My Experience at "A Taste of Germany"

 

I have always enjoyed trying new foods and thus far, have only drawn the line once.  I declared eating a pig's tail a hard limit when I was living in Moldova.  Aside from that, I will try any food once and even if I don't like it, I will try it a second time just to make sure.

German food falls squarely into the "always willing to eat" category.  Therefore, when I was invited to tag along on a trip to the Hartford Saengerbund, a German American club, I gave a resounding "mmmmm, German food and beer". Now, a trip to the German club is not quite a foodie tour through Nuremberg, but it is a nice way to experience some good food and a different culture while getting to stay close to home.

According to their website, the Hartford Saengerbund was founded in 1858.  Originally located in Hartford, it moved to Newington, CT in 1966.  Over the last several decades it has been host to several public events each year, allowing the local community and other more farther away guests (i.e., me) to join in on the fun.  This year's A Taste of Germany came complete with a sampling of food, music, beer, and more food.

My food of choice for the day was a pretzel, rouladen, potato salad (obviously of the German variety), and a potato pancake with applesauce.  The rouladen is a slice of beef wrapped around bacon and sliced gherkin pickles then covered in gravy.  Seriously, how do you say no to bacon wrapped beef and a pickle?!  The pretzels were being sold by club members dressed up in traditional costumes, adding to the fun atmosphere.

Yes, the pretzel is half eaten... I was hungry.

The event, as a whole, seemed really well attended.  There was traditional German music being played during the event, keeping all of our feet tapping.  The club has already announced the dates for their annual Christmas festival, so if you are curious where I will be on November 28th...check under the beer taps at Christkindlemarkt.