Photo: Chiara Cigliutti
Text: Leonie Kantratowicz

After spending three weeks at vocational school, all I wanted was to lounge around and do nothing. Instead, snow’s crunching under my feet, the Saar is flowing next to me and somewhere in the back of my head I can hear my mum: “bad weather doesn’t exist, the wrong clothing does”. This a person who laughs the loudest when Chevy Chase’s daughter’s eyes freeze over in the search for the perfect Christmas tree in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”.

Trust me, I’m great at moaning. To be fair, we’re actually pretty lucky – our good pals Sascha and Torsten told us in the middle of the week that we had secured the last two tickets to the Food.Blog.Meet. It was specially scheduled over the weekend – we didn’t have to be asked twice. Spontaneousness is one of our best qualities: what feels like minutes (*two days) after receiving the news, we’re sitting in a BlaBlaCar with a beauty sleep in Saarbrücken behind us. Then we’re suddenly standing almost uber-punctually under the three gigantic elk heads in the reception hall of Castle Saareck.

The castle was built here in Mettlach between 1902 and 1903. It survived the Second World War and was used as an administrative building by the occupying forces. Ever since 1954, Villeroy & Boch, co-sponsors of the event, have hosted guests here. Situated in an expansive parkland estate on the banks of the river Saar, the castle’s interior is of a homey, rustic-romantic quality with a distinct country-home charm (elks everywhere). Then there’s a palm tree tapestry that was here way before palm fronds were even cool.

The first corks pop right on time at 12 o’clock. After wonderfully warm introductions between the hosts, Sascha and Torsten, as well as Theres and Benni from Gerne Kochen and Simone from Villeroy & Boch, we kick off the first Food.Blog.Meet of the year (slightly tipsily).

If it were up to me I’d have half a potato patch behind my house, but that’s probably against Eimsbüttle etiquette. I’m a self-confessed spud lover. I hover in blissful potato heaven during lunch while a plate full of golden, steaming potato pancakes is placed under my nose.

This time there’s workshop galore at the Food.Blog.Meet. In the baking imperium in the basement, the Kenwood Kitchen machines are running hot. We peel carrots, grate ginger, disappear in a cloud of flour and somewhere someone is always holding their camera over a mixing bowl. This flurrying frenzy of energy is just how baking should be done.

We start to get excited about what David Schrand from eatventure is up to with his meat from local and sustainable holdings which prioritise animal welfare. A passion for good meat, exotic tastes and an interest in where his food comes from has concerned him ever since he was youngster. His love of umami eventually evolved into his quality meat-supplying business, aptly named eatventure. Together with his partner Greta Wagener, he shows us three of his countless products and gives us helpful tips about cooking them at home.

Living my life happily without meat, I passively look on as I try and navigate my imaginary canoe through Chiara’s river of drool.

After the first meal we wait for the next one, but why take a break? As soon as I discover the glasses full of sour gummy animals in the room with the hipster palm fronds, my bikini-body flies out the window.

Table manners aren’t everybody’s thing. After 22 years of experience, I still manage to dribble food on me when I eat. Call me backward, but people weren’t much different a few hundred years ago. Supposedly if I had a fork back then, I would have been able to sit with the cool kids and I could’ve wiped my mouth with the table cloth. That, and a few other European table-culture fun facts are explained to us by Beatrice Schaar (Villeroy & Boch), while she prances joyfully between the tables as a damsel in traditional garb. I enthusiastically wonder how successful a kidnapping attempt would be.

I’d never say no to a gin and tonic. Let’s just call it my code of conduct. By the evening, Chiara and I are in a comatose state, sitting back in the soft winged armchairs by the fire. We’re only just able to lift water glasses to our mouths. Luckily we escape the headache the next morning, making the marzipan tasting from Lauenstein and Anja Gründer from ufop’s wonderful rapeseed oil much more enjoyable.

The visit to the Villeroy & Boch Adventure Centre on the opposite bank of the Saar is an absolute highlight of the trip. I’ve been eyeing my own four walls rather reproachfully ever since. Where’s that snazzy chandelier on my ceiling? Mosaic tiles under my feet? Pug vases?

It’s only been two days, but so much has happened – I could talk about the trip forever. Instead I’ll try and be a little like monk Benedict of Nunzia in 600 BC with his very own table manners: sit down, shut up, and consume with moderation!