BERLIN -- A trip to the neighborhood supermarket yesterday was full of discoveries.
#1 Europeans eat one heck of a lot of processed foods, such as canned and packaged stews and cooked meats and vegetables. #2 There is no such thing as not-from-concentrate orange and grapefruit juice. #3 Unsalted butter? Say what?
But the most fascinating discovery was the baloney with Mickey Mouse’s silhouette in the middle of each slice.
Germans take baloney to a new level. It’s an art form. I counted 73 different
types of baloney-like cold cuts in the deli case before I got tired of counting. And that doesn’t include the 20-or-so types of prosciutto and salami.
In addition to such usual suspects as “picnic loaf” (square, with bits of red pimento) and mortadella, I found pressed turkey loaf with pistachio; baloney with red and green peppers and chives; pigs tongue loaf; pork loaf with blood; pork and chicken in cranberry aspic loaf; baloney with pickles, onions, olives or mushrooms.
But, clearly the Mickey baloney is the best. When I was a kid, discovering a baloney sandwich on white bread in my lunch box was the equivalent of winning Power Ball. Disney meat would have made me the most popular girl in the school.
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