH ICE IN IT! Quenching one's thirst back then in Europe was a chore. I remember standing in line at watermelon stands in Rome at midnight trying to get water from that fruit to quench my thirst. I'm sure things have changed since then.