Bread and Salt
This product review is not for a consumer product per se, but is rather a product of German society and culture.
I had my first guest today! My colleague came over so we could roughly outline our plans for the next month of class. She arrived bearing gifts: a potted plant, a loaf of bread and a shaker of salt. She explained to me that you always give bread and salt as a housewarming gift so the people who live there never go hungry. What a great tradition! The items were also oddly appropriate for me. First of all, I had accidentally bought course sea salt, which adds an unpleasant crunch to everything from salads to eggs. Now I had regular salt! Second, she didn’t bring just any bread, although any German bread is by definition delicious; she brought pumpkin bread! My favorite. All of you who read my earlier post on pumpkin bread know that I am currently obsessed with it. Finally, I love plants, even if I accidentally kill them. All I had before was a vase full of wooden flowers.
To M.G.: Thanks for the gifts, and for introducing me to this tradition. My house feels warmer already. 🙂
To all my friends at home: Guess what you’re getting when you move.
