From Bratwurst to
Bimibap – Part 1 - by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
I like to make many ethnic foods at home, so I have learned about ingredients by
shopping at local markets around Monterey County, which feature Asian,
Hispanic, and European foods.
The Monterey County
Weekly (Circulation:
200,000 – California) liked my idea for a story on three markets that are still
going strong after twenty years: Mecca (German), Mi Tierra (Hispanic – Mexican
and Salvadoran), and Asian-Filipino (Southeast Asian).
These
stores have changed some items on display, but they can special order usually,
if you know brand names. I have slightly
edited the article for clarity:
From Bratwurst to
Bimibap
You’ll
want to eat before shopping at Marina’s Mecca German Market.
The
owner suggests that shoppers fortify themselves with a hot schnitzel sandwich –
lightly breaded pork loin on a hot roll with sauerkraut and Swiss cheese –
before examining the row of chocolates that fill up half the store. (Note: This display has changed in 2019. There are more soup and sauce options on the
shelves now, but ask about special orders.)
Among
Mecca’s chocolate offerings that seem to change with the season:
-Ritter
Sport Chocolates
-Swiss
Lindt Chocolates
-Sarotti
Whit Chocolate
-Toblerone
-Chocolates
with Poire Williams
-Asbach
Uralt brandy-filled chocolate
-Mozart
Herzl chocolate with a soft marzipan core surrounded by pistachio cream in a
chocolate covering
From
the chocolates, it’s an easy segue into coffee klatsch territory for Tchilbo,
Jacobs, and Eduscho German coffees to go with Mecca’s selection of marzipan,
orange liqueur, and chocolate/vanilla marmor cakes.
I
highly recommend the cookies, too:
-Bahlsen’s
chocleibniz – a butter cookie topped with chocolate
-marzipan
cookies with chocolate bottoms
-almond
cookie sandwiches with cream filling
-capellas
– almond crescents with chocolate covering both ends
-Delobas
– puff pastry with blueberry filling
-Florentines
– delicate lace-like cookies
(Chocolates
and cookies are my favorite renewable emergency foods.)
Eating
sweets with your eyes lets you enjoy the deli counter more.
Mecca’s
cooked veal and pork bockwurst sausage heats up easily and makes for a tasty
meal as does the homemade bratwurst pork sausage.
I
asked the owner what the difference is between the Italian and Hungarian
salamis, and a customer answered, “About 500 miles.”
From
Mecca, I set out for Marina’s Asian-Filipino Market.
End
of Part 1.
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
