There was also German Cake Bashing (😂) at one point.
There was a lot of stuff on that thread I rolled my eyes at, but the German Cake Bashing definitely took the biscuit! I also don’t understand the hate for Sandkuchen, what have poor Zitronenkuchen and Marmorkuchen ever done to anyone? Also, they’re only dry if you’re shit at baking (looking at my MIL, who thinks she can save calories by reducing the butter by about 50% in any cake recipe with no ill effects.😭 Same for her bone-dry Weihnachtsplätzchen that always go straight into the bin!).
I’m in Munich but grew up in a small village a stone’s through from the Austrian border (waves at Caspianberg). I’m always a bit bemused about the weird ideas and stereotypes people have about oh-so-traditional Bavaria when none of them tally with my personal experience at all. It’s not just from foreigners, German Twitter is also terrible for this. I’ve stopped trying to convince people otherwise now as we’d probably have even more people wanting to move here if they realised that most of us don’t talk with a heavy accent, aren’t members of a Trachtenverein, don’t hate gay people, foreigners or progress and that women are allowed to have careers. Also, in return I will continue to cultivate my own negative perceptions of the rest of the country. 😤
On the topic of German directness easily veering into rudeness, I can definitely see where many Brits are coming from! I find many of my fellow countrymen and -women breathtakingly rude and much prefer the British way. As a polite and slightly shy introvert, in some ways I felt much more at home living in London than I ever have in Germany! Despite going there quite regularly, I also still find Berlin rudeness a shock to the system every time. My PILs (who are from Dresden) are also horrendously direct and I really can’t handle it. Will tell you to your face that you've got quite fat and think nothing of it! Thankfully my DH is nothing like them.
Heinz salad cream
Easily available in just about any supermarket here in Munich, e.g. Rewe and Edeka.
Blocks of cheese without that hard bit of wax round the outside
My local Rewe sells Cathedral City Cheddar.
Tea bags in multipacks of 480
Asian shops or Amazon. Actually just ordered 480 bags of Yorkshire tea from there.
I agree that Germany mostly has very boring crips flavours, although cheese & onion and salt & vinegar are available at most larger supermarkets where I am. The best place for more interesting crisps is GoAsia if you have a branch near you (prawn, lobster, seaweed, kimchi, etc.).