You may have missed that but in April there was a "German Week" at Aldi's. What they presented as "authentic German" food included some clichés, though, such as "Jaffa Soft Cakes" which are British and/or Irish. Also Herring Fillets in Pineapple Sauce would not be "typically German". Aldi's top recipe "soft pretzel stick, mustard, sauerkraut and bratwurst is actually Bavarian ending at the "white sausage equator" and not "typically German. "German" also seems to be cheese from Norway ( "...is not far from Germany anyway, at least somewhere in Europe") So don't be mistaken. Over here Aldi's are going to have the "American Week" with... of course...Trader Joe's products. They look typically American to me.
Foods are interesting and wonderful. My father's family is Pennsylvania "Dutch"--actually German, and their diet wasn't much to my liking except for sauerkraut. I don't know what actually came from Germany, but they had scrapple (Pannhaas), head cheese, blood sausage, and pigs' feet. The communities used to have big hog dressing gatherings in November. We usually got ours from a local German or Austrian butcher. I never slaughtered a hog myself. I have heard folks from Europe say they had never tasted cheesecake prior to coming to the U.S., but I thought it was supposed to be copied from a French pastry. I watched a show on TV that was about some village in Alsace, whose specialties were pretzels and a pizza-like dish that changed names from French to German whenever the village changed hands. I don't recall the German name, but it best known as Tarte Flambee. We have national focus weeks here, too, but I haven't seen one lately. The last one I remember was an Italian Week.
My parents were Swedish, but head cheese, blood sausage, and pigs feet were favorites of my father. I could eat the pigs feet if I didn't look at it or think about it, but hated the head cheese and blood sausage.
Yes, food is quite interesting stuff but it can also divide people these days because everyone has got their preferences, their personal dieting plans, convictions, aversions, allergies etc. that need to be catered to unless you want to risk that they don't eat anything that's on the table. Scrapple, head cheese, blood sausage, and pigs' feet are definitely not very popular among younger and middle-aged people living here. There's not only a growing veggie and vegan community but lots of other diets are en vogue among young urban folks. Thus, a barbeque, which once was quite a straightforward thing, is not that easy to organise these days. I've heard of big hog dressing gatherings from my parents but, if at all, you'd find them in some remote rural regions only nowadays. Well, Europe is not Germany and vice versa. In Germany, cheesecake is something you will find in any Baker's, grocery, café. I personallly love it. I'm a little surprised that folks should never have had that prior to coming to the US. Most likely they were not from Germany and outside of it things can be different soon. Tarte flambée is commonly known and served throughout Germany.
In the Bay Area we now only have two big supermarkets. Safeway and Lucky. Andronicos (my favorite) got ate by Safeway, which is a real ripoff store. Its stock is like 90% overpriced, with 10% bargains to draw you in, and half the time the bargains are sold out. Fortunately three other options have opened. 'Dollar Store' now sells food. 'Grocery Outlet' sells overstocked items from other stores at discount. 'Smart & Final' buys stuff in bulk and sells cheap to places like restaurants (but have started selling to regular folk). Albertson's used to be Lucky, now it's Lucky again. They cannot decide on the name!
@Neville Telen AFAIK, Albertson's is owned by Safeway, maybe not in entirety. Our Safeway ads each week have Albertson's logo on them. Frank
Here there was Lucky and Safeway when I first moved here. Years later Lucky was bought out by Albertsons. It stayed that way til maybe five years ago, then the name switched back to Lucky, which is how it is now. Wikipedia says: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Stores Still no idea what happened, nor where Safeway fits into the picture. Sounds like corporate musical chairs.
@Neville Telen Safeway and Kroger, the two giants, have worn out the take-over picture, with Kroger several years ago having announced (for the "n-th" time) merger talks were going on. Hasn't happened. The only commercially-developed "strip" we have here runs from Needles, CA, northwards to the Laughlin/Bullhead City bridge, about 25 miles. Beats me why both Kroger and Safeway built giant stores on the same intersection, across the street from one-another. Frank
Here in Millinocket, we have a Dollar Tree and a Dollar Store across the street from one another, and the same person owns the franchise for both.
Sorry Frank... Cyberus owns All of Safeway and Albertsons..Tom Thumb...the list goes on. It is an investment company only. So the stores fly under their own banner but everything is considered property of Albertsons since the merger.
@Gloria Mitchell What can one believe? "Who is the owner of Safeway?" Safeway is owned by Kholberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (http://qa.answers.com/Q/Who_is_the_owner_of_Safeway KKR & Co. Inc. (formerly known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and KKR & Co. L.P.) is a global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strategic partners, hedge funds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohlberg_Kravis_Roberts#2010_to_present_day
Who knows? Perhaps it was sold between postings, or there is a regional division of assets. Perhaps @Harry Havens can provide an answer.