A Fellow Miamian’s Thoughts on the Food and Eating Culture of Vienna, Austria,
& the Woes of Avocados Abroad
By SAND Blog Editor Erin Ogden
In less than two short weeks I will be boarding a plane to Vienna, Austria, Well, I’ll be stopping in Boston and Portugal, but final destination: Austria! As a virtual intern for The Nutrition Adventure, dietitian Karman Meyer’s impressive blog documenting her sharpened culinary skills, recipes, and love for travel, I get to guest-write about my experiences in Europe. While abroad, I will be making note of what healthy eating looks like to Austrians, as well as how they fit these habits into their lifestyles. I'll take the same approach with their European neighbors, whom I will also have the pleasure of visiting, including Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Denmark, and Norway.
However, before my own journey begins, I wanted to reach out to a current traveler to get a quick snapshot of this incredible city, so I contacted fellow Miami student John Fries. John, 22, is a senior supply chain operations and management major who has been living in Vienna since early March. He lives with his host family’s brother in an apartment in the Viennese countryside and takes a train to his classes at Wirtschaftsuniversitat.
John is no stranger to adventure. During this semester abroad, he has already gone paragliding in Slovenia and biked from Austria to Slovakia and back. Most importantly, though, he has enjoyed the cuisine of Austria, Greece, Germany, The Netherlands and many other countries.
Our interview took place via Skype while John cooked up his own meal of kase krainer with eggs, mushrooms, and peppers.
In less than two short weeks I will be boarding a plane to Vienna, Austria, Well, I’ll be stopping in Boston and Portugal, but final destination: Austria! As a virtual intern for The Nutrition Adventure, dietitian Karman Meyer’s impressive blog documenting her sharpened culinary skills, recipes, and love for travel, I get to guest-write about my experiences in Europe. While abroad, I will be making note of what healthy eating looks like to Austrians, as well as how they fit these habits into their lifestyles. I'll take the same approach with their European neighbors, whom I will also have the pleasure of visiting, including Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Denmark, and Norway.
However, before my own journey begins, I wanted to reach out to a current traveler to get a quick snapshot of this incredible city, so I contacted fellow Miami student John Fries. John, 22, is a senior supply chain operations and management major who has been living in Vienna since early March. He lives with his host family’s brother in an apartment in the Viennese countryside and takes a train to his classes at Wirtschaftsuniversitat.
John is no stranger to adventure. During this semester abroad, he has already gone paragliding in Slovenia and biked from Austria to Slovakia and back. Most importantly, though, he has enjoyed the cuisine of Austria, Greece, Germany, The Netherlands and many other countries.
Our interview took place via Skype while John cooked up his own meal of kase krainer with eggs, mushrooms, and peppers.
John Fries, Miami student, abroad in Vienna, Austria
Erin: What was the first thing you noticed about the food and food culture?
John: After I landed my host family took me to a restaurant for lunch. The restaurant had a communal atmosphere and was well-designed and modern. I had the classic Austrian meal of Wiener schnitzel and Viennese beer called ottakringer, which definitely tasted different. I was served a huge glass of beer, and the schnitzel was yet another huge portion served with cranberry sauce and a lemon wedge. It was the perfect temperature and crispness. My host family had pizza which they ate with a knife and fork (sighs disapprovingly).
Austrians are big on lunch. To them, it’s the most important meal of the day. They definitely eat a bigger lunch, which I respect. Meal habits for breakfast and dinner are not too different from our own.
E: What are your favorite Austrian foods and drinks?
J: Okay, here’s a list:
Kase krainer: This is a Viennese cheese sausage, and it’s top notch.
Restaurants: A place called Happy Noodles is perfect for late night food, and Swing Kitchen has great vegan burgers.
Drinks: Here, wine spritzers are the go-to summer drink. They are made with white wine, mineral water, and lemon water. The ottekringer is good too.
E: What is a typical Austrian dinner?
J: They have light dinners. Goulashes are very common, as is liptauer, which is a cheese spread frequently put on sweet, dark bread. Desserts are big, too. There’s the classic apple strudel, but really there are cakes of every kind. Cheesecakes and whatever else you can think of. One cake, the Sacher-torte, was made famous by this hotel the Sacher, in Vienna. Supposedly the hotel is very touristy, but you can get it anywhere. Get a coffee with your cake.
E: Do you feel this culture values family meals more than the United States?
J: Hmm as far as I’ve seen, at least in my host family, not really.
E: Any special diets seen like gluten free, vegan or vegetarian?
J: There are multiple places for vegan burgers and two vegans in my host family, so I’ve been exposed to that. In general, the culture is pretty open to alternative eating choices.
E: Does this culture focus on meat and seafood or is there sufficient appreciation for vegetables, fruits, and vegetarian proteins?
J: It’s definitely lacking in the bean and vegetable protein department, but they do eat a weird salad with every meal. It's really just cabbage with a watery dressing. Not bad, but not what I would call a salad.
The avocados here are so lame. First of all, if the produce is organic they call it “bio.” I bought some bio avocados-two avocados for 2.50 euros. But, they were nowhere close to ripe! I cut into one and the seed was super tiny. Overall, they didn’t taste like an avocado or have the same texture. Yeah, don’t buy avocados in Austria.
E: Any differences in grocery stores?
J: One upgrade is definitely the bakery section. They do a much better job I think. Other than that, they’re much smaller. So if you’re used to a Kroger, it’s not like that. Like it’s half of a Kroger, maybe even a third of the size.
John's photo of Lake Bohinj in Slovenia
E: If you have traveled elsewhere during your semester abroad, what were your favorite dishes?
Greece: Souvlaki is meat that they sell on the streets. It’s way cheap, and was really good in Athens.
Serbia: They have a pastry called burek. I had cheese ones, the most basic form. They are amazing. They’re super cheap, and when you go up to order it, you don’t expect to get so much food. Each pastry is about a foot long and you rip it apart to eat it. Very cheesy!
Berlin, Germany: There’s a place called Mufasa’s. It’s literally a little box on the sidewalk with six or seven guys in white t-shirts throwing kebabs together. It’s not even a building, and the line is down the block. That’s how you know it’s the real deal, and not an imitator.
The Netherlands: I had great waffles in Amsterdam of the “stroop” variety and those that were freshly made.
Look for my own personal reflections on European food culture when I return in August!