Taste the Waste

I. Trash sorting

Germany has the most developed, compartmentalized, and effective trash and recycling systems I've ever seen.  Some categories are self-explanatory, like 'papier' and 'glass', while other major categories required some personal research:  I asked Irene, who conversed with me about the whole trash system for half an hour, then quizzed me.  The Germans just know how to separate every used tissue, yogurt container, chocolate bar wrapper, glass bottle and its plastic, metal, or cork top, apple core, t-bone, egg shell, milk carton, broken light bulb, used-up pen, broken chair leg, etc etc.  No, they do not and should not go into the same bin.

Here are some major categories, and some accompanying visuals from the gated (must be unlocked with my building key, unless someone left it unlocked) trash community in my parking lot (yes, I took pictures of the trash bins outside my Wohnheim, it was a Saturday morning, no one saw, probably)

Papier - self-explanatory, don't include dirty food containers or used tissues, blue containers

Glass - also self-explanatory, except don't put the bottles you paid a Flaschepfand for if you want your Pfand back.  See 'Drinks' below.

Yellow with green - most materials can go in here.  Most plastic, foil, and foam packaging materials, including those for food (even milk cartons and the foil or plastic wrappers from candy bars), cans, composite materials, bottle caps, emptied deodorant, .  The acceptable items are not listed on the outside, so this bin is the least intuitive.  But, it's important to do this right and not squish in here food scraps and things that actually cannot be recycled because this category gets sorted by hand.

Biocompost - ('bio' is pronounced like "BO") - all your food scraps, most people put used tissues and paper towels here, depending on their composition.  Not all places have this bin, as it is the messiest and stinkiest and attracts large populations of small flying creatures.  In that case, this stuff goes into Restmüll.

Restmüll - the rest, everything that cannot decompose or be recycled and hazardous materials.  Think used diapers, tape, paint, broken wires and cables, old lipstick, etc.

Batteries should not go into any of these bins, there are stores that collect them up front.


Now for the 7th compartmentalization of waste:

Drinks!

Most drinks come in a Pfandflasche, that is a Flasche (bottle, think flask) for which you have paid a Pfand (deposit).  You pay 25 cents per plastic bottle, usually 8 cents per glass bottle.  You can retrieve your Flaschepfand from your Pfandflaschen by feeding the Pfandautomat located towards the front of most grocery stores and then bringing the receipt to the cashier.  This is not a new concept if you've been to and drank in Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticutt, Vermont, New York, Oregon, Iowa, Michigan, or California, but I've never paid more then 10 cents deposit in any of those states, and rarely more than 5 cents.  The incentive to return the bottles to a recycling center is therefore nowhere as high, and those of us without convenient transportation or a large repository of empty containers to tap into will pitch each fully or half-consumed Gateroade into mixed recycling or the trash, whichever bin is closest .  The deposit here is significant and you will be offended if someone takes your empty bottle from you without permission.  A 6 pack of 1.5L bottles of water costing 19 cents each will cost more than double if I don't retrieve my Flaschepfand (that's 1.14 € for the water and 1. 50 € deposit, mental math for Valhalla bartenders).

Courtesy of Youtube.  Feed bottles to the machine one at a time.  The machine spins it around inside and scans it to make sure it meets criteria for a 'Pfandflasche'.  You can't just put any bottle in here.  I therefore keep my receipts which indicate which containers a paid the Pfand for.  Press that green button when you're done for the slip with the total deposit that you can collect.  I chose this video for the anomalous hairstyle.

Last note on an effective deposit system: most stands serving drinks at markets and festivals, and many bars as well, charge a Pfand for the cup or glass you get your drink in.  Depending on the size and novelty of the cup, it's 1-2.50 €.  Of course you get it back when you return your empty cup, but you also have the option of keeping it if you like it, no hard feelings.


Now to the namesake of this posting:

II.  "Taste the Waste"

"Taste the Waste" is a documentary by German director by Valentin Thurn calling attention to the amount of food we throw away worldwide, often without ever selling it.  Farmers, stockers, shippers, and supervisors of supermarkets, members of research organizations, dumpster divers, volunteers of soup kitchens, and some customers were interviewed from Germany, France, the UK, the USA, Cameroon, and Japan.  I viewed this documentary with Martin in an older theater in the inner city of Mainz.  He was kind enough to whisper translations of the more crucial moments of the non-English interviews for me (subtitles were German).

Inside the theater, the walls were covered with floral wall paper and the screen was covered by a hanging red curtain with thick gold ribbon trim.

The visual film itself effectively and powerfully illustrated the massive excess in which food is produced in according to the rules of mass food production formed to meet the predicted expectations of the consumers.  Unopened packages of food were carted off six days before the expiration date stamped on them as costumers were not expected to buy then, then scanned as they were placed into the dumpster.  Chefs at the grocery store in Japan delicately assembled sushi rolls and aligned them neatly in their closed to-go containers, which receive a sticker that show not only the expiration date, but also the expiration hour.  Sushi packages are doomed within three hours of their expiration hour, gigantic bags of unopened sushi piled around dumpsters filled the next frames.  The European Union once imposed a regulation for selling only straight cucumbers; they fit nicely into boxes and packages, they don't think customers should like bendy cucumbers.  Regulations in the US demand farmers to produce specific sizes of melons, tomatoes, peppers, etc to fit the compartmentalized size scale for the supermarkets, any sizes between small and medium or medium and large will be thrown away if they're delivered to the store.  Most German bakeries have 20% excess of baked goods at any given time.  They must have a sufficient stock of all kinds of rolls at any one time; running out is not an option for those who run the shop to avoid consequences from the franchise.  The result is a forklift pouring a waterfall of rolls and loaves that never made it to the front of the shop into dumpsters.  According to the film, the cumulative amount of food thrown away from the EU and North America over a year could supply the impoverished people with three times the food needed in that amount of time.

Valentin Thurn was present at the theater and took questions from the audience after the film.



“Taste the Waste“ — the trailer from tastethewaste.com on Vimeo.

I don't believe and I don't believe the director thinks large scale food production isn't necessary to feed the populace.  The film wasn't perfect, but nonetheless took a provocative look at the massive economical and environmental consequences of the system when it comes to producing more than the market consumes as well as the disconnects between producers and distributors.  Bananas from Cameroon, for example, are too expensive for most household in Cameroon to have one a day, yet they're pitched at supermarkets they're shipped to in the EU if they're not at the perfect level of under-ripeness.  There is no easy solution or replacement to the system, excessive habits of consumers feed the cycles of the market and vice versa.  At the individual and household level, we can evaluate our lifestyles and become more flexible in the kinds and amounts of foods we buy and their packaging.

Lastly, I'm disturbed by the bunches of Bio (EU equivalent of certified organic) bananas in cellophane at Aldi.  My (and my old roommate's) boyfriend says it perfectly:

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Wonderful day in Mainz... in Wiesbaden

Today's glorious adventure was spurred by Tag des offenen Denkmals, a special day in Germany that happens once a year where hundreds (!) of monuments, historic and archaelogical sites, museums, churches, etc are open to the public all Sunday late morning through the afternoon when we normally can't count on such free access.  Sebastian, Janak, and I set out to learn more about city of residence, the capitol of our state, Rheinland-Pfalz, so we went to Weisbaden, the capitol of the neighboring state, Hessen.  Via Sebastian's red 1992 VW Passat Wagon, they're only 15 minutes apart.  

Borrowed from www.sehenswertes-biebrich.de

Schloss Biebrich (Schloss = palace) was built because Prince Georg August of Nassau-Idstein wanted a more impressive office space.  The west wing (on the left) was originally built for his wife, but he kept bringing his entourage there, so they built the east wing (all the way at the right end of the photo) for her, on the other side of the rotunda (round part in the middle), which had a garden in the center of it at the time.  Eventually, these three parts were connected by galleries (long hallways) to form the massive residence of luxurious proportions in the 1700-1705 time frame.  Its size, intricate Baroque embellishments, and its waterfront location, will always catch the eyes of locals and visitors, so it's no wonder that this is one of the best preserved and most often renovated landmarks in this area.  

While visitors can ascend a flight of stairs to look over the Rhine, the entrance is around back, where you realize that this palace is just the face of an expansive plot with gardens, alleys (a road or walk way canopied by tree branches from both sides - 'alley' has a very positive connotation here), a lake, and a smaller stone castle-like structure we dubbed a 'kinder schloss'.  Visiting this place is free, and the land behind the palace is much like a park, with picnickers, runners, bikers, duck-feeders, and home-built remote-controlled toy flyers.  

The palace is that big C on the left end of the map.

The back side

We went on the guided tour, Sebastian was kind enough to translate the important points for me.  

This tree is a cave

Gallery from the west wing to the rotunda

Neat wood floors

The ceiling in the gallery

As we passed through the rotunda, programs were being placed on the chairs for a free concert tonight INSIDE the rotunda.  Handel, Bach, Mozart, Schubert, were all on the program among others.  Should we return?  You bet!  I'll close this posting with more on that.  Let's finish touring the palace and the gardens.

The floor pattern upstairs

Some of the original paint, motivating the colors used for the renovated exterior

Family portrait, Prince Georg August et al

The air was humid for Mainz and in the mid 20's (Celsius).  The greenery of the gardens and trees tempered the sun, and runners, dogs, grad students, effortlessly became engulfed in this world where half the trees were as old as the palace.

Huge sycamore (I think) tree

A princess drowned herself in this lake once upon a time

Ducks gossiped

Then cussed at other ducks in the lake

'Kinder Schloss'

Chestnut trees lined the allees (allee = alley)

A guy brought his home-built flying space ship, and we really enjoyed watching it.

Our hungry trio then ventured to a 'Greek' restaurant for some gyro and souvlaki plates, with fries of course, everything is served with fries here.  Like that evening at Baron with Yuriy and flammkuchen, we saw the front edge of the rain cloud head toward us, and all diners outside were asked to move inside as the rain and wind increased.  From the table by the windowless inside, we watched the front and back edge of the dark cloud pass to the east.  We proceeded to the neighboring ice cream shop.

With a couple hours left before the concert, we ventured by auto into the center of Wiesbaden to see Kaiser Friedrich Ringskirche.  

The Ringskirche, note the scale bar called Sebastian

The Ringskirche was seated among the most upscale apartments in Weisbaden:

Admission to the concert was first come first served, with doors opening half an hour before hand.  After filling our appetite for amazement and failing to access stairs to ascend into the balcony or towers of the Ringskirche, we headed back to Schloss Biebrich shortly after 4:30 for the 6pm concert.  As we arrived, dozens of horn players were closing their afternoon session with occasional drizzling rain.  

Small groups distinguished by uniform first performed before conglomerating for the finale

Elkhorns!!

We waited patiently in the drizzle.  The doors opened as the rain became heavier than tolerable for waiting outside.

 The concert was given by students of the Wiesbaden Musikakademie who performed eight pieces total in small groups or solo.  The  marble columns and walls inside the rotunda brightened every sound to a pleasant and vibrant glow that resonated with the audience.  The quality of all performances was especially high and the audience demanded an encore bow from every performer.  I felt the flutes were especially enhanced, and listening to Joseph Bodin de Boismortier's Concerto in b-flat minor performed by a quintet of only flutes was new and remarkable.   Just before the intermission, the audience giggled as the thunder rumbled as the soprano sang words of spring and hiking in the forest in Shubert's Der Hirt auf dem Felsen.  The audience became even more energized as an organizer invited the audience to enjoy free sparkling wine during intermission, courtesy of Henkel's (they make sweet cooking knives, although not as sweet as Cutco).  The concert closed with a quartet consisting of a harpsichord, cello, wooden flute, and a majestic, though young, Scandinavian looking soprano performing O Let me weep from Henry Purcell's short opera, The Fairy Queen.  Her height over all other performers of the night, blond hair contrasted by blood red lipstick and earrings, and complete resolve in her wide-eyed expression and voice completely convinced me that she was a queen and in mourning.

The performance space

Harpsichord and piano, from the balcony

The ceiling of the concert space - a fresco with 16 Roman gods and goddesses

What a great day!!

I got carded! In Germany!

The lightly freckled fair skinned cashier at inner city Aldi (not my usual location) with amber hair in a ponytail looked at me through her rimless glasses and asked me a question when I was expecting my total with a 5€ ready in my hand.  

"Sorry?" I replied. 

 "Your ID card please?"  

"Why?"  As I flipped my backpack to my front and began to dig for wristlet.  

"For the wine."  Yes, of course

"No problem," gently coaxing my passport out of the wristlet.  "How old do you have to be?"

"Sixteen"

"I look sixteen?" Drawing out the'I' and fighting back a wry smile

"No, but we have to ask for everyone who looks up to twenty," she informed me politely in her light silky voice.  We are probably about the same age.  

"Ok, I can show you this," as I separated the pages that had stuck themselves together.  

"Ok, thank you" She found the birthday with no reaction, then received my bill and handed me my change.  

I paid 4.68€ for a decent looking bottle of red Spanish wine and an 8 pack of AAA, or 'micro' batteries, as they're called here, I like that.  It makes up for the half kilo of fresh Oberschale (a very tender cut of beef) I splurged on earlier from the market by the Dom.  

My tiny kitchen: episode 3

Episode 4 was filmed first, but I will post episode 3 because it is fresher.

Eggplant and rostbratwurst red wine stir fry

A package of 6 rostbratwurst can last me 3 weeks because I sample so many different things during the week.  Germans might cry knowing that I didn’t rost the rostbratwurst and cut it into small pieces and contaminated it with gemüse (vegetables).  If eating elsewhere, sausages are typically served alone or accompanied by some form of potatoes, fries are most likely.  That probably sounds normal if you’re not me.

The ingredients, minus some seasonings and spices

Chopped ingredients.  I don't know why I made the carrots circular and everything else prismatic

Browned the sausage on 5 or 6 (my hot plates go up to 6).   While browning sausage, realized I forgot to chop garlic.  Sausage got browner than intended while chopping garlic
 

Add onions, rostbratwurst, carrots, and garlic.  Stir while frying for a few minutes until the garlic smells deliciously toasty.

Dump these contents into something else to free up the pan for frying eggplant, unless you have an amazing skillet and an extra burner available to you.  Heat up some oil in the pan for eggplant.  Add as many spices and seasonings as you want to, including garlic, dried basil, ground pepper, cumin, pepper flakes, etc. 

Fry the eggplant in your seasoned oil.  Eggplants are sponges, and hopefully you were not stingy on the oil.

Add the other things we previously fried and stir

Add ~ 100 ml red wine.  That’s about how much pinot noir I was left in the bottle I’ve been ‘cooking with’ for a week. 

Lower the heat (down to 2 on for my hot plate) and let red wine reduce.  Note: just because red wine boiling vigorously does not mean your heat is too high… boiling point!

Uncover it and turn the hot plate off.  Mine will stay hot for at least the ten more minutes.  

Taste it.  It’s hard to spice and season this stuff enough, and if you over browned the sausage like I did, then you locked all the flavor into the sausage instead of letting it diffuse out and flavor everything else.  So, you can add stuff to make it saucy and mingle the flavors better.

Honey

Fresh lemon

One of those hard candies from episode 1

Turn the mix a lot, flavors aren't going to mix themselves at this point

I recommend more pepper and stir well.  Rostbratwurst is already quite salty, I don’t recommend adding salt at any point.

Stale bread can be revived in the absence of a microwave or toaster by sprinkling a few drops of tap water onto it and then baking it slightly on the hot plate while COVERED.

Served with a salad of red lettuce and radicchio dressed with garlicy olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and ground pepper.   Topped both dishes with that goat cheese I got at the market by the Dom last weekend.  Served with a schwarzbier.  I only own wine glasses right now.  It makes up for the forest of pint glasses in my office in Houston.

Hope that was tasty.  Guten appetit!