We did our best to sample our way through the Tübingen Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) on Sunday. We only had a couple of hours in which to do it, though. So, we didn’t get a complete survey of all the foods on offer. However, I think we did a very good job of it, all things considered. 😉Here’s a quick photo essay  of what we ate and/or saw.  The one thing that’s not pictured is the fresh-roasted sugar-coated almonds – we ate all of them before I realized I hadn’t taken a photo. Everything we tried was pretty good … I’d be willing to try everything again just to make sure of our findings. Solely for comparison and research purposes, of course – as I said recently, the things we do for the blog, eh?  😉

Anyway, on to the photos:

1. Hot Beverage Festival mug.

Here I’m holding a mug ready for some Glüwein or Kinderpunch, both served hot mulled with spices:

Mug for mulled wine

Glühwein is a mulled red wine, Kinderpunch is a non-alcoholic orange punch mulled with the same spices as the Glühwein (I think). I.e., cinnamon and cloves, and other stuff. Interestingly, at most of the stalls there was the option to add rum or other liquor to both the Glühwein and the Kinderpunch – I don’t remember that  from the festivals in Bolzano! Anyway, at the festivals, the idea is that the first time you buy a drink, you pay an extra fee to “rent” or buy the cup.  You carry it with you to the next stall and pay to refill you cup. I love this photo, which is by Chris, not by me. If anything says Christmas market tradition, it’s hands holding a festival mug.

2. Rot Wurst

 Kind of like a really high quality American hot dog, but on a too small – although much better quality – bun:

Rot Wurst ("Red Wurst")

3. “Wild” Potatoes

Roasted potatoes sprinkled with spices (paprika?), served with a “dipping” sauce. I’d describe the dipping sauce as a close kin to tartar sauce:

"Wild" Potatoes

4. Waffel with Applemuss

This was a very thin, made to order,  crepe-like waffle, topped with Applemuss, a very thin apple sauce

Waffle with Applemuss

5. Magenbrot

Magenbrot is a traditional cChristmas cookie in these parts, which is  sort of like eating little diamond-shaped pieces of gingerbread. Well, the consistency and flavor  really isn’t anything like gingerbread, I guess, but it’s the closest thing I can think of to describe this. Chris describes it as a glazed spice cake, but I don’t think it has a cake-like consistency. Anyway, the name comes from its reputed health benefits – it’s supposed to aid with digestion. That only works if you don’t eat too many of these cookies, though…

Magenbrot ("stomach bread")

6. International cuisine

There were several food stalls that had non-traditional, non-German food. The sign in the photo says, in German, literally “Spring roll”. As you might expect, this was a sign on a Chinese food stand. Note that this is the one thing pictured in this post that we did NOT try, I just thought it was funny that the German name of the Chinese food was a direct translation of the English name. I wonder what the real Chinese name actually is – it may not literally be “Spring rolls”. But, you never know.

Frühlingsrolle ("Spring Rolls")