To round off the term in Languages, the French and German classes learned a lot about the culture of the country through tasting some typical food items.

In German, it was the "Wurstbude" or German Sausage Day. Thanks to the authentic German butcher at Deep Creek Deli in North East Valley, the boys tasted the authentic flavours of various types of Bockwurst (boiled sausage) and Bratwurst (grilled sausage). Typically German sausages are named after the towns that they come from, just as our adopted word hamburger comes originally from the town of Hamburg! Everyone has likely heard of the frankfurter from Frankfurt but do you know the Nurnberger, Thuringer or the Wiener? The boys generally agreed that the sausages were mainly different in their spicing and smoky flavour. A bit of a change from the kiwi banger! Boys also tried out authentic German Senf (mustard), Gurken (gherkins) and everyone gave Sauerkraut (pickled cabbage) a go.  

Perhaps the most popular item  was the "Spaghettieis"! Spaghetti ice cream? Eh? Recently the fiftieth anniversary of the "Spaghettieis" was celebrated in Germany. This dish has become an ice cream parlour staple in German. It was first invented by Dario Fontanella, an Italian immigrant living in Mannheim, who had the bright idea of bringing his Italian ice cream making heritage to life by pushing vanilla ice cream through a traditional German "spaetzli" press, topping it with strawberry sauce and a flourish of grated white chocolate to represent the parmesan cheese atop a plate of spaghetti bolognese. Fifty years on this is still one of the most well loved desserts in Germany! This was all washed down with an Apfelschorle, a mix of apple juice and sparkling water. Super lecker!

In the French class, sweets were the order of the day with a range of pastries and viennoiseries provided by the Friday Shop at Highgate Bridge. Apart from the familiar croissants and pain au chocolat (chocolate bread), we also tried croissants aux amandes – a delicious almond encrusted croissant filled with a yummy almond crème patissière. Then we moved onto some classic French tarts, first sampling various seasonal fruit tarts such as lemon, apple and pear before the pièce de résistance, the caramel chocolate tart. Everyone seemed to have their own favourite but the general consensus was “délicieux”!

Moving into Term 3, I’d like to point out that there is a Term 4 extension option available in both French and German. This option is designed for students who feel they would like to delve deeper into the study of their language of choice. It is particularly recommended for boys who are considering doing Languages in Year 10. If your son would like to sign up for this option, please drop an email to anne.gorman@obhs.school.nz 

Click here to watch a short clip about how "Spaghettieis" is made.