Food that sounds unpleasant when translated from German to English, case two:
Translation
Magenbrot, directly translates to, “Stomach bread”. When I asked the bubbly carni-man at the Oktoberfest what it was, he explained that Magenbrot is very ‘healthy’. I found this amusing considering we were standing among dangling sweets and all the goodies found in Candyland. He went on to say that the herbs used in Magenbrot are good for the stomach, he even motioned with his hand over his belly the soothing effect it must have.
What is it?
English speakers would call it gingerbread. The herbs are a combination of cloves, cinnamon, star anise, and mace spice (the outside covering of a nutmeg seed). Magenbrot may be flavored with candied orange or lemon peel and hazelnut, sweeten with honey or sugar and cocoa powder gives it its dark color. Surprising there isn’t any extra fat added (except from milk). Think of Magenbrot as a deriviative to Lebkuchen. Similar to or may also go by: Honigkuchen, Pfefferkuchen, Gewürzkuchen, or Kräuterbrot.*
My thoughts
Could it be sweetbread? No. Does it have a casing? No. Leave it to German speakers to be so literal. Why not call it Bauchbrot (belly bread), then I could have avoided the internal organ imagery. Magenbrot is actually edible, who knew? I would eat more if it had sentimental value. It’s softer than I imagined, thick gingerbread bites with a sweet glaze. I can attest that it is perfect for settling your stomach after a few mugs of Glühwein. After a few pieces you can go back to drinking and not feeling your cold feet. Although Magenbrot after the second piece, is far too sweet for me, still, as they say, ’tis the season.
Where to get Magenbrot
Some Supermarkets stock up with Lebkuchen products in October. I’ve seen bags of Magenbrot at the Oktoberfest and you’ll hit the money pot at Advent/Christmas time. The Christmas markets are just lines of kitsch stands without Magenbrot and Lebkuchen. They sell in bags of 200g and 500 g, the 200 g bag sells for 2 Euro at Christkindmarkt in Munich. There are recipes galore (in German) on the internet. They probably taste better too!
What do you think of Magenbrot?
*Even better, Magenbrot is also a punk rock band from Hamburg
related posts: case one: LeberKäseSemmel
Never had it although I love Lebkuchen. So I’d probably like it.
So did you manage to finish the whole bag?
got a few pieces left…need to make me a hot drink
Could it be a southern thing? I know the term, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it up here.
P.S. If I try to view your site in IE, the page comes up and then I get an error notice saying the page can’t be opened (even though it’s open) and I have to close everything. I’m using Firefox now and it’s fine. Go figure.
yes, I believe it is, I think it’s origins are Swiss.
More than one person has complained about IE showing a gross error at load up. I deeply loathe IE and I use open-source software (i.e. Firefox) 99.999% of the time. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to develop a skin for IE. I suppose it saves people from surfing at work. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Using IE now and it’s working! Weird.