How many of your memories are food-related? As a foodie, I can recall flavors and fragrances in a moment – and often line them up with specific occasions of the past. Yet “Delikatessen” – the German word is actually spelled with a ‘k’ but pronounced the same as you are used to – defines not a store, but the food itself. Sophisticated food. When you see the German sign “Feinkost” (pronounce: fine-cosst) above a storefront, that is what delicatessen means in German: fine food. The store itself would be a Feinkost- or Delikatessen-Geschäft. The latter is pronounced like ga-‘shefft – store or business.
Originally, the term comes from France, as you may have guessed. And the term delicatesse described both, something delicate in a matter of mind as well as something delicious. As to the latter, times and tastes change. What was yesterday’s food for poor people is today’s “Delikatesse” – think lobster, mushrooms, in Germany definitely herring.
It seems that the concept of stores carrying fine foods developed in Germany during the 18th century and was brought to the U.S. by Ashkenazi Jews in the late 1800s. I remember a visit to Zabar’s in New York City in 1990 – I wish I could have spent more time there back in the day. But that’s the trouble wherever I go where I don’t have a kitchen – visiting a delicatessen and not being able to create something from them is total torture to me.
What do Delikatessen mean to me, anyhow? My childhood food was created on a strict budget. Mind, my mother was a splendid home-cook and baker. Little did I know that she disliked the task – she made it look as if making something from scratch was not just the healthiest way (oh, she taught me so much there!) but also fun. We ate seasonably because it was the most affordable. One of the first Delikatessen I encountered was white asparagus. If you have never tasted it, you don’t know what you are missing out on. Germans crave it. Sometimes you get it here at special stores – but it is imported from South America; too much of an environmental footprint to be desirable for me anymore.
My parents encouraged my food explorations. I was permitted to cook my very first dish for the family with costly exotic fine foods. You had to go to a delicatessen to purchase soy sauce, bamboo shoots, and bean sprouts. I’ll never forget the very unique flavor of this very first wonton soup I created at age nine, home-made pasta included.
The Stuttgart market hall was paradise to me when it came to delicatessen. If ever you go to Stuttgart, don’t miss out on this incredible experience! Do I miss it over here?
Delicatessen as in stores/Delikatessen as in food are around us in countless ways. Sometimes, my husband, knowing my weakness and passion, stops at a store we haven’t visited yet. He even listens around among his colleagues for what wonderful places they have explored. That’s why our dining table is a crazy mix of ethnic food creations. The every-day dishes of one nation are the Delikatessen of another. Does a store have to carry the sign “delicatessen” even? Not for me. I bow in gratefulness to the endless variety to which we have access. And as I’m tasting the Delikatessen, I’m making new memories.
