Currywurst is the Worst

Last Thursday I went to Christkindl Market with the WALES members. Me and Lee-Anne went last year and I did a blog post on it. It's a Christmas-based German celebration that takes place over four days.

I'm going to retread some territory now, because it concerns the completion of a year-long journey. Last time we went, me and Lee-Anne got schnitzel from a German food truck. The menu was hand-written and only posted at the front of the line, so we stuck with a safe choice. But when we were ordering, I noticed that one of the items was something called "currywurst" and touted to be Germany's most eaten street food. This gave us buyer's remorse, as we would have liked to try this thing we've never had, which was supposedly their specialty.

Later that year, this food truck was at the Canada Day celebration in Waterloo Park. It was the only one with decent meal options, all the others being just snacks. So it had a ridiculous line and me and Lee-Anne waited like an hour and a half. But we wanted that currywurst. When we got to the front they didn't have it. Totally not worth the wait.

They were at the Cherry Festival as well and it wasn't on their menu.

I looked up recipes for it online, thinking that I might make it if that were the only option. I wrote it on our whiteboard, on our list of recipes to try. It's basically cut up sausage on fries with sauce. I was a little skeptical, because one of the main ingredients is ketchup and I notoriously dislike it. But I know that it can sometimes be used as an ingredient without ruining the overall impression of a dish. 

Christmas was approaching and I thought I'd hold off to see if maybe this food truck specifically does it for Christkindl Market, as it's the only celebration where people might be enticed to leave their culinary comfort zones for something German. Maybe Oktoberfest too, but we never participate in that.

So this year, when I went during the day with WALES members, I snuck a peak at this food truck's menu. Indeed, they had currywurst.

My brother had been going to make dinner but was feeling sick, leaving me and Lee-Anne without plans. It seemed opportune, so we decided to go that evening.

We also took our time to wander about and look at things. A big part of the festivities were hosted inside Kitchener City Hall. As something separate from the market, this place always has a display for a local artist. It just so happened that this time it featured the person that we bought a painting of citrus fruits from. I believe I posted about that when I talked about the Central Art Walk.

I guess it's okay to share the artist's name since she's a public figure. It's Lee Anngold. When I tried to explain why I was excited to see her work to the WALES members, they said "Lee-Anne made that?!" confusing the artist with my wife, who they know. I wasn't able to clarify effectively.

On the evening trip, Lee-Anne bought a little gnome to put on our Christmas tree. This year, we have a two dimensional display as an attempt to avoid our cats from messing with it. It's working okay, but they still bat at the ornaments.

We bought some flavoured fudge. Last year we tried the eggnog version and something else that I forget. This time we bought lemon meringue and peanutbutter crunch. Pretty good!

There was someone selling small novelty plant pots. I kind of wanted to get one for propagating a succulent. I have a jade plant that I got during my first year at my current job. Someone was giving out cuttings, coincidentally on my birthday and seven years later mine is the only one still alive. I managed to propagate a cutting from it, which I keep at work. 

But we have another succulent now, one that we got from Lee-Anne's late grandmother's house. It's done well over here, to the point of getting a little overgrown for the one small window that the cats can't get to. Randomly, one day we found a piece of it on the floor, looking cleanly severed. Not having a proper plant pot, we filled a jam jar with soil and some small rocks at the bottom for drainage. This has worked out okay, but I would like to transplant it or maybe get a cutting from the main one to propagate at work.

 There was someone selling oldschool games and toys. I noticed that they had yoyos. Back when I was a child, randomly one year yoyos were trending. But they were automatic ones which I thought were stupid. Kids would buy them and watch them do tricks, as if this somehow reflected their skill. I really wanted just a normal one, and I'm pretty sure the ones this vendor had were just wood and string.

Anyway, I was too shy to buy a plant pot or a yoyo. Maybe I just need to keep going for a few years, until I develop enough familiarity to buy things, like at the Art Walks.

Anyway, we did eventually buy some currywurst. It was bitterly cold, and the person standing at the front seemed almost delirious from exposure to the elements. He seemed to be in an almost frantic state of adrenaline, being extremely jovial and personable despite losing track of orders, prices, and not being able to operate the card machine

Eventually we got our currywurst. It was pretty gross. I kept a brave face and didn't complain until finishing, though, as I knew this was dinner and something highly anticipated. The fries and sausage were fine. The sauce literally seemed to be ketchup with some curry powder sprinkled on.

I haven't had anything so ketchup-heavy since I reconciled my disdain for the condiment. Giving it a good try once more, I won't let those "ketchup is just barbeque sauce" arguers have any leverage anymore. Clearly, there is a vast and significant difference between the two, even in their closer variants.

But I'm still happy I tried it, as it sated the curiosity I'd developed last year when we failed to get "Germany's most popular street food". As it turns out, currywurst is the worst.