[Fiji Hill]

When I was living in Germany in the early 1970's, I was frustrated that dishes available in America were not available there. You could not find a burrito anywhere in Europe. I tried to make a cheeseburger using a Brötchen roll but it didn't work--way too chewy.

The only place you could get fried chicken American style was at Wienerwald, a chain of restaurants, but they fried the whole chicken instead of individual pieces as we do here. The occasional Argentine restaurant served American-style steaks--plain, perhaps with some seasoning--but at German eateries steaks were always drowned in sauces.

I came to know what Chuck Berry meant when he sang,

Looking hard for a drive-in,
Searching for a corner cafe
Where hamburgers sizzle
On an open grill night and day.
You can bet your boots I did
Till I got back in the USA.

[dfwgator]

“Somebody get me a cheeseburger!”

[pierrem15]

Last time I was in Berlin, American style steak houses and burgers were all the rage. This included American-style craft beers (especially IPAs), which I saw everywhere. A German explained to me that although Germany obviously has very good beer, there are actually only a few varieties, so they looked to the US for innovation in brewing.