Food on a European river cruise - questions, expectations and experiences

[denatravels]

In Mexico you have a pretty good chance of eating goat and/or ant eggs. In South America, Guinea Pig is popular. In Italy, you might get Casu Marzu - which is cheese with maggots inside (on purpose).

 

 

I'm a pretty adventurous eater, but I draw the line at maggots.

 

 

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[notamermaid]

I would expect that you would have the option to have regional based entrees and other choices equivalent to a good quality restaurant. That also includes the wine, beer, and even cocktail choice.

 

Before our Rhine cruise I had never heard of Asbach brandy sold in Rudesheim. Our Avalon ship offered a drink of the day an Asbach sour. I still make it at home and Asbach is very easy to find here in NY. Who knew? Lol

 

Both Rhine cruise on Avalon and Danube cruise with AMA had Oktoberfest meals with genuine German dishes and beer.

 

Our Seine cruise with Avalon offered French wine and cheese, and regional dishes.

 

I have to say I did notice that not everyone chose the regional choices, which is fine. When the food is prepared well, everyone's pleased

 

I only had one cocktail on my cruise and it was nice. I do not remember any of the choices on the menu, unfortunately.

 

On a Rhine river cruise it seems to have become a standard to serve Rüdesheimer Kaffee. I find it a nice touch. And it is not a type of coffee that just tourists enjoy. I know that Germans like it as well. :) And here is the company's recipe page: https://asbach.de/en/recipes/

 

notamermaid

Edited April 25, 2017 by notamermaid

[notamermaid]

DW and I are very adventuresome in general, but when it comes to breakfast the furthest afield we can go is a "full English breakfast." Europeans seem to eat lunch for breakfast: lots of cold cuts -- show me the bacon and eggs!

 

Almost as much as lunch and evening meal I enjoy a good long breakfast when I am on holiday. At home it is usually only some bread and liver sausage (which is spread made with liver in sausage shape), with coffee. A little bit of muesli if I have the time. Yes, cold cuts are eaten, but many people eat bread and jam. On my river cruise I so much loved the choice at breakfast, although I did not make the most of it. The choice of breakfast in hotels is really not that representative of what people eat at home, I mean some details, yes, but not the amount and choice offered.

 

 

A full English breakfast is such a great indulgence and allows me to have a small lunch instead of a sit-down meal. Great for exploring places. But I do not know a single English person in employment who has a full English breakfast on a working day. Who would have the time to make it?

 

Perhaps I really should go on a river cruise with a UK-based company... Yum!

 

 

notamermaid

[mlld3536]

Almost as much as lunch and evening meal I enjoy a good long breakfast when I am on holiday. At home it is usually only some bread and liver sausage (which is spread made with liver in sausage shape), with coffee. A little bit of muesli if I have the time. Yes, cold cuts are eaten, but many people eat bread and jam. On my river cruise I so much loved the choice at breakfast, although I did not make the most of it. The choice of breakfast in hotels is really not that representative of what people eat at home, I mean some details, yes, but not the amount and choice offered.

 

 

A full English breakfast is such a great indulgence and allows me to have a small lunch instead of a sit-down meal. Great for exploring places. But I do not know a single English person in employment who has a full English breakfast on a working day. Who would have the time to make it?

 

Perhaps I really should go on a river cruise with a UK-based company... Yum!

 

 

notamermaid

 

We have liver sausage here; it's even called liverwurst. I have loved it since I was a child; it was something we always had in the house. I don't buy it now, as my husband doesn't like it, and I would eat too much of it if it were around. I don't recall it being eaten in the US at breakfast. However, when we first traveled in Germany, I was most excited to see little packets of liverwurst at breakfast in the hotel. It is now something I look forward to when travelling. (Wonder if they will have it on the Rhine cruise.)

[notamermaid]

Hello mlld3536,

 

I certainly did not expect it to be available in the US but makes perfect sense with so many towns still having German connections and traditions. Which makes me wonder if it tastes similar to ours. It can be of pork or of veal, in which case it is marked as Kalbsleberwurst. Those little cocktail sausage-size ones I have seen on breakfast buffets. If you cannot get it on your Rhine cruise ask the cruise manager if they can get hold of some nearby. Tons of it around in supermarkets but the tiny ones are usually bought in through catering staff at hotels. For a good butchers in Koblenz (if you are stopping there) try Karst in Casinostrasse near the old town. But almost all butchers in Germany will have one type or the other.

 

notamermaid

[steamboats]

Seen from the other side ;):

 

On my first trip to the US we met a guy in the motel in Nashville who highly recommended a German restaurant in town. O.k., the last thing I wanted to do is going to a German restaurant in Nashville. We wanted to have some great BBQ :D. On another trip we arrived late with a larger group. The only restaurant able to serve some food was the Hofbräuhaus in Newport, KY. So we ended up there. We studied the menu and our friends (living there) recommended some typical German food. O.k., I live in Munich where the real thing is located (meaning both Hofbräuhaus and Oktoberfest) but I´ve never ever seen in any German menu fried pickles!! Therefore I usually avoid any kind of Oktoberfests on any cruise ship. I´ve seen too much being prepared whatever style but definitely not German or even Bavarian.

 

I´m pretty adventurous regarding food and eat - almost - everything. I really want to try the local food. So on cruises we also try to go on food tours. The only thing I´m picky is with my breakfast. I love my Müsli and I can´t eats eggs, sausages, bacon for breakfast. I can live with a bagel or a muffin.

 

Notamermaid, actually I´ve been to Rüdesheim recently on a short river cruise. I went to Café Engel for a nice celebration of Rüdesheimer Kaffee (report and photos here - German, all English speaking readers try google translate). The waiter explained the history and the correct preparation. There were recipe cards available in German and English to take with you. Loved it!

 

Regarding specialty cooks... most Italian restaurants over here in Germany are owned by Italians but the chef is almost never from Italy.

 

steamboats

[mlld3536]

Hello mlld3536,

 

I certainly did not expect it to be available in the US but makes perfect sense with so many towns still having German connections and traditions. Which makes me wonder if it tastes similar to ours. It can be of pork or of veal, in which case it is marked as Kalbsleberwurst. Those little cocktail sausage-size ones I have seen on breakfast buffets. If you cannot get it on your Rhine cruise ask the cruise manager if they can get hold of some nearby. Tons of it around in supermarkets but the tiny ones are usually bought in through catering staff at hotels. For a good butchers in Koblenz (if you are stopping there) try Karst in Casinostrasse near the old town. But almost all butchers in Germany will have one type or the other.

 

notamermaid

 

The liverwurst I've had in the German hotels is definitely the same as what I remember from my childhood. I grew up in a Chicago neighborhood that was historically German, though by mid-twentieth century that was changing. However, I have seen liverwurst in many American supermarkets, including here in Virginia.

 

My grandmother and, I believe, her parents were born in Chicago, but they attended a parish school in their German neighborhood where the children all learned German. Grandma and her sister would speak German when they did not want me to know what they were saying! When traveling in Germany, I have enjoyed comparing food to my memories of my Chicago childhood--especially the knoedls (mangled spelling, I know) for which Grandma was famous.

[SuiteTraveler]

Fried pickles originated at the Duchess Drive In in Atkins, Arkansas back in 1963. They spread throughout the Southern part of the US. Hofbrauhaus is a chain restaurant and they also have stuff like Nachos and Spinach Dip on their "German" menu. LOL!

 

Deep frying random foods is a longstanding Southern Tradition and one of the most popular contests at the Texas State Fair where there have been winners such as fried cherry Jell-O ( I believe that Brits and Aussie's call this jelly) - this was the Grand Prize winner in 2016, fried Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce), fried butter, fried bubblegum, fried beer, fried peanut butter and banana cheeseburgers, fried Coca Cola, fried pizza, fried latte, hotdog enrobed in french fries and deep fried, fried sweet tea, fried Jambalaya. You name it, it will eventually turn up fried at the Texas State Fair, if it has not already.

Edited April 25, 2017 by SuiteTraveler

[Floridiana]

About liverwurst in the USA: It is authentic in specialty butcher shops like our small town Polish butcher's. It is not authentic when bought plastic packaged in a supermarket. The same is true for cold cuts.

[mlld3536]

About liverwurst in the USA: It is authentic in specialty butcher shops like our small town Polish butcher's. It is not authentic when bought plastic packaged in a supermarket. The same is true for cold cuts.

 

This is true. I grew up with both, and I must confess that though I certainly prefer the "good stuff," I am really fond of both! Or at least was when I was a child. And the packaged liverwurst on German hotel breakfast tables, in my experience, was sort of in between the two--probably because it is a prepackaged product and not what you would get from a neighborhood purveyor.

[Texas Tillie]

This is true. I grew up with both, and I must confess that though I certainly prefer the "good stuff," I am really fond of both! Or at least was when I was a child. And the packaged liverwurst on German hotel breakfast tables, in my experience, was sort of in between the two--probably because it is a prepackaged product and not what you would get from a neighborhood purveyor.

 

What is the difference between liverwurst and braunschweiger? Some of the packaged stuff sold in the US has one name and some have the other. Seem to be about the same thing. Grew up in Texas and there were many towns in central Texas where the Germans immigrated about 1850 and were still speaking German at home and church until World War II.

[mlld3536]

What is the difference between liverwurst and braunschweiger? Some of the packaged stuff sold in the US has one name and some have the other. Seem to be about the same thing. Grew up in Texas and there were many towns in central Texas where the Germans immigrated about 1850 and were still speaking German at home and church until World War II.

 

Well, I've definitely seen things labeled "braunschweiger liver sausage," and I always had the impression, rightly or wrongly, that there might be a distinction. If there is, I don't know what it is. But I bet there's someone out there who can enlighten us!

 

I am really fascinated by the intensity and extent of these food threads.

[notamermaid]

Ok, here goes, and surprisingly this still fits the idea in this thread of "getting what you ordered - or not":

 

Braunschweiger sausage is a speciality from Braunschweig, but originally does not seem to contain liver. There is no "terroir" label for the sausage as with champagne which can only be made in the champagne region, otherwise it is "methode champagnoise". This means Braunschweiger can be something different in the US than in Germany. That particular food specialities section unfortunately only exists on the German Braunschweig pages: http://www.braunschweig.de/tourismus/ueber-braunschweig/spezielles/spezi_wurst.html

 

Leberwurst or liverwurst looks like this: http://www.braunschweig.de/tourismus/ueber-braunschweig/spezielles/spezi_wurst.html

 

I forgot to mention that butchers (and supermarkets) will have it in "grob" - coarse, having bits and "fein" - fine, having no bits. I fully admit it might not be to everyone's taste.

 

Thank you, steamboats, for the link to your trip on the Asara.

 

Fried pickles, uaahh, a no-go for me. But then I am not so fond of pickles in general.

 

Suitetraveller,

 

there is a speciality cheese in the East of Germany that also contains live maggots. It is supposed to be very healthy, but oh no, me no can eat. :eek: I hope that cheese is never served as a speciality on an Elbe river cruise. A nice Blauschimmel (a German one or a Gorgonzola) will do.

 

 

notamermaid

[Daisi]

Deep frying random foods is a longstanding Southern Tradition and one of the most popular contests at the Texas State Fair where there have been winners such as fried cherry Jell-O ( I believe that Brits and Aussie's call this jelly) - this was the Grand Prize winner in 2016, fried Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce), fried butter, fried bubblegum, fried beer, fried peanut butter and banana cheeseburgers, fried Coca Cola, fried pizza, fried latte, hotdog enrobed in french fries and deep fried, fried sweet tea, fried Jambalaya. You name it, it will eventually turn up fried at the Texas State Fair, if it has not already.

 

Wow... we see some deep fried things up here (pickles are common on pub menus), but not to that extent. I though we were crazy with our poutine!

 

Reading all the comments about finding imported foods in the US makes me glad that I live where I do. Possibly because of the large European population, we have a couple of local stores that import foods from all over. No problems getting meats, cheeses, or a variety of groceries & treats. We even have a couple of European bakeries here.

[notamermaid]

Correcting my post above, sorry, was too late to edit: Leberwurst or liverwurst looks like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverwurst

 

notamermaid

[xmaser]

Thanks for the info on leberwurst. As a member of old Texas German families, I grew up eating what was marketed as and we called Braunschweiger. Obviously we were wrong - the terms are not interchangeable. We love the leberwurst that is labeled as Braunschweiger (Oscar Meyer is one of the brands). Maybe the manufacturers are trying to avoid the American fear of the word liver. Only one brand I've found, Jones (of all things), has small chunks and is delicious. We Texas Germans are distant in many ways from Germany in both time and space.

I've never noticed leberwurst on a cruise breakfast buffet, but I eat 'English' breakfast and don't look at the cold cuts.

[steamboats]

Hofbrauhaus is a chain restaurant and they also have stuff like Nachos and Spinach Dip on their "German" menu. LOL!

 

Actually the Hofbräuhaus and the brewery are owned by the state of Bavaria. In 2003 the first licensed Hofbräuhaus outside of Germany opened up in Newport (as Cincinnati is a partner city of Munich). Then in 2004 the next one opened in Las Vegas. In 2005 a US company was formed to handle the franchise operation of Hofbräuhaus in the US. So it´s sort of a chain but still under the control of the state of Bavaria.

 

BTW I love Jambalaya and Gumbo (not fried of course). On my first trip to the US we went to the New Orleans School of Cooking. 10 years later we met chef Joe Kahn (better known as The Commissioner of Tailgaiting in those days) onboard one of the steamboats and told him, we´ve attended a cooking class with him. He´s a great guy.

 

 

steamboats

[Cyber Kat]

We have liver sausage here; it's even called liverwurst. I have loved it since I was a child; it was something we always had in the house. I don't buy it now, as my husband doesn't like it, and I would eat too much of it if it were around. I don't recall it being eaten in the US at breakfast. However, when we first traveled in Germany, I was most excited to see little packets of liverwurst at breakfast in the hotel. It is now something I look forward to when travelling. (Wonder if they will have it on the Rhine cruise.)

 

My husband absolutely adores liverwurst, but he's not supposed to eat it. It's on one of his many verboten food lists :D When we were in Cologne, we stopped at Fruh to sample the Kolsch. I was hungry (I'm always ready to eat :rolleyes:) so I was looking at the menu. I mentioned that they had liverwurst. I mean we're in Germany - there has to be some dispensation from the food "gods" :eek: So he ordered it and was in heaven - it came with fabulous dark brown bread and he was set! Not a fan of liverwurst, although my mother used to say I ate it as a child - which is odd because I was a fussy eater - so I had the cheese plate, which also came with fabulous bread and yummy cheese. He kept stealing pieces of bread from my plate when I wasn't looking. It was just a wonderful afternoon.

[Cyber Kat]

I've been reading the other thread as well as this one, and one of the things that struck me, is that though "American" food is constantly blasted and looked down, there really is no set "American" food. Unless you count the things the Natives made out of corn, all of our food styles have been imported along with their ancestors.

 

My maternal grandmother had roots mostly in Ireland. My maternal grandfather was of German and Swedish descent. My paternal grandmother was an Englishwoman who cooked, kept house and handled dinner parties - among other things. She always worked. My mother made food that was a little bit of everything she learned from her mother and her grandmother.

 

Growing up, our neighbors were German. We often ate with them and we dined on German specialties. My personal favorite was sauerbraten and spaetzle - which I was hoping to find in Germany but we skipped out on the dinner excursion in Rüdesheim because my husband is a fussy eater and they couldn't tell us ahead what would be served. They served sauerbraten, but no spaetzle.

 

I live in the NY Metro area which is, indeed, the proverbial melting pot. You name the nationality and we have genuine cooks from that nationality preparing those dishes in local restaurants. We've been to Europe 3 times, and I can say that there were any dishes that I saw, that weren't available in restaurants all around here. I'm sure there are, but I didn't see any.

 

I expected the food on our Rhine River cruise to be good to excellent and it was. There wasn't a meal I didn't enjoy. I would describe the food as so many restaurants around my home area as "continental cuisine," very good food, prepared well, and attractively presented, that didn't really have any particular region it belonged to. I mean seriously - everyone eats, meat, vegetables and the like, just prepared differently with the odd eyeball or maggot thrown in (pass :o)

 

We had the German night - which was very good. I wished I'd had room for more! There was a Dutch cheese soup and Dutch-style pancakes. And I recall a French dish, but it wasn't fish and I was mostly ordering fish. The cheese plate changed according to where we were. Not too much fried food and nary a fried pickle in sight!

 

We did have hamburgers and hot dogs (more a bratwurst than an Oscar Meyer, I thought :) ) one day for lunch from the grill, but I was mostly eating sandwiches and salads. For breakfast, I went continental with muesli, dried fruit, cold meats, cheese and bread - and I loved the little bits of fish with accompanying sauces also served at breakfast.

 

I enjoyed the food, as I said. I didn't think of it as particularly "American" - we did some adventuring out with eating in the ports and on our post and pre excursions. I ate well - my scale affirmed it when I got home!

[SuiteTraveler]

Actually the Hofbräuhaus and the brewery are owned by the state of Bavaria. In 2003 the first licensed Hofbräuhaus outside of Germany opened up in Newport (as Cincinnati is a partner city of Munich). Then in 2004 the next one opened in Las Vegas. In 2005 a US company was formed to handle the franchise operation of Hofbräuhaus in the US. So it´s sort of a chain but still under the control of the state of Bavaria.

 

steamboats

 

Interesting that they would be owned by Bavaria but have allowed their product to be diluted by adding stuff like nachos to their menu.

 

In Texas there is a family owned chain called Hoffbrau Steaks. It's been around since 1978. Then there is another Texas chain called Hoffbrau and Beer Garden which serves typical Texas ranch food and German food.

[Langoustine]

Speaking of chains, Wienerwald was briefly a chain here in the U.S., after a huge sucess in Europe, but was pretty much gone by 1982.

[TravelerThom]

Maggots in cheese sounds "interesting" (meaning takes a little time to wrap my head around that). Anything that is "yuck" before you taste it can be attributed to the culture you were raised in. Americans generally don't think of their common breakfast as the fat laden belly of a pig and something that came out of the back end of a chicken, but that's what it is. I'm willing to try anything as long as it is not likely to cause major stomach issues. I have heard that insects are high on protein, low in fat and have a nutty taste.

 

I grew up on scrapple and liverwurst, but I'm having a hard time understanding HOW one deep fries Coke (or any liquid). Doesn't that just mix Coke into the oil? And if you contain the Coke so that it doesn't actually come in contact with the oil, is that really "frying"? Not being immersed in Texas culture I am probably missing something, but I really would like to understand.

 

Food experiences are broadening to both the mind and the waistline.

 

Thom

[Mark_T]

... but I'm having a hard time understanding HOW one deep fries Coke (or any liquid). Doesn't that just mix Coke into the oil? And if you contain the Coke so that it doesn't actually come in contact with the oil, is that really "frying"? Not being immersed in Texas culture I am probably missing something, but I really would like to understand.

 

The common theme on the more unusual 'deep fried' foods is usually freezing them first, think of 'Baked Alaska', as long as you deep fry quickly it doesn't go badly wrong :)

 

The deep fried coke examples I've seen are more like coke flavored dough balls though.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Mark_T

[notamermaid]

Hello CyberKat,

 

My husband absolutely adores liverwurst, but he's not supposed to eat it. It's on one of his many verboten food lists :D When we were in Cologne, we stopped at Fruh to sample the Kolsch. I was hungry (I'm always ready to eat :rolleyes:) so I was looking at the menu. I mentioned that they had liverwurst. I mean we're in Germany - there has to be some dispensation from the food "gods" :eek: So he ordered it and was in heaven - it came with fabulous dark brown bread and he was set! Not a fan of liverwurst, although my mother used to say I ate it as a child - which is odd because I was a fussy eater - so I had the cheese plate, which also came with fabulous bread and yummy cheese. He kept stealing pieces of bread from my plate when I wasn't looking. It was just a wonderful afternoon.

 

what a lovely story. A nice place to sit with something good to eat in great company. Nourishing for the soul as well as for the body. :):)

 

 

Talking of American food, yes there does not seem to be something that fully fits into such a drawer or can get such a label of distinctive food. Yet, apart from corn, there is also turkey (which was hardly eaten in Germany until about 40 years ago, turkey at Christmas - uuaahhh), cranberries do not grow in Europe (but we have Preisselbeeren which are smaller but also sour and not eaten raw really), Pecan nuts are not really known much in Germany other than the ubiquitous peanuts, neither of which are native to Europe. I guess that makes Thanksgiving dinners very Northern American.

 

Unless you go into detail I suppose, yes we all eat similar stuff, meat, fish, vegetables, grains and nuts, etc.

 

On a Rhine cruise I would not expect to be served Schweinshaxe (that is Bavarian, belongs to them), it should be sausages and Rheinischer Sauerbraten (marinated beef). Sauerbraten is not served with Spätzle as they are not "native" to the Rhine area. We eat it with Klöße. But for German food anything that contains such meat in such recipes is fine for a buffet or German evening, no problem. We eat chicken, beef, pork, lamb, geese, wild boar, venison, horses and rabbits. For those with a bigger budget (and in specific regions) there is pheasant and other wild stuff. Seafood is a little more exotic, but eaten, fish of any kind as well. A nice local trout is always a treat... Dog was "on the menu" in Bavaria and Eastern Germany until the beginning of the 20th century but is known to have been eaten in France in the 19th century as well. Dog meat is forbidden by law in Germany now, though.

 

You will find the odd vegetable and lots of potatoes on our plates, as well. ;)

 

River cruise companies will always cater to the average traveller's palate but it is nice to see seasonal variety and regional variation. Asparagus in Spring and wild boar in autumn would work. And of course lamb at Easter.

 

notamermaid

[Eboracum_d]

 

 

 

 

 

A full English breakfast is such a great indulgence and allows me to have a small lunch instead of a sit-down meal. Great for exploring places. But I do not know a single English person in employment who has a full English breakfast on a working day. Who would have the time to make it?

 

 

 

Perhaps I really should go on a river cruise with a UK-based company... Yum!

 

 

 

 

 

notamermaid

 

 

When we were first married (now nearly 50 years ago) we started the day with a full English even though we were both working. At some. I stage we dropped to just having it at weekends.

 

My work often entailed me having to spend a night or two away in hotels and more often than not I would start the day with a full English. I would be staying near enough to be able to start the working day at 9.30 and usually worked through the day without having lunch.

 

 

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