Passionate Heat in the Kitchen

Having spent about two months in Vienna, it is safe to say, that the Viennese….know food. This is not the place to go if you want to lose weight. I repeat: this is not the place to go if you want to lose weight! Oh sorry, you wanted to lose weight? You must be mistaken, this isn’t Berlin….this is Vienna.

Whether it’s breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert, Vienna does each possible variant of the mealtime with perfection and class. Every pastry, every main course, every soup, is executed with elegance and finesse. Understandably, some of my friends are now saying, “Big whoop, so they make food that goes down once! Who cares?” And naturally, I do understand that at the end of the day your body will blindly put protein from either stir fried beef or slow cooked steak to good use, however, that is no excuse for having lax culinary standards. Consequently, I have yet to relinquish my conviction that Vienna has indeed a magical culinary touch.

What really makes Viennese cooking outstanding though, is their knack to make every dish complex, nuanced, and jammed pack with subtle flavors, unexpectedly invigorating your taste buds. Let’s take the Schnitzel for example. Sure, it may seem like your classic piece of breaded chicken, pork, or veal, but what makes it unique is its Austro-flatness. With this unique meat preparation the Viennese give their meat an increased surface area, thus enabling the Schnitzel, to carry more spice. Every bite is chalk-full of flavor. There is no “concentrated” area, but rather, the entire Schnitzel piece acts like an extended concerto movement that gives pleasure throughout its entire duration.

It is thus with these subtle tricks, that the Viennese have truly won their spot in the comestible sun of food preparation. Furthermore, much like the rest of Viennese Society, the Schnitzel also follows a tradition of paradox. In Vienna, it is customary to eat the Schnitzel with lemon. A fruity addition to a savory fried substance? Unthinkable! And yet, it has been thought. And indeed, it has yielded one of the best local dishes found in Vienna. Truly the Schnitzel with its quirky personality, intellectual ironies, earthy vibes, and brazen taste is simply irresistible!

So to my friends who think that a nice trip abroad will distract them away from thinking about food, please, be sure to avoid Vienna at all cost. Food-crazed foodies, WARNING: Vienna will only increase you passion for the kitchen and exasperate your lust for the succulent.