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I'm originally from one of those former GDR states (they became states after reunification, during the GDR they were smaller districts - "Bezirke" [0]). The countryside is slowly dying, even though it still looks pretty nice in the tiny villages (albeit a bit dead). In the towns it can be a bit depressing. I grew up in a town with >35,000 inhabitants just 5 miles from another town of the same size, and lots of villages all around (you can never really get lost in a German forest, just continue walking and you'll get to the next village or town soon). Those same towns now have ~25,000 inhabitants - and the distribution has shifted towards a lot more old people. In Thuringia, for example (the geographic center of Germany, home of Goethe and of Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert :-) ), the state capital Erfurt (206,000) is doing well, and Jena (108,000) with its Carl Zeiss optics manufacturing [1] and a good university is too. The rest - not so much. Even though cities like Weimar (65,000) look pretty nice and still attract tourism and the population is stable (not shrinking already is a success) they are not exactly the "place to be". So the larger cities are doing well - same as everywhere in the world: People are moving to the urban centers. Better services, better/more jobs, better everything (well, except for space and cost of living). By the way, since we are talking about very good food: This is a sad topic. Germans prefer "cheap" most of all. I have an Italian friend who represents Italian food companies in Germany. He told me they (Italians) sell the good stuff to countries like Spain or France, and the lower quality products to Germany. The reason is not that they dislike Germans, it's the German buyers themselves: In all negotiations the most important topic by far is price, quality doesn't come close. When I visit family in Thuringia it's even worse. I can find okayish food, sure, but it's not easy. Even the Asian fast food in my big West German city is a hundred times better than similar food in a Thuringian town (and they are pretty bad, since they have to offer full meals for 4-8 Euros, no comparison at all to the Asian food I'm used to from when I lived in the Bay Area). I also have a friend who owns a pretty nice middlish restaurant in Thuringia. He has become pretty depressed over the years, and his place is really nice and had good food too (and I say that as a picky eater). His place is not as good as it used to be, he doesn't care all that much any more because it's just not worth it. He's just too old and too well-connected locally to go somewhere else and do something completely new. [0] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezirk_%28DDR%29 [1] https://www.zeiss.com/carl-zeiss-jena/home.html |
Speaking of East German food, how have you found Walzwerk's [in SF] fare to be, IIRC, they are/were East German.