100% of Germans hate root beer. They think it tastes like cough syrup, despite the fact that root beer is indeed delicious.
In America we enjoy the unbeatable combination of root beer and vanilla ice cream, the tasty root beer float. This is the worst nightmare for a German, a combination of overly sweet, rich ice cream swimming in a sea of medicine. Germans hate things that are sweet, except for popcorn. Those weirdos put sugar on their popcorn instead of salt and butter, like God intended.
On the subject of sweets, every German in America will have the same experience as every American in Germany. The foreigner will spot a delicious looking piece of a cake at a diner or bakery and think they must try it with great anticipation, only to be let down that the cake is completely wrong. The cake in America is of course way too sweet, the cake in Germany is naturally great looking, but completely void of that sweet cake taste that everyone else in the world enjoys.
deutsche Übersetzung für Astrid ein/ausblenden
Hey Du, Astrid,
hier die Übersetzung:
Die Deutschen hassen Root Beer
100 % der Deutschen hassen Root Beer. Sie finden es schmeckt wie Hustensaft, entgegen der Tatsache dass Root Beer wirklich köstlich ist.
In Amerika geniessen wir die unschlagbare Kombination von Root Beer und Vanilleeis, das wohlschmeckende Wurzelbiergeschwimme. Dies ist der schlimmste Albtraum für einen Deutschen, die Kombination von übersüßter gehaltvoller Eiscreme, die in einem See aus Medizin schwimmt. Deutsche hassen süße Sachen, ausser Popcorn. Diese Spinner machen sogar Zucker auf ihr Popcorn, an Stelle von Salz und Butter, wie Gott es wollte.
Beim Thema Süßigkeiten wird jeder Deutsche in Amerika die gleiche Erfahrung machen wie jeder Amerikaner in Deutschland. Der Fremde wird ein köstlich aussehendes Stück Kuchen in einem Restaurant oder einer Bäckerei entdecken und voller Vorfeude denken, dass er dies bestellen müsse, nur um dann bitter enttäuscht zu werden, weil der Kuchen komplett falsch schmeckt.
Der Kuchen in Amerika ist natürlich viel zu süß, der Kuchen in Deutschland sieht natürlich fantastisch aus, lässt aber den süßen Kuchengeschmack vermissen, den die Menschen in allen anderen Ländern der Welt so sehr geniessen.
Prost,
John
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April 27th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Rootbeer schmeckt ja schon ohne Eis eklig. Aber warum, um Himmels willen, sollte ich Eis in einem kohlesäurehaltigen Getränk lecker finden? Das passt einfach nicht zusammen! Das wäre ja wie Joghurt im Kaffee oder Milch im Apfelsaft…eklig!
April 27th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Direct translation of Bettina: Rootbeer tastes already without ice disgustingly. But why should, for the sake of sky, deliciously find I ice in a coal sow original containing drink? That matches simply not! That would be yes like yogurt in the coffee or milk in the apple juice disgusting!
April 28th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Not so literal translation: Rootbeer tastes distigusting even without ice cream in it. But why, for heaven’s sake, should I like ice cream in a beverage with gas? That just doesn’t match! That would be like putting yoghurt into your coffee or milk into your apple juice… disgusting!
April 28th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Haha love the direct translation :))
“Germans hate things that are sweet, except for popcorn.”
What about Chocolate??? Germans sold like 1,26 Million tons last year.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:05 am
I love Schoki!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 1st, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I have to agree with the sweet popcorn thing….I was REALLY surprised when I tasted it for the first time. I prefer the butter and salt.
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:27 am
This is total bull, germans love sweet things. I even like rootbeer, but I could imagine, that many people don’t like the artificial taste of it. It’s not like the sweet taste of a good maltbeer for example, which actually tastes like something mother nature hast given to us and not the nutty professor. I think that goes for pretty much of the candies in Germany. Sweet is okay, but please let it taste like something known to mankind.
May 5th, 2008 at 2:32 am
Yeah, Bastian, maybe if root beer tasted like Waldmeister it would be better. ; )
May 5th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
No, wait. I am German and I DO like root beer. I pay > € 1/can on the internet. And it’s even better with some ice-cream floating in it!
May 5th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Me too, I love root beer and would be addicted to it, if it wasn’t that expensive in Germany.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I’m another exception, I guess, as I really like root beer, too. Alas, it’s almost impossible to get in Germany. The Dutch have ample supply of it, however.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:15 am
The root-beer-ice-cream thingy just made my stomach lurch. You cannot seriously consider drinking/eating that, right? That must be a joke.
My host family in the US was sorely disappointed by the chocolate my parents had sent me for Christmas. They tried to be polite, but in the end they said the chocolate was almost bitter (it was creamy Milka, no bitterness there, really). I, on the other hand, almost got a shock when trying out chocolate fudge. I’ve never had so much sweetness to eat.
Popcorn … finally German movie theaters are offering salty popcorn with butter as well. They don’t advertise it, you have to specifically ask for it, but the great thing is you don’t have to share with friends because they don’t like it at all
May 6th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
@John:
Did you ever tried German Malz beer (with no alcohol)?
compare that to rootbeer…
May 6th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Desserts really are weird in the US. No matter what you order, it’s always basically a huge block of butter and chocolate/syrup/sugar. I kinda like it, but I still prefer a good Sachertorte (me being from Vienna)
On the other hand, chocolate is totally disappointing. Hershey’s tastes like the ultra-cheap 29-cent-per-100g chocolate at Plus. It’s barely identifiable as chocolate.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Why drink root beer when you can have real beer?
Let me suggest the following routine: on a nice May day (sunny, though not overly warm), saunter to the next Eisdiele, buy yourself drei Kugeln in der Waffel, Schdrazziatella, Schokolade und Erdbeer, then leisurely eat your gelato on the way to the next Biergarten, have yourself a Halbe and float home. Much, much nicer than a root beer float.
May 8th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Root beer - yuck! Popcorn - OK … with sugar ;).
May 10th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
I think root beer is a perfect example for an acquired taste. For someone who hasn’t been exposed to it’s taste his/her entire life, it seems strange and artificial. I’m German and actually like the taste of root beer, but only after being (gently) forced to “enjoy” it time after time after time while spending a high school year in rural Michigan.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Root beer is the BEST. Not even Dr. Pepper comes close. Malzbier by comparison is just in the cake example; it is a strong, hearty draught with just a hint of sweetness. No comparison with the weird-but-delicious aroma of sassafras root.
Why on Earth anyone would use sassafras root to flavor a drink is beyond me. But the idea was so completely off the hook that I just HAD to try the stuff when I was in the US (Plus, it helps against ghosts). And I liked it.
But I would not put ice in it, especially not vanilla ice. Spoils the taste of either. I found some ultra-cheap root beer brand to be the best; more expensive ones often have a too pungent vanilla flavor for my taste.
As regards popcorn: I’m equivocal. Certainly the butter-and-salt variety beats the usual sugared popcorn. But you sometimes get popcorn with a caramelized coating. Think maple syrup. This is perhaps the greatest of all.
There may be an explanation why Germans do strange things with corn. After WW2 - 1946ish I think -, there was a scarcity of grains (wheat etc) for baking bread - “Korn” in German. People complained, the matter got to some US general, who promptly had shiploads of corn sent to Europe. Not really good corn - this was shipped to prevent, basically, the people who brought us Hitler from starving. Not to feed them well. The corn was made into bread out of necessity.
So think German bread, made from mildly mouldy old corn. The war generation in Germany positively has a corn neurosis. People remember the stuff it even today.
American cake varies from bad to excellent; I would on average prefer it to German cake which runs the same spectrum, but IMHO has more bad varieties (the fruits-covered-with-jelly stuff I detest. Strawberries do not grow to be drowned in gelatin). But there are cakes like some approaches to the “Gedeckter Apfelkuchen” (which is NOT apple pie, though the construction is quite similar) theme which are supreme.
The US are, perhaps together with Spain, the Western country which is most disrespectful to chocolate, ’tis true. There has been a deluge in interesting choc varieties in Germany since last year. You get great stuff like choc with chili-friut paste filling, choc with caramel brittle, milk choc with candied orange peel, and perhaps my favorite ATM: high-cocoa milk choc. I don’t like the dark “bitter” choc; ironically because I find it too sweet. Because in dark chocolate, the sugar is still plentiful, and it really stands out in a coarse, unrefined way, and the cocoa’s bitterness enhances this. Adding milk takes away that edge and makes the flavors blend together more smoothly.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
this damn sweet brownies are way to sweet.
and ice + beer =>pure evil!
May 16th, 2008 at 8:09 am
@Eike: I discovered something new, saltet chocolate (Heilemann Meersalz). First I thought it would never blend, but now its part of my weekly shopping list - after all, I’m german
May 16th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Dammit, now i know what I forgot to do in the USA…I so wanted to try rootbeer, but at WalMart they only sold it in barrel-sized bottles, wich was way to much for me and my small hotel fridge, and later I forgot about it. Oh well, I will come back one day…
May 16th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
beer with vanilla is like ice-cream with ketchup!
It’s a sin!
May 17th, 2008 at 11:26 am
I’m German and i love Root Beer. I think the problem is that most Germans don’t know what Root Beer is, so they think “Bier mit Eis? Widerlich.” I wouldn’t put ice-creme in my normal beer.
May 17th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
just the same as with Herman the German. I love Root Beer, but it is just hard to find in german stores.
May 18th, 2008 at 7:01 am
root beer floats are appalling so are ice cream sodas, but nothing beats home grown german atrocities like bananen-weizen - weißbier with granini banana juice or diesel coke&beer also coke&red-wine, those are the nadir of german beer culture.
as for the cake, my theorie is that america got all its pastry culture exclusively from the danish, since they are the only ones in europe that sugar things to death the way otherwise only americans know how to.
May 18th, 2008 at 8:44 am
update
ah, yes! korea, that’s what the red-wine & beer mix is called actually.
May 18th, 2008 at 9:59 am
“as for the cake, my theorie is that america got all its pastry culture exclusively from the danish, since they are the only ones in europe that sugar things to death the way otherwise only americans know how to.”
Have you ever tried greek pastry, your dentist will love it
May 18th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
@anonymous you’re right, greek pastry is awfully sweet too. i stand corrected.
May 19th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Ever tried Rootbeer mixed with Coke?
May 20th, 2008 at 8:05 am
I’m german, I tasted root beer…. And it strongly reminds me of that liquid anaesthetic my dentist uses. Pfui!
May 20th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
bleeh…rootbeer. I tasted it at kfc and I really think its terrible.
but its not true that germans dont like sweet stuff. just look at the typical sterotype german: fat guys in leather pants living in bavaria. even those people love sweet things witch much sugar, fat and all that tasty stuff. I think there is no region in germany where people avoid sweets, cake etc..
you have to relate to existing stereotypes, dont create new ones ^^
May 20th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
baah, root beer is just disgusting, no matter what everyone’s saying. It’s disgusting in both ways: pure and as a float. When my friends made me drink it, I just spit it out. I just it would taste like german Malzbier, but hell I was wrong ^^ I’m really glad, they don’t sell that in Germany. That would let costs of health-care skyrocket in Germany, since 99,9% of the people would be brought to the hospital with an extreme stomach pain.
)
A great american drink, that should be sold more in Germany is Mountain Dew. I really got addicted to that stuff and only a few grocery stores sell it aroung here (actually the only store around I know to sell it reguarly is the KaDeWe
Pro Mountain Dew, against Root Beer!
May 20th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Hey !
I have no Problem with Root Beer, as long as i dont have to drink it !
Beer has to be a bit bitter, that is for sure.
So if you want to try real Beer, so drink Holsten, Jever or Flensburger and forget this sweet stuff.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
thanks for that idea! mmmhh rootbier with icecream…
June 7th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Thats just sick
June 13th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
In my 1 year of living in the US now, I have tried root beer once, out of being polite. Never again is all I can say. It just seems wrong to drink something that smells and tastes like something we Germans take rheumatism baths in (yes I also tasted one of those, don’t ask). Whenever my hubby gets an A&W root beer float, I wanna puke.
I also noticed the difference in taste btw. I find almost all candies to sweet, and what I miss most is distinctive, recognizable flavour. For Germans, at least after my experience, a candy needs something that makes it different from other candies, like marzipan flavour or different kinds of chocolate or cream filled pralinés. Over here, as stated by others, everything seems to be purely sugar flavoured, that’s it. Take “peeps” for example. Not only that they come in neon pink, neon yellow and purple (ewww!), they also only taste sweet, nothing special in them. Why you would raise children telling them that colourful, artificial looking sweets or food in general (purple cereals come to mind) taste good is a mystery to me. On the other hand, when my mum brought over a “Russischer Zupfkuchen” when she came to visit, everyone looked strangely at it cause it looked (original comment!) “too natural”…
I dunno, stuffing things into you where you don’t know at all what possibly in hell could have created the colour it’s in doesn’t seem smart to me.
Another thing I notice is, a lot of Americans don’t seem to like bitter taste. Whenever my husband for example only thinks of Schweppes Tonic (I made him taste it once), he is literally almost puking. I have not yet found someone who likes Tonic here, same goes for Blue Cheese and anything remotely bitter or sour. Weird. I think just sugary is kinda boring.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Maybe it’s that little bit of German in me (I’m German, Polish, Italian, and Irish) that makes me hate really sweet things.
My friends think it’s weird that I can’t stand to eat triple layer chocolate cake because it’s too sweet.
And root beer tastes like the devil. (Random…I know.) ^_^’
June 19th, 2008 at 6:52 am
I love root beer, but can only recommend gourmet types such as IBC, Henry Weinhard’s (they make beer, too, btw), and one I’ve only found on tap in Minnesota: 1919 (incidentally the year prohibition started). Most of the root beer at the supermarket is cheap and relies on excess sugar. In Portland, Oregon you can get ice cream made with porter. MMMMMM!!!
One last thing, deutsche Schokolade schmeckt am besten!
June 25th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Ditto doppelf’s statement on root beer.
It’s always interesting how much people reveal about their own socioeconomic backgrounds when they criticize other cultures.
July 1st, 2008 at 8:16 pm
I love Root Beer, especially from a & w and im a german!!
July 28th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Ich möchte etwas klar darstellen: Root Beer ist KEIN Bier. Nochmal: Root Beer ist KEIN Bier und hat mit “Bier” überhaupt gar nichts zu tun und hat nichts gemeinsames mit Maltzbier außer Schaum und Wasser. Wer es “Root Beer” als “Malzbier” übersetzt, hat überhaupt keine Ahnung von Root Beer!
Man darf es also mit Vanilleeis damit essen weil sie sehr gut zusammenpassen. Root Beer ist süß und wird von Kindern sehr gern genossen.
Das Root Beer Geschmack von heute kommt nicht mehr von Sassafraswürzeln sondern von “Wintergreen” (Wintergrün). (Wenn man das erst weißt merkt man es auch beim Trinken)
Ich glaube man kann es auch bei Karstadt kaufen unter der Marke “Stars and Stripes”.
August 21st, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I am German and love root beer and, especially, root beer floats (with butter pecan ice cream…. yumyumyum). I can relate to all that yuck-root-beer on here however… when it comes to birch beer. Once a year, at the Pennsylvania Dutch Festival (Dutch as in Deutsch), that is about as much birch beer as I can stomach. Talk about wintergreen… cough medicin with toothpaste… ewwwwwwww. By the way, the coincidence of Root Beer Production beginning the year of the Prohibition is no coincidence at all… root beer was intended as a substitute.
With all of you regarding chocolate…. unfortunately, German choc is hardly ever available here (imported that is…. you don’t expect Guinness to be the same when it is produced in the USA either, now, do you?)