Eating Oktoberfest: a vegetarian survival guide

If there’s one thing you don’t see very often at Oktoberfest, it’s a vegetable.

Navigating the menu at an Oktoberfest tent is not always easy for vegetarians. In here, a plate of sliced-up sausage qualifies as a salad. But even at those tents named after the animal they are best at cooking, one can find at least a couple of meatless dishes. Bavarian vegetarian food is heavy, creamy, cheesy, and infinitely starchy: actually, not such bad attributes for a meal that’s accompanying many liters of beer. Now that you’ve found a seat in one of the tents, here are some of the vegetarian dishes you are most likely to find on the menu:

Read moreEating Oktoberfest: a vegetarian survival guide

Looking for a last-minute Oktoberfest reservation?

Edited to add: Tickets are now sold out for this event. If you’re planning to attend Oktoberfest without reservations, I recommend parking yourself at an unreserved table by three or four in the afternoon at the latest if you want to spend the evening drinking (that’s on weekdays; on weekends, fuggedaboutit). Also, check out my tips for first-time Oktoberfest visitors.

I hear that there are still a few tickets available for the Democrats Abroad tables at Oktoberfest this year. Whether you’re local or coming in from out of town, this is sure to be a great opportunity to party at Oktoberfest with a fun group of people. We went to DA’s Oktoberfest tables last year, and it was a blast.

If you plan to try to spend time in the tents on a weekend, I highly recommend securing a reservation of some sort. I’m guessing there aren’t too many other opportunities still floating around out there at this late date.

When? Sunday, October 3rd, 2010

Where? Schottelhamel Tent, Oktoberfest, Munich (I haven’t been to this tent yet, so can’t comment on it.)

How do I sign up? You can purchase tickets online. [Link removed since tickets are sold out.]

More info from Democrats Abroad:

Read moreLooking for a last-minute Oktoberfest reservation?

The New York food post 2010

Our last trip to New York City was a whirlwind of friends, family, and food, topped off with a little bit of art and some volcano drama. Here were some of the culinary highlights from this time around (if you don’t feel like reading the whole post, scroll to the bottom for the best restaurant of the trip).

We arrived in New York exhausted and much later than scheduled, but dammit we weren’t going to miss a single NYC meal opportunity.

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I think I'll call this one Dr. Teeth

Being boring

I think I'll call this one Dr. TeethThis blog seems to be on summer vacation along with the rest of Europe. I still have some old trips to tell you about, and I have a pile of Ask the Expat questions to get to (most about Oktoberfest), but as far as stuff going on right now I got nothin’. I’ve slept in my own bed for two whole months straight – can you imagine? I prefer to do my traveling in the shoulder seasons or off season, when prices are lower, crowds are smaller, and the sun isn’t so brutal.

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Merano: best lunch ever

So where were we? Oh yes: Merano, Italy. On our second day there, we asked at the hotel for a lunch suggestion. Lucky for us, the recommended place was closed, and we ended up improvising. We found Castel Fragsburg at the top of a windy road outside of Merano. The posted menu looked interesting, if a bit expensive, so we decided to give it a try. We were led through a large dining room out onto a terrace with a sweeping view of the valley below. Worth the price alone.

Before we can even order the chef starts sending us little ‘greetings from the kitchen’

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Because tap water is making you fat

Found this while sorting through my photos from our recent trip to the US. Sometimes Germany feels like an absurd pit of consumer product marketing (Obama Fingers, anyone?), but the US always manages to take it a billion steps further. It also reminds me how much I love being served tap water in US restaurants … Read more