I dunno, everyday German food in the South is not that bad. Not bad "because German food" for sure. German food is not that boring or dull. It really depends on the restaurant/cook, though, and yeah, the quality of those is pretty much hit and miss. Still, with some research you can find good ones.
Cafeteria food, esp. at universities, forget it. I could never stomach it and rather cooked for myself (lunchbox or just go hungry and eat at night) when I couldn't afford to eat at proper places.
Yes, cafeteria food can be increadibly bad to the point where I wonder whether the cooks are especially trained to achieve this. With the same costs as in ingredients, one should be able to make much better food. Also, they often overuse cheap oil, so that can be difficult to stomach.
If you get well cooked German food, a lot is outright excellent, with the style strongly varying across Germany. Northern and southern German cuisine is very different. I personally prefer the southern style. Also, there is quite a bit variation between south-east (Bavarian) and south-west German cooking. In a sense there is a food continuum between France and Austria, with different parts of southern Germany on different points of that continuum.
Likewise, if you go to eastern France, like the Alsace, the French food blends with German cuisine.
> Everyday German food is absolutely horrendous. […] It is the worst of the seven countries I've lived in, by far.
Lucky you, sounds like you haven’t lived in countries with bad food.
First, everyday food in Germany is also Italian, Turkish, Croatian, Lebanese, etc. - delicious cuisines. Second, there is plenty of good traditional German food (Käsespätzle, Leberkäse, Currywurst, Rouladen, Bratkartoffeln, Erbsensuppe, Schnitzel, not to mention the huge variety of bread, cold cuts, and cheese). It’s not haute cuisine, but tasty. Third, even the run-of-the-mill everyday German (Schnitzel, Pommes, Salat) is not as bad as you make it out to be. Lastly, any larger city will have somewhat decent instantiations of other cuisines available, too.
The problem is often cultural food (ie non German) quickly changes to the German palate. There was an incredible Indian restaurant opening here recently. We visited a few months later and it was half as good. Asked the owner: “yeah well, Germans like it not hot, salty, and fatty”. Same with Italian: it’s quantity over quality.
And the supermarkets are woeful. It’s hard even to get an “exotic” herb like cilantro often.
After living years in Germany I’d say, the Germans don’t love food for foods sake, unlike say the French, where it’s a passion.
My girlfriend's family lives in Baden-Württemberg, and I can't really recognize your impressions of woeful supermarkets nor of Germans not appreciating good food.
Go to any Edeka, and you'll be spoiled for choice, including fresh herbs. And while German traditional food may not be as high concept or artistic as other cuisines, there is a definite pride in using good quality ingredients and making deeply satisfying meals. It's a more down-to-earth way of appreciating good food.
A simple platter of good sausage, local cheese, fresh butter and crusty bread is nothing fancy to look at, but it is deeply satisfying.
Regarding the restaurants from other cultures adapting to local tastes, that happens everywhere, and is a real shame for those of us with adventurous taste buds.
Food lovers in Germany don't buy at supermarkets, they go to proper bakeries, butchers, shops for vegetables (many of which are owned by Germans of Turkish descendant) and fish, or specialty shops (Asian, Oriental, bio, etc.), or to the "market" - a place where regional and quality food sellers come once or twice a week with trailers. Discounters are only visited for buying really cheap stuff (Aldi, Lidl, Netto), or for time-saving one-stop shopping (Rewe and others) or close-by shopping (Edeka). It's true, though, that German food doesn't quite live up to French and Italian food traditions - because nothing does.
Sorry but just compare to an Auchan in France, or a normal Waitrose in the UK. Edeka is the closest but e.g. my Rewe doesn’t do Cilantro but Edeka does. Rewe does fresh chilled soup, Edeka doesn’t.
And market food is ridiculously over priced. A zucchini flower costs 2 EUR. anything rare or slightly pimp costs a fortune in Germany. And normally isn’t fresh.
And yes, sausages and cheese are great and the best in Germany. But not every night. And I don’t want to “from scratch” cook everything.
Oh and if I forgot some tomatoes and realized on a Sunday? Tough. Nothing is open.
A friend of mine worked in retail and said of Germany...they tried to introduce “exotic” potato types rather than just “for mash”, “for fries”. No one would pay 1 EUR more for a nuttier tasting potato. That’s the German market. Gut und Günstig.
I really wouldn't bash a country's food based on bottom tier experience. I have to agree though that it's easy to end up in a bad place and in Germany there's no limit to how disgusting it can get. Germans do seem to have a higher tolerance for this. Of course nothing beats the university cafeteria but I don't know anyone who likes that food, it's just that the typical student cannot afford to avoid it.
On the other hand there are not that many countries I can think of with high standard of living and minimum wage where food is consistently great even when comparatively cheap.
Food prices are very low in Germany. They are extremely low, if you cook yourself and even restaurants are not that expensive in international comparison.
But indeed, if you go to extremely cheap places, you can have really bad food too - but that is independant of the food style. They make bad Italian food too :).
They only achieve this level of taste every couple of weeks or so (and this presentation a couple of times a year) but that's a huge improvement on the British universities I am familiar with.
I've visited one university in France, and it was a normal presentation but excellent quality, and a fairly normal day according to the locals.
> I get slightly sick every single time I eat at my university's cafeteria.
A different idea regarding this: are you maybe eating a different cuisine normally? A change in cuisine can lead to digestive problems because your gut bacteria will be adapted to one but not the other and that needs time to change.
Another possibly related factor in univerity cafeterias: The kitchen personell are public employees, underpaid but unfireable. As our cafeterias head chef told me, this causes them to not caring one tiny shred about anything. The chef can't discipline or fire them, first because of the protections as public employees and second because he can't find replacements. Therefore, even simple stuff like properly cooking noodles, checking if the chicken is done or basic hygiene is a challenge...
With the obvious consequences. My suggestion for cafeteria food is: Avoid anything that could be harmful if prepared improperly, because it will be.
In Denmark the university cafeterias are outsourced to private companies, and subject to the same quality standards as any restaurant or other place that prepares food.
Cafeteria food, esp. at universities, forget it. I could never stomach it and rather cooked for myself (lunchbox or just go hungry and eat at night) when I couldn't afford to eat at proper places.