What to eat in Baden: Flammkuchen, Schwarzwälder Schinken (Black Forest Hams), and Feldsalat

Of all the historic regions of Germany, the district traditionally known as Kaiserstuhl, a beautiful wine-growing valley tucked away between the east bank of the River Rhine and the western fringe of the Black Forest, is considered by many food critics as the culinary capital of Germany.

In this part of Germany, food and wine are taken very seriously, and people in general pay far more attention to the quality and taste of their food, as well as how and where foodstuff are produced and farmed. Organic farming is not a new concept in this part of Germany at all; when I was a student at the University of Freiburg throughout the 1990s, the local population was already very much into 'Bio-produkte' - namely foodstuffs produced by organic farming methods. Anything that has been certified by relevant authorities to be a genuine produce of an organic farm in Germany can fetch a far better price than products produced on a conventional basis. 

When it comes to local specialities, the first thing that comes to mind is the well-known Black Forest Ham (Schwarzwälder Schinken), which is a smoked ham produced in the Black Forest region of southern Germany. The ham was first salted and seasoned with various spices, then left to cure for several weeks before being cold smoked in room temperature with the smoke created by burning a mixture of fir and sawdust, a process which lends the ham its beautiful deep red colour and its smoky flavour.  

What to eat in Baden: Authentic Black Forest Cherry Cake - Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte @ Cafe Schmidt, Freiburg

Amongst the most well-known of German culinary products all around the globe is the Black Forest cherry cake, the heavenly desert made of layers of fresh cream, chocolate cakes and plenty of sour cherries soaked in traditional Black Forest Kirschwasser, a clear colourless doubled-distilled cherry brandy produced in the Black Forest region in southern Baden, Germany.

The secret of a truly remarkable and delicious Black Forest cherry cake lies in the clever use of authentic Kirschwasser. Too little of it would not bring out the delicate taste of fresh cream and dark chocolate; while too much of it would drown out the fruity flavour of the sour cherries and overshadow the light texture of fresh cream and chocolates.   

What to eat in Baden: Hausbrauerei Feierling, Freiburg

Germany is famous for its beer, but not all beers are brewed the same. And each town or even village in Germany has its own beer(s), with an individual flavour and one-of-a-kind taste unique to the place. The beer produced in one particular village in northern Germany will taste completely different to the beer brewed in a mountain village somewhere in the Alps. 

For beer lovers, any trip to Freiburg, the university town in southern Baden, is incomplete with a visit to the private brewery known affectionately by locals as Feierling. This place serves arguably one of the best home brewed beers in southern Germany, and is a popular meeting place for residents of the university town as well as incoming visitors. Me and my classmates used to hold our weekly Stammtisch gathering at this place, and whenever friends came to visit, Feierling is always an integral part of the city tour programme around Freiburg and the environs. 

The main attraction of Feierling is the in-house brewery with two giant brass beer vats in the centre of the building, which also houses a restaurant. During my student days in Freiburg, this place is the regular meeting point of fellow students after seminars, and its outdoor beer garden, under the chestnut trees with gravel ground, provides the ideal set-up for some mind-provoking post-seminar intellectual discussions - an experience which makes life in a German university town so special compared to other university towns in other European countries.  

Baden-Baden: the Playground of the Rich and the Famous on the Fringe of the Black Forest

There is a local saying in southern Taiwan that translates roughly as 'People who live next door to a temple look down upon that particular temple; they prefer to go and make their offerings at some other temples which are far-away from their own town. Whereas people living in other towns come all the way to make their offerings at that very temple where no locals want to go'. To put it in plain words, it means people are inherently cheeky: they look down upon places of interest near their own doorsteps, but are willing to spend lots of money and energy to travel thousands of miles to visit a place far away from home.    

While some would say such actions are essentially what travelling is all about, I must admit there is indeed some elements of truth in the old saying. For instance I had been living for decades in a town on the fringe of Germany's Black Forest, itself one of the most popular and coverted tourist spots in Central Europe, but it was not until recently that I finally visited Baden-Baden, a kind of Monacosque exclusive spa town (without the sea but with the scenic Black Forest in its background) popular with rich Russians and German millionaires. Although I had passed by Baden-Baden hundreds of times when travelling by train from southern Germany to the northwestern part of the country, it just did not strike me that I should get off the train and have a look what this town was all about.