February 1, 2025

This is one of many love letters I could write to the food, people and places in Germany that have enriched my life immeasurably.

When I took my first trip there in the winter of 1979, I was astonished by two things: the breathtaking beauty of the countryside and the absolutely incredible food.

At that time, German cuisine didn’t have a bad reputation in the U.S. — it simply had no reputation at all. This is remarkable when you consider that, by the late 19th century, New York had the third-largest German-speaking population in the world, behind only Berlin and Vienna! Yet, much of that culinary heritage faded from American consciousness after the first world war forced German immigrants into a kind of hiding. My husband’s great grandfather, who was Hessian, even changed his name from Wilhelm Mahloch to William Marlow.

My travels have taken me all over Germany, in recent years to Hamburg, where dear friends live, but I’ve spent more time in the south — Bavaria, the Swabian Jura and the Black Forest.