I have always associated barbecues with being the quintessential American thing, but Germany has proved me wrong. Last week, I was invited to a barbecue with the Didactics department a little down the hall from me. I was very excited to experience a barbecue in another country, and if I didn’t know I was in Germany, I would have thought it was just another American barbecue: lawn games, meat on a grill, watermelon. My coworkers were explaining to me what they thought the difference was between a German and American barbecue, saying that a German barbecue would have to include a grill, whereas their interpretation of an American barbecue is that it does not need to have a grill, but that everybody brings a different dish. I explained that if a barbecue in America didn’t have any grilling, then I also wouldn’t call it a barbecue, but instead a potluck. They had never heard this word before and were very excited to hear this new term (“Potluck?! Oh I have never heard of such a thing before!”) One thing that did seem different to me about this barbecue was that everybody brought their own meat, but I don’t know if this is a cultural difference or just a preference. Barbecues in America that I have been to have always had meat provided for by the host, but maybe since it was a department barbecue and there were different diets like vegetarians and vegans, it made sense for everybody to bring their own. Whatever the difference is, it’s always a good time no matter what country you’re in!
