Guess where I had lunch today. I took this picture from my table:



Here's a hint:



There's only one place I know of in Munich to get that particular selection of condiments on your table. I believe it might be the only place in the city that actually serves Sweet-N-Low and French's mustard, period.

That'd be the Hard Rock Cafe, of course! I was in the mood for a hamburger, and when the mood strikes, that's where I go. Today I met Renee there and we had lunch in the sunshine as gaggles of tourists drifted by.

Thanks to Renee, who knows a lot because she's a librarian, this entry isn't just about my lunch. Do you know what today, April 23, is? If you said World Book Day, you'd be right. But here in Germany today is something more.



That's right, today is the day of German beer! On April 23, 1516, the Reinheitsgebot (beer purity edict) was proclaimed by Duke Wilhelm IV. This law states that German beer can be brewed using only four ingredients: malt, hops, yeast, and water. To this day, beers brewed in Germany for sale in Germany can be made with only those same ingredients. (No rice, no tannin, no foam stabilizers, like you find in beers like Budweiser and Miller.)

A few other facts, which I lifted from the German Embassy in Washington, DC:

• On average, each German drinks 138 liters of beer each year. Only the Czechs and Irish surpass them. Bavarians consume 50% more beer than the German national average, making them the nation's kings of beer consumption.
  
  
• Some 1,200 German breweries employ about 65,000 workers, and German beer accounts for more than 10% of the worldwide market. Production exceeds 115 million hectoliters per year.
  
  
• Germany brews dozens of types of light and dark beers, from the smoky Rauchbier of Bamberg, to the yeasty, opaque Hefeweizenbier of Bavaria, to Kölsch, the pale ale of Cologne, to the woodruff or raspberry syrup-sweetened Berliner Weisse of the German capital, just to name a few. Nearly all are available in the United States.
  
  
• Beer is healthy! One liter contains 45% of the daily recommended allowance of magnesium, 20% of potassium, and significant quantities of vitamin B and niacin. Its high carbohydrate content makes it easily digestible and a quick energy source. Beer has 45 calories per 100 ml - less than whole milk or grape juice. Researchers at the University of Oregon have found that hops, a key beer ingredient, help reduce the build-up of carcinogens in the body. Beer also contributes to hair health, giving it shine and volume.

You know that Earth Day slogan, "Every day is Earth Day"? I believe in Munich we could say, "Every day is Beer Day!" But they were celebrating downtown today -- at the Weisses Bräuhaus im Tal, Schneider Weiss was demonstrating the making of Weissbier in a big vat on the sidewalk. And as my friend and I had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, we saw hundreds of people going into the Hofbräuhaus right across the sidewalk. We could even hear the band when the door swung open. (In the first picture in this entry, the Hofbräuhaus is the white building on the right with the stone arch and the maypole on the corner.)

Prost!


Picture was taken on the first Sunday of Oktoberfest 2003.
But I'm wearing the same sweater today!