I have learned some awesome things about Austria's culinary landscape. For instance, people here consume mass amounts of tubed meat - hot dogs, bacon wrapped dogs, actual dogs (kidding), chicken, duck, veal lots of other tastey animal meat and fried fillets, i.e. the schnitzel. But to be blunt I think schnitzel sucks. You don't need to fry a good piece of meat to make it taste better, and beating it with a hammer makes no sense at all, your only ruining a good piece of meat. Why the schnitzel is so famous or why everyone says you need to "try the schnitzel" is something I'll never understand - you can experience the same thing at KFC. But I digress, the point I'm trying to make is that meat is abundant. Chock one up for Austria in the meat department.
From what I've seen at restaurants the veggies are lacking here. It is a very "meat & potatoes" diet. In saying that I mean I haven't seen steamed veggies or spinach anywhere! Salads aren't that special, but its worth mentioning they do exist, and better yet, no one serves garbage like ranch or croutons with it. It's always a olive oil or vinaigrette dressing (yumm). Nuts and seeds are good, and fruit is more abundant than veggies markets. As mentioned potatoes are everywhere, they practically come with every meal, either in baked/fried/ or dumpling form - but I have yet to find a sweet potato. Still searching for that one, and doing a decent job of not eating too many 'taters. Speaking of sweets, Austrians consume massive amounts of sugar. It's just part of the culture. I've only indulged in one cheat, and it's something every visitor has to do here: eat a slice of sacher torte cake. You can't visit Vienna and not try it. Well, unless your diabetic which only makes sense. But for everyone else - try it, it's actually a law here, anyone staying over 24 hours must eat a slice.
Grains are huge here. Beer & bread can be found everywhere. So I haven't been as stringent about that (especially the beer) as I should be. I don't want to be the weird American who doesn't eat the bread. For instance - eating from one of the hot dog stands and throwing the bun away earned me a few weird looks. Maybe I should learn to say "I'm allergic to gluten" in German. And since the beer here isn't all it's cracked up to be (it's all pilsner and lager) I'm gonna ween myself off that and stick with the wine Vienna is better known for. Since I'm on the topic of drinks, the coffee here is amazing! They brew it perfectly! No need to add sugar. Sure, you could visit a Starbucks here and get your "triple mocha chino carmel espresso with soy milk" crap but you'd really be missing out. Come to think of it, I'm kinda perplexed how Starbucks even exists out here? Just order a cappuccino at one of the cafes - you'll be more than happy you did.
Anyway, I do eat better than I did in the states. Mass quantities of veggies are still needed, and I need to cut back on a few things. So why the write up on food? 1) to help you understand what the food is like here and 2) to help myself understand the obstacles in the way of my eating habits. And I say"eating habits" because It's not a "diet" - its just the way I eat!
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| Dont ask.....ok, ask - sachertorte and coffee |
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| Pork, wine, and potato dumplings |
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| Falaffel, looks alot like a burrito to me |
WOD:
"Cindy"
AMRAP in 20 minutes
5 pull ups
10 pushups
15 air squats
Jon: 14+5 (prescribed)
Heidi: 19+9, ring rows in stead of pull ups
Skill: 253lb back squat
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Leidesdorfgasse,Vienna,Austria
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