Hello foodies! Yesterday's excursion involved my group visiting amazing food related sites. We began the day off by taking a tour of Kasewelt (Cheese world), a cheese factory. In addition to learning about how cheese is made, we got to make our own cheese. Best of all, we got to sample four different kinds of cheese--mozzerella with pumpkin seeds, Emmental, Parmesan, and one more which I cannot remember at the moment. After visiting the factory, we had lunch at a local restaurant. We sat outside, as the weather was lovely. The only thing that would have made our meal better was if the bees were not near our food. Despite the bees being an annoyance, nobody got stung.
After picking up our homemade cheeses, we made our way to Bad Ischl, a little town about 45 minutes outside of Salzburg. We had pastries at Zauner's, a famous pastry shop in the area. I had a strawberry napoleon and a traditional Austrian iced coffee. Austrian iced coffee consists of coffee, unsweeted whipped cream, and vanilla ice cream. The drink was delicious, though having the coffee and pastry at the same time made me very full.
Many of you know that a) I am a vegetarian (pescetarian, if you want to be technical, as I do eat fish and seafood) and b) that meat is an important part of Austrian culture. Many people on my program wonder how I am adapting to a meat heavy culture. I am sure many of you reading this entry are thinking the same thing, so let me give you the lowdown.
Breakfast is not an issue--I have been enjoying the typical Austrian breakfast of rolls with jam and coffee. My travels to Europe have helped me like jam, as I never really ate it in the US. The flavors of jam I have had here are mixed berry, marionberry, strawberry mango, and rose petal (which Naomi turned me on to last weekend).
Since I only have 45 minutes for lunch between classes, I usually have soup, a piece of bread with cheese, or fruit. There is a local farmer's market near where I am staying, and the fruit is excellent--especially the cherries.
When I am at the center for dinner, I typically have soup, pasta, omelettes, or quesidillas. Sadly, I have not been able to find tofu, veggie substitutes (i.e. veggie burgers), or other ethnic foods I like, such as Indian or Thai curries. When I go out to restaurants with my group, there is usually at least one or two vegetarian items on the menu. I had spanikopita yesterday, and cheese dumplings (they usually come with a salad). The other unfortunate part of eating here is the limited amount of fish and seafood. I did have scampi at the Augustiner the first Thursday I was here, but otherwise, I have not had much fish or seafood.
Bottom line: being a vegetarian is not as difficult as one might imagine. However, there are fewer options at restaurants and the number of ethnic restaurants is smaller than in major U.S. cities. However, there are several Chinese and Japanese restaurants nearby. A friend and I want to check out a local Thai restaurant soon, so I will let you all know how it is when we go.
Tonight we are having a BBQ where we grill our own food. I am leaning towards making a quesillda or grilled cheese sandwich with the cheese I made yesterday.
Guten appetit!
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