Illustration: Mick Marston
nations use national dishes as ethnic la-
bels. Though I did hear the editor-in-chief
of Écoute bellow, “Bonjour, les rosbif!” as he
strode down the corridor of the English
department one day.
It’s one of the few things that some
Brits think they know about Germany:
Germans eat sauerkraut. Eating ferment-
ed cabbage by the barrel seems bizarre to
Brits. You’d think the British would be a
bit more careful when making fun of oth-
er nations and their cuisines: people in
glass houses and all that! Brits aren’t ex-
actly known for their delicate preparation
of vegetables. Processed peas, anyone?
How about baked beans for breakfast?
You have to admit that sauerkraut
doesn’t look very pretty and it does have
a very strong smell. I don’t dislike it, but I
can’t say I’ve ever had a hankering for it.
On the day I was to receive my Ger-
man citizenship certificate, I put on my
Dirndl, grabbed a bottle of whisky and
some glasses and drove to the Landratsamt.
The official who had had the task of fil-
ing all my documents was waiting withawkwardly [(O:kwEdli]
, unbeholfen, verlegen
barrel [(bÄrEl]
, Fass, Tonne
beam [bi:m]
, strahlen
bellow [(belEU]
, brüllen
cabbage [(kÄbIdZ]
, Kohl
dram [drÄm] Scot.
, Schlückchen
editor-in-chief
[)edItEr In (tSi:f]
, Chefredakteur(in)
file [faI&l]
, hier: erfassen
grab [grÄb] ifml.
, packen, sich schnappen
grocery [(grEUsEri]
, Lebensmittel
hankering [(hÄNkErIN]
, Verlangen, Gelüste
make: ~ sth. up [meIk]
, etw. erfinden, sich etw.
ausdenkenmy certificate. After I’d sworn an oath of
allegiance, I asked him to join me in cel-
ebrating with a wee dram. “Oh, no,” he
said. “I’m not allowed to accept any gifts
worth more than €10.”
“That’s OK, then,” I replied. “It’s not a
gift. I’m taking the bottle home with me.”
He beamed. “No one has ever gone to
so much trouble before,” he said, amazed.
“And you’ve even got a Dirndl on!” He
called all his colleagues and they emerged
from neighbouring offices bringing glass-
es with them. And so we stood there in
the Landratsamt, a little awkwardly, sipping
whisky on a rainy afternoon in December.
The next day, when I was grocery shop-
ping in the local Bioladen, I spotted some
sauerkraut and it looked really fresh and
tasty. Suddenly — and I’m really not mak-
ing this up — I actually felt a hankering
for it. I bought a kilo of sauerkraut. As I
left the shop, I realized I had never bought
that much sauerkraut before. I’d changed!
We had the sauerkraut with sausages for
dinner that night. And do you know what?
It was delicious.oath of allegiance
[)EUT Ev E(li:dZEns]
, Treueeid
processed peas
[)prEUsest (pi:z]
, eingedoste, konservier
te Erbsen
rosbif [rO:sbif]
, frz.)( Roastbeef;
auch: (ifml.) Brite
sip sth. [sIp]
, an etw. nippen
spot [spQt]
, entdecken
stride down
[(straId )daUn]
, durchschreiten,
hinuntergehen
swear [sweE]
, schwören
tasty [(teIsti]
, lecker
wee [wi:] Scot.
, klein, winzigCULTURE 11/2019 Spotlight 67Endlich auch als Buch!
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