An Interesting Food Discovery

This stuff is really good. Specifically in herbal tea, although I actually like it plain, as well. It is called "Fenchelhonig," or fennel honey. Basically, it's a honey/sugar syrup mixture infused with fennel. It tastes quite strongly of fennel, but the lovely honey notes come through as well. I wasn't thrilled that it has the sugar in it (pure honey is better for the body!), but it's so addictive in herbal teas that I don't really care that much. It's also supposedly good for the stomach because of the fennel (hence the rather pharmaceutical bottle).

An interesting thing I have noted about German culture is that it is so much less pharmaceutically dependent than that in America. It's strange to turn on the t.v. and see five minutes of ads that are all about things other than drugs (it's usually chocolate, frozen pizzas and cars). No Nasonex, Prozac or Tums. No constant suggestion of pills for every conceivable malady or ailment. What I find even more interesting, however, is that there are really not that many pharmaceutical drugs available. And before resorting to any of them, Germans will always try to use naturopathic cures such as various teas with different herbal properties, medicines made from the oils of different plants, herbal vapors, herbal cough drops, etc. I never thought of myself as buying into that American pharmaceutical culture, but as soon as I got here and got sick, I found myself thinking, "Where are the pills? Can I get some Tylenol Cold up in here?" The answer is, well, no.

I'm a little sick today, so I guess that's why I've been meditating on this topic. It's pretty boring, this sickness business, and hopefully I'll be up and running again by tomorrow.