We tend to take much of our everyday food for granted. We don't think about most of the things we eat, much less try to get to the bottom of what they mean to us emotionally. They are a seemingly natural part of our lives. But what if we suddenly find ourselves somewhere else and don't have access to the same food as before? In this series of interviews I ask Germans living abroad and people from abroad living in Germany about their food habits old and new, their favourite dishes and food-related homesickness.
Linpei Zhu works as an engineer at a semiconductor company in Hamburg. Before she came to Germany in July 2012, she had worked at the Shanghai branch of the same company for two and a half years. She grew up in the small town of Shenhou in Central China's Henan province, where noodles, steamed buns and dumplings are the staple foods, not the rice popular in the southern provinces. Nine years ago she moved to Shanghai, a city with a vibrant food scene. For the interview we met at a café, sitting in the sun and enjoying Kuchen (cake) - one of the foods she particularly likes in Germany. (Linpei used some German words in her answers. I have given the translations in brackets.)
In winter, everybody eats Grünkohl (kale). And in May, everybody eats lots of Spargel (asparagus) with Schinken (ham).
Of course, Wurst (sausage) and Schinken (ham) are typical German foods. And I really like to eat them on bread - oh yes, and that's another thing that's a bit special in Germany: the bread. It isn't very soft, and it has a very hard crust. Very different from the bread I was used to, which is very soft, white and a little sweet, rather more similar to a German Berliner (a kind of jam-filled doughnut). I like Berliner. For a time I even ate them for breakfast.
Well, I like German breakfast. At work we have a tradition that whenever a new baby is due, all colleagues lay bets on whether it's going to be a boy or a girl. The losers have to invite the winners for breakfast. Then we have all kinds of Brötchen (rolls) on the table, some of them with sesame or even nuts. You spread butter on them, and then there are lots of different kinds of Wurst and Schinken and cheese and vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers to place on top of the buttered Brötchen. That's something I really enjoy. The only thing I don't eat is Nutella. That's too sweet for me.
A Shanghai breakfast is totally different. At home we eat different kinds of porridge like rice porridge, steamed buns and a small number of fermented dishes in the morning. There is a place in Hamburg where you can get authentic Chinese breakfast or rather brunch on Sundays: China King. But make sure to book a table in advance.
I'm still a little puzzled about the potatoes here. They are so bland! In our Kantine (cafeteria) they are simply boiled in water, and that's it. They don't have any taste at all. At home potatoes are never meant to just fill you up. They are usually one of several dishes and are prepared to be tasty, just like other vegetables.
One thing I haven't dared to taste yet is strong cheese. I have tried cheeses that aren't as heavily fermented and don't smell so awful. But I only eat cheese in very small quantities.
There are many foods I miss. But if friends came to visit, I'd rather get them to try some German foods, like Fischbrötchen (rolls filled with fish). At first I found the sour taste of the Bismarckhering (pickled herring) surprising, but now I like it.
In May I longed for Chinese hot pot so much that I went to a Chinese restaurant just to have it. It was okay, not exactly like the dish I know from home. But if the longing returned I'd probably go there again to order Chinese hot pot. I started to eat and like hot pot when I lived at Chongqing. The local version of this dishis very spicy from Sichuan pepper. It makes your tongue burn and go numb, so you have to drink soya milk or eat some fruit (water melon for example) alongside. This mixture of strong and sweet tastes is awesome.
I do cook here myself, but mostly simple dishes like noodles and soups. As I'm too lazy to go to an Asian supermarket for every pack of noodles I need, I mostly buy Italian pasta at my local supermarket, usually the long kind (spaghetti). But I have found egg noodles curled up like a nest (tagliatelle) that I find even better for quick soups because they don't take so long to cook.
Once I cooked real Chinese dumplings with a few Chinese friends who live here: we made the dough, we prepared the filling, we rolled and filled the dumplings and we boiled them. We had fillings with minced pork and corn, minced pork and Chinese cabbage and corn and green pepper.
Well, I won't be able to take much. But when I came home for short visits during the last year, I took Wurst and Schinken for my friends and family. My father liked the Wurst. And my friends liked the sweets, particularly the small rubber-like fruit jellies. I always take chocolate as well, of course.
I have also bought a cookbook with cake recipes. ( She shows the cookbook.) I have even tried some of them: Schokoladenroulade (chocolate roulade) and Zitronenkuchen (lemon cake). I like them very much! So maybe I can make them at home, too.