I’m in Love with a German Cheesesteak

Interestingly enough, German food hasn’t been that easy to find in Berlin. I thought I’d see it on every street, like pizza places in New York City, but this is not the case. The most common genres of food I’ve seen are Italian, Indian, and Middle Eastern, and at markets, the choices of food are nearly endless. At one market I saw Uruguayan and Argentinian street food, which I don’t remember ever seeing before.
My first night here, I had bratwurst. I thought in terms of trying local food I was doing well. I don’t think I had another bite of traditionally German food until a week later when some people from my group went to a South German / Austrian restaurant. I ordered soup with a fried cheese dumpling which wasn’t bad. The broth seemed to have a very subtle mint smell, which was new for me. The cheese dumpling was good too, but the cheese took a little getting used to as it smelled much stronger than most cheeses in America.
I’ve also had leberkäse twice now. Leberkäse tastes like a sausage but looks like a meatloaf. Both times, it was served on a roll, and once it had mustard. I’m used to vegetables in my sandwiches so I didn’t really know what to expect with this minimalist approach, but it ended up tasting good. The bratwurst I had earlier was served the same way, but I’ve seen it done with hot dog buns so I wasn’t thrown off by it.

All the restaurants I’ve been to in Berlin have been good, but I haven’t been going out for every meal. Groceries have been amazingly cheap, especially compared to Boston’s prices, and the quality of food is really good so I make food in my apartment a lot. There’s also a bakery near the studio that has very agreeable prices and very good pretzel bread.
Mealtimes in Germany are about the same as in the USA, but with the exception of breakfast there is usually the freedom to eat later. There aren’t any new utensils or mannerisms, except for “Prost” instead of “Cheers”. Portion sizes have been about the same as well.
I’ll sign off with what is probably the best thing I’ve eaten here. While working on a photo project with one of my roommates, I stumbled upon a place selling street food. It was there I tried the “German cheesesteak”. It of course had steak, but also cheddar, pickles, kraut, pesto, some spicy sauce, and an assortment of vegetables. It was insanely good, if a little hard to eat. I was just about in love with that sandwich, and despite the limited time I have here, I’m considering getting another one.