As a Dutch person your videos taught me a lot on how similar German and Dutch culture are, I never really knew how alike we are. From our supermarkets to eating and drinking habits to recycling, etc. But the Christmas markets are different and we don't really have here. Many people I know love then though and go to Germany to visit them. I have been to a few with friends over the years. Those mushrooms looked amazing!
@@dennisengelen2517 Zeker, maar als ik soms de best grote verschillen in cultuur binnen mijn eigen land zo zie dan verrast het me toch weer als je dan toch altijd weer zulke overeenkomsten tegenkomt in een ander land.
I live in Wisconsin and descended from German immigrants and German culture feels oddly familiar. I actually learned to sing Silent Night in German as a kid.
Just a heads up: if you buy Glühwein or other hot beverages the usually have a Pfand for the cup, just like with plastic bottles. They will charge you a couple more euros and give them back when you return the cup. You can also reuse the cup for the next drink and they won’t charge you extra, and most people keep at least one cup since they often have nice designs that (usually) change every year, so a lot of people collect them!
Yeah, technically you are not allowed /supposed to keep the cup but no one has the time and nerve to stop you. The shopkeeps usually don't loose money when you keep the cup, but there have been cases where they've run out of cups way before the market ended.
@@Sporner100 then why do they print the year on the cups? Why do they change the style every year? What do they do with the rest of the cups? Do they throw them away at the end of the Markt? Do they scratch the image and color of every cup, repaint them and reuse them next year? It is also illegal not bringing the 0,25 plastic bottle back? It makes no sense. If they dont want them to get stolen they should use plain cups. They are cheaper, have no appeal and can be reused every year.
@@Dunika The cups of former years also get reused. If you want to get the current cup for your collection you might have to drink from a couple of previous years and different cities :D
Met/mead isn't wine mixed with honey, it's wine _made out of_ honey! ;D You don't always drink it hot, it's very nice when it's cooled, too, but yeah, hot spiced mead on a cold winter night is a delight! :D
Though they almost always "back sweeten" the wine with more honey, so that it tastes sweet! Mostly prefer it without the honey added in, but basically no one makes it like that. Thankfully it's pretty easy to make!
@@Crazybassable Well the mead you get on christmas markets is not the best (same with Glühwein). But when you get really good mead, there is no added honey and it just has the sweetness of the honey it is made of. E.g. Lindenblütenmet is sweeter than Kastanienhonigmet
@@brinkiTOgo - Actually, the type of honey doesn’t affect the sweetness. It’s the amount of honey used combined with the type of yeast used for fermentation and/or whether the mead was ‘back sweetened’ after fermentation that determine the sweetness. The flavour will be determined by the type of honey, the type of yeast, and whether other ingredients were added. I’m a mead maker, have been for close to 36 years. My German grandmother taught me how to do so. For really good mead, you need good unfiltered, preferably fresh honey straight from the beekeeper, good yeast, and preferably at least a year of ageing after fermentation. Kadtanienblüten and Lindenblüten are varietal honeys, meaning that the honey comes from hives situated in an area where the bees will harvest almost exclusively from one type of flower. In the cases you mentioned it’s the chestnut blossoms (Kastanienblüten) or the linden blossoms (Lindenblüten). But I squealed with delight at your opinion that Christmas market Met usually isn’t the best. There’s a lot of mead out there that isn’t all that great. Sorry for the rant… I’m passionate about the art my Grandma passed on to me. Good mead is delicious.
@@eddavanleemputten9232 Hey, thank you for the information :) It's really cool that your grandma taught you how to do it. I just like to drink good mead so my knowledge about making it is very limited. But with the mead at christmas markets: that's just my experience. If you go to a normal market the mead won't be that good. At medieval christmas markets it's normally better. But the best I had so far was directly bought from beekeepers. Sometimes there are beekeepers at markets selling their mead and other stuff. Those I know are really good. But I talked about the mead you get at bars / taverns at markets
@@brinkiTOgo - Your experience on the quality of mead at markets and Christmas markets matches mine. A friend of mine loves to go to medieval fairs, and his experience is the same. I live in Belgium, where mead is almost unknown, and beekeepers are usually very puzzled about the vast amounts of honey I buy… and even more puzzled when I tell them I make mead from it. The conversation usually goes something like this: “Mead? What is that?” “You could say it’s wine made from honey.” “Eh????” In all fairness, I live in a very rural area. The beekeepers are often farmers, and except perhaps the history of their immediate area and the major historical events everyone knows readily, their focus is on their land and livestock, their family, and if they’re beekeepers, the welfare of their bees. After their initial surprise, I either get labeled as “hippie” or they are intrigued. Those that have tasted my meads like them. One is starting to get interested in learning the craft, we’ve been trading honey and mead for two years now. If you’re interested in making your own mead or even just to find out how it’s done at home, the basics are simple and the equipment isn’t costly (and you can use it over and over). Most important are good honey, time and patience. You can make pretty decent mead as long as you have basic common sense. My daughter was 16 when she made her first mead all by herself (legal drinking age in Belgium). Her boyfriend is interested as well, he wants to learn as he’s taken a liking to mead. Needless to say, I’m thrilled at that. 😊 RU-vid has several reliable channels that can get you started (and also a lot of really bad ones). I can recommend several channels if it’s something you might consider checking out or even to just satisfy your curiosity.
As a Norwegian I am honestly shocked how similar Norway and Germany are in almost every way. I guess we have swapped good roads and terrible trains for terrible roads and decent trains, though.
I have yet to visit Norway (my husband and I wanted to travel to Oslo for our honeymoon but then covid hit :( ), but I look very forward to it :D. I have been in Sweden and Finland so far, and what I really appreciated is always how relaxed and friendly everyone was, compared to Germany. Even in the bigger cities. We Germans are grumpy af lol.
@@blackhagalaz There might be some truth to that. I have traveled to Germany several times and enjoyed my time there, though! :) Generally I enjoy conversation with Germans here too; they tend to be a bit more intellectually inclined than the average Norwegian. I don't know what you are looking for when traveling, but I think it is likely you will find a more exciting vacation outside of Oslo. Though there are of course places to see there too. Is it nature, history, or amenities that you look for when you travel somewhere?
You know I have been thinking the same but I think k a lot has to do with the European Union I'm just sad that we were taking g out of it against our wishes. Love From Scotland xxxx
You covered the traditional Christmas Market very well. A must for me is Reibekuchen ( potato pancakes) but that might be regional. Thank you so much for your videos I enjoyed them so much. As a German it is so interesting what you point out and make fun of. Wishing you and your fiancé a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
Oh, we love Reibekuchen in Ukraine! It's also one of the very popular and common dishes here and we call them "Деруни". It's a regular dish for us all year round.🥰🥰🥰
Christmas markets in the south are a huge disappointment. When I was in Frankfurt, I couldn't find Schmalzgebäck anywhere, which renders the whole thing useless. No Schmalzgebäck, no Weihnachtsmarkt. It's just not the same without it.
@@AtomicxxJM ah god, I didn't mean to write that as a reply to your post, it was meant to be in the general comment section! Sorry und mein Beileid! Nothing beats old style home cooked food!
I am from Austria and Christmasmarkets are a biiiig thing here too! I love the Almonds, they are just so incredibly delicious! I like the oven potatoes a lot too. Basically just a giant potatoe with different topings (garlic, cheese, ham, bacon, sour cream, etc). And I am a sucker for mead, I drink it often. No matter if it's cold or warm. Btw, it is made by first cooking honey in water, then adding yeast and letting it ferment. Merry Christmas!
I just recently watched a video of a woman going to Wien's christmas market and she literally destroyed it by how much she ate lol. I also saw one of some people going to Zürich in Schwitzerland but they were pretty dissapointed by the Zürich one (wich was randomly inside of a train station lol)
@@ACEsParkJunheeWreckedMeHard Swiss people come to Christmas markets in South of Germany, like in Stuttgart, because Swiss Christmas markets are not good.
I find it really nice when people from other countries come over here to Germany and give some kind of review for food items. It's a great outside perspective.
All of these videos remind me of my grandparents and things they do and say, it's why I keep coming back, you keep finding or doing things they say or do and I miss those things.
My dad is German and my mom is Ukrainian. Growing up in Canada I'm always interested in what German people eat and do. We mostly have Ukrainian traditional Christmas 🎄 but Mushrooms are part of that too!
As an American with Mexican ancestry, we make Ponche Navideño (Christmas punch) during this time. It’s usually made by boiling Hibiscus flowers, sugar cane, piloncillo (unrefined raw cane sugar sold in a cone shape), cinnamon sticks, diced fruits such as pear, apple, orange, guava, tejocotes (small fruit that are compared to crab apples), and sometimes other ingredients like raisins or grapes, prunes, tamarind pods, or pineapple skin. It is usually served hot and sometimes people spike it with alcohol as well
Tamarind pods are one of the things I wish were easier to get here in the Netherlands, I did finally manage to find hibiscus flowers so I can make agua de jamaica that isn’t overly sweet.
We make a very similar Christmas drink in Jamaica, made from Sorrel(dried hibiscus) and some of the same ingredients from your drink, the world is really small😊
Ok, I need more Chicano/a friends. :). That sounds amazing! I live in an Ohio city where we don't have a large Mexican community, but a large Puerto Rican one. I love coquito. Rum, coconut, condensed milk, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg. One friend adds orange.
My desire to visit my German friends has grown much keener watching your videos! You are so sweet and funny, and I love hearing your fiance's voice from time to time. ❤️
At our christmas markets in Switzerland, we serve similar foods like Bratwurst, but also melted cheese on bread or potatoes. Glühwein is also popular, as well as hot cider with different kinds of schnaps😋
So pleased I found your RU-vid channel! Absolutely brilliant, really love the shorts! Congratulations on your engagement, I really enjoyed hearing about the proposal 🥰
I agree about the shorts. I'm new to the channel after clicking on one of the shorts a few weeks ago and I limit myself to only one a day because I never ever want to run out. As a Brit who married a German I have not found a single one that didn't have me laughing out loud!
PLEASE MORE LONGER VIDEO LIKE THIS ❤❤ altho I get that it's a lot of work and you guys probably have day jobs as well but but but you two are so cuuute
A *must try* on german christmas market are the traditional candy apples/ toffee apples! They are a classical sweet. They are called "Liebesäpfel" (love apples) and they come covered in a red sugar candy coating with a wooden stick as a handle. Sometimes you can see them with green candy coating. And you can get also candied grapes on a stick too or different fruit dipped in dark or white chocolate. 🍎
I absolutely love your videos. I lived in Germany for many years, as my mother was from Husum. I lived in Hamburg. I love Marzipan, Grog (a favorite in the north, you can add spices), Currywurst, Schupfnudeln, Kartoffelpuffer, Stecklerfisch und Dampfnudel. I encourage you to visit the north country. Food is different from one region to another. Lol I don't like Gebrannte Mandeln either. Merry Christmas 🎄❤️🤗
You're so sweet Uyen: "Too much meat for me" ... well, welcome to Germany 😂 I grew up near Heidelberg, so seeing you on the Mannheimer Weihnachtsmarkt makes me nostalgic
As A German, and someone who even lives near Mannheim, This Video was really adorable or 'Zuckersüß' (Sugarsweet) to watch :'D Merry Christmas you two!
I’m from France and in the East we also have pretty good Christmas markets! My favorite food is what we call « Pommes d’Amour » which are apples dipped in red syrup and it’s delicious! We also of course have warm wine with cinnamon and I also love the churros!
How cool, that what you have at christmasmarkets in France is so similar to what we have in Germay. All the things you named I also saw at christmasmarkets here. Until now I havent tried churros or the Apples, but I love a good crêpe with melted choclate they often sell here, too. Interestingly we call the "Pomme d'Amour" the same just translated in german "Liebesäpfel" ;) Wish you nice Christmasdays! :)
@@thinkingbout WoW that’s so cool! It’s similar probably bc France and Germany are next to each other and our cultures are not so different xD but yeah you should definitely try the apples! And yes crêpes are SO good !!😋😂 Have a nice Christmas x)
Your videos and shorts really bring me a lot of joy! I am from the Netherlands, living in Germany for 8 years now, and while our cultures are not that different there are still sometimes things that make me feel shocked because of how different we can be despite our countries being next to each other. I can only imagine how big the differences in cultures are from your perspective, thank you for sharing your experience with us though! As for the mannheim christmas market it's one of the best, I had the spiesbratenbrotchen too. I loved it. :D Hope you had a good christmas and a good new year!
I'm from the U.S., Chicago specifically, and we have a German Christmasmarket here! I love going there. There are some similar things you can get at ours (like bratwurst!), but there's also usually a crepe stand that's really good. There's also spiced (non-alcoholic) hot apple cider that's delicious.
"Spießbratenbrötchen"... I've been living in Germany my whole life, went to christmas markets in Aachen, Düsseldorf and Bochum and I've literally never seen this xD But for the rest: yep, they're everywhere, even though Met is something that's only been trending since a few years (especially since "Vikings" aired). These markets are basically just for eating stuff you don't get everywhere and to buy stupid little decorations. Have a nice christmas, too! :D
In Bochum hat es einen kleinen Stand gegeben, mitten auf dem dr. ruer platz. Zwar nicht groß und es heißt auch nicht "Spießbraten", sondern einfach nur eine Scheibe Braten mit Krautsalat. Herrlich. Hab ihn aber seit Corona nicht mehr gesehen =/
Merry Christmas 🎄🎁 you guys are adorable, thanks for showing us the market foods! In Texas, we have a lot of pecans and many German families settled around Texas (I.e. New Braunfels) so sugar covered pecans are a holiday favorite!!!
I'm in Calgary, Canada. We have Christmas markets around the city. One of our best ones is actually at our local equestrian site called Spruce Meadows. And we have a historical park called Heritage Park which shows what life was like in the western days. Those are the main sites. We also love our Christmas light displays like the one at the local zoo. PS ZooLights had to be closed several days this week because it was too cold! -20 to -30C with wind chill even higher than that.
We have christmas markets in Denmark as well (we more or less imported christmas from Germany). Glühwein is also a topseller here. And the sugar coated almonds. Also big is a baked ball called "aebleskiver" (go look it up), goes very well with marmelade and powdered sugar.
This was thoroughly entertaining and I’ve been curious about Germany’s Christmas market, so this was nice to see. Thanks for sharing your experience! Also, you’re adorable 🥰 Keep making content!
We spent 2 years in Germany and absolutely loved the Christmas markets! You must ry the toasted chestnuts and German pancake! I agree with you the mushrooms are great! I really liked seeing you do a full length video after all your shorts which crack me up and I thought you two were engaged? WE live in Portugal now and went to the Christmas markets here but they were very dissatisfying after seeing the ones in Germany, Austria and France! More videos please!
2:46 "The meat...is very meaty!" That made me laugh 😂 I'm from New Zealand and our Christmas is in summer. So we don't have those hot drinks, but Sparkling Grape Juice is really popular on Christmas day !
In my country, the Netherlands, we tend to eat something called _snert_ around this time of year. It's a pea soup that you have to eat with Dutch smoked sausage (rookworst) from a specific store here (Hema). It's not aesthetically pleasing to look at, but it tastes really, really good and you'll see all sorts of stalls in cities sell bowls of snert. Of course, nothing beats home-made snert. And, of course, we also have _oliebollen_ and _appelflappen_ during this time of the year. I should add that nothing really beats German Christmas markets and we don't really have something similar on that level.
My husband is Dutch. You guys have some delicious foods ❤ Excuse my spelling but cold weather and hutspot (sorry) is a perfect match PS. I miss Hema hotdogs and satekroketten from the Feba so much! (Actually, most of the Feba food is amazing, and your deep fry range is out of this world 👌🏼)
I miss Christmas markets. I always watched them blow the ornaments and then would buy one every year. I would have gluhwein rindswurst and the nuts every year. So good.
Of all your videos this is one of my favorites! I loved seeing the Christmas market and your honest reviews of the food and drink were so much fun to watch! Thanks for sharing and hope you (both) keep posting! ❤😂
You really need to try Reibekuchen (with apple puree of course), Crepes and Hot Dogs. Also ask for a Lumumba (with cream of course) instead of Glühwein. They are all basics.
i am so enjoying your content. i am german canadian. your view on german life is so true... nur weiter so... ich will mehr sehen. had to laugh out loud.
Omg Im here early Thanks for the video! Your fun personality is so enjoyable to watch! 💖 I definitely hope to experience a German Christmas market someday!
I got to visit some Christmas markets in Germany one year and it was one of my favorite experiences! They are so cozy and cheerful!! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Aww 🥰.. that sounds Fun and I can tell you really loved it... Are you German or married to German??? Well, I'm wishing you a Happy Holiday 😊 stay happy healthy and safe.
@@Richiehawk It was so fun! I'm American but I was studying abroad in Europe at the time and I had the chance to visit a dear friend who is German. We were able to visit Christmas markets with some of her friends and family. (I recall that we visited Aachen and Cologne as well as some towns.) It was just a lovely, cheerful time that I look back on fondly! Happy Holiday to you too! Have a happy & healthy New Year!
Here in Italy the food is very region dependent, so also for xmas time what we eat is different city by city. Today that is the day before xmas is time for appetizers which you eat in the bars like prosecco or franciacorta and mixed canapes, in some bars you could also find oyster and champagne but tomorrow that is xmas usually we eat at home dumplings called "anolini" with broth and roasted or boiled meat usually from chicken meat. Special from my place is the sparkling red wine good both for appetizers and salted meat. You could also find in Italy german food like spatzel and knodeln but only in Trentino a region nearby Austria.
Wisconsin has a large German population and Octoberfest there means, Sheboygan style bratwursts! Those are made in a different way; thin sliced onion is sauted in butter, then beer is poured in the pan with the butter fried onions and brats are put in to simmer for a long time. This can happen the day before or even weeks before if they are frozen... and then, the brats are put on a grill to get a good char. These are served two brats to a toasted hard roll with spicy brown mustard and sauerkraut, or the cooked onions, or with a type of coleslaw, or just two brats on a toasted hard roll.
I live in Alsace (Elsass) France, at the border of Germany and some might say we have the most beautiful Christmas Markets here 😛 I love those in Germany too (especially Nurnberg), they are large and clean, here it is more medieval type in narrow old streets. I hope you'll come some day visit 😄 And thank you for your videos, they are all so cute and fun ahah
Alcatian town are often pretty by themself with beautiful half-timbered houses. They also put up pretty christmas decorations and atmosphaeric illumination in the old towns. But if the actual christmas market stands are more beautiful, I think, it's debatable.
I love your short stories, but I also liked this kind of video format very much. Maybe you could make a new thing out of it, where you, and german fiance, discover certain places or german traditions like the Christmas market togehter. I understand and respect that your boyfriend likes to stay off camera. But the direct comments of his from behind the camera were sometimes so hilarious. You guys are soooo entertaining. I hope you had/have a merry and cozy Christmas. 😘
Thank you for posting this. I used to live in Germany and miss it so much!! I visited the Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt. So many great memories. ☺Love your channel btw.
I'm British (living in Japan). Germany and North Europe has always felt more Christmas-y to me. Something about the cold winter, the trees, etc. for a short few Christmas days, fantastic! But, German, north Europe food, British too. Yeah, I understand the "blandness". My friend is and I spent 3 days in Düsseldorf for a bachelor party. We only ate and drink Beer, Bread, Pork, Cabbage 🤣 Day 3, I was screaming to eat vegetables 🤣
That said, I do miss European Christmas. Japan Christmas ends on Dec 24th. After that, the switch to traditional Japan New Year kicks in. That said, I enjoy that too. Mentally, Christmas is the end of year. Japan new year is the beginning of the next year.
Merry Christmas to you and your family! Thanks for sharing the German Christmas Market experience, I hope to be able to see it in person one day! (and enjoy the Gluh Wein!)
If you ever come to Mexico let me know!!! I belive you are gonna love our food! Pd: in Christmas, Mexicans prepare Ponche, Cacahuate Garapiñado, Capirotada, Chocolate, Romeritos and Lomo de Cerdo Dulce
Your videos are so refreshing, I really like them ! I never was really interested in german culture until you started making your videos. But now i'm surprising myself wanting to know more about it. 👍
My favourite part about Schwinebraten, very similar to that Spiessbraten is the crust! In fact, if I can ask for the ends of the piece, where most of the surface is covered in crust, I will do it. I would pay extra for that even.
Mannheim!! It's been years since I've been there... I always low-key thought that they had the best Christmas markets than any other place I visited in Germany when I was living there. Favorite thing to always do at any market I visited every year, was to always find and collect the cutest glühwein cups in the area (depended on the market stalls or if you got them from local bars/brewers stores that were also selling them). Though my favorite memory was during my first time visiting a Christmas market (Mannheim) and learning how to knit for the first time lol I was taught by this sweet old lady, who's stall I was browsing out of interest. We both didn't 100% understand what the other was saying during our exchange (which is why this random event happened most likely x'D) but it was fun and I learned something knew. She definitely knew how to make a sale with me 🤣 (bought a bunch of yarn and some things from her to keep practicing and it's now a relaxing hobby of mine 🥰).
@@zannatulo1639 yeah I still have several of them. You technically pay for the cup when you buy your glühwein drink (priced together with the drink as a deposit). When you finish, what you're supposed to do is return the mug where you got it from and get some of your Euros back. It's not much just like 1 or 2€ for the mug because they're usually small but some places can have slightly bigger and unique sizes too. 😊
omG I really want to try those mushrooms! I'm from Sweden and I can vaguely remember going to christmas markets as a kid. I can remember buying chocolate decorated marzipan piggies in tiny little see through boxes with ribbons on top. oh and spiral peppermint hard candy in paper cones (which is just candy canes in a different shape, but it was made locally and super tasty).
One thing I miss from the norhtern christmas markets is Schmalzkuchen. It's not a thing in the south. Basically it's just fried dough with powdered sugar, but I love it.
Hi i'm from Germany and I really like your videos and german christmas markets. One Tipp: often we have Kinderpunsch it taste like Glühwein but it haven't any alcohol inside
In the Christmas market in my part of the world (Toronto, Canada), my favourite thing(s) are actually German: spice cookies! Can't get me enough of some pfeffernüsse and lebkuchen!
In Canada, we eat Tire Sur la Neige which is maple syrup dripped onto fresh syrup and rolled onto a popsicle stick or beaver tails (it’s a type of deep fried pastry in the shape of a beaver tail dipped in cinnamon sugar). People usually drink eggnog and rum during Christmas time. ❄️🍁
oh wow, I love your videos I think you make learning about the different kinds of experiences you have in Germany fun and interesting. makes people want to travel and visit. thank you for your videos and please keep making more cuz they are amazing and brighten up the day
Met (Mead) is like wine but instead of using Grapes they use honey for fermenting. Mixing Wine with Honey is "fake" mead. But some mead are mixed with some honey after fermenting for the extra honey-taste. You can also get some "Glühmet" with the christmas- flavour too. I drank it last year on a medieval christmas-market in vienna and it was very tasty 🙂 Greetings from Austria/Vienna :-)
Your video made my day! :D Actually I am a German student who is right now in India until January and my home is next to Mannheim, so your video report on the Christmas market made my heart glow! Thank you so much and have a good start into the new year. Btw I found your channel during my time abroad and my friends from the hostel recommended it to me. They like your videos too.
