OKTOBERFEST & GERMAN-STYLE COOKING

Video Description

Oktoberfest originated as a festival to celebrate the marriage of future King Ludwig I (reign: 1825–1848) to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen on October 12, 1810... The citizens of Münich, which is in the Bavarian region of Germany, were invited to attend the festivities and horse races held on the fields in front of the city gates to celebrate the royal wedding event... OKTOBERFEST in Germany started on Saturday, September 16, 2023, and continues through Tuesday, Oct 3, 2023... We were last in Münich, Germany years ago, and loved our travels with a diverse team of Germans, and people from Asia, South America, and other countries... Our group then flew to Porches, Portugal, in the Algarve, where people from Germany holiday... Our college president at The King's College, Friedhelm Radandt, grew up in war-torn Europe during WWII, listening with his family on the Volksempfänger (people's radio)... He published a book in 2016, titled, The Radio Signal, about his family's experience under the Nazi Third Reich. While test-driving and writing about new Porsche vehicles, I was invited to the Summer Solstice of the German Ski Club of New York by my former college roommate at The King's College, preacher kid Peter Alford, and other German friends from King's (where I was Freshman class I president). The German Ski Club of New York was founded in 1929 and owns a private bar, campsite, and land inside Harriman State Park. Many of these Germans served during WWII, in Germany, and returned to the United States after World War II. The German beer, food, dance & music, homemade liquor & spirits, and German wines at the private Summer Solstice of the German Ski Club of New York, inside the park, were amazing! Our late mom served in the Army Security Agency (ASA), in Frankfurt, Germany, post-WWII, and turned our family on to German cuisine... True "Frankfurters" are from the town of Frankfurt, Germany. Although I am addicted to good hotdogs, I prefer Bavaria, Germany. I returned to Schenectady, New York, in June 2014, after 27 years of working as a chef and travel writer around the globe... FAM trips as an independent travel writer for Germany-based Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) introduced me to more European cuisine, boutique hotels, European history, and United States luxury destinations — and refined my mind, palate, and passion for tourism. For five (5) years consecutive we produced one of the largest Oktoberfest in South Jersey — we partnered with the German-American Cultural Society of South Jersey (GACSSJ), and a Lancaster, Pennsylvania German dance troupe to provide German folk dancers and a multi-member live Oom-Pah band --- all benefiting the American Red Cross of Southern NJ. Some of the Oktoberfest foods that we love are German frankfurters, bratwurst, knockwurst & sauerkraut, German potato salad, Bavarian pretzels, Sauerbraten, Steckerlfisch (whole fish grilled and smoked outdoors on a vertical skewer in the beer garden, and at festivals), German-style homemade Späetzle, Rouladen, and Wienerschnitzel, etc... Every day DNIPRO Euro Foods on Route 9, in Latham, NY, sells imported (par-baked and frozen) breads from Germany --- that they finish baking on the premises --- and domestic & imported charcuterie, cured and smoked fish, groceries, and catered foods... On our WWII veteran dad's side, the Longs of Normandy, have ancestry from the Franks... These Norman-French-Creole and Germanic Lowlander Celtic Scottish tribes sacked England, Ireland, and Sicily, Italy, and intermarried with the Anglican Northern Irish. My late cousin, Richard G. McNeal (December 13, 1942 — January 13, 2019) was a Prince Hall Knights Templar Freemason under the Scottish Rite and Swedish Rite of Freemasonry (SVIGE), under the Grand Lodge of England and the King of Sweden... I am a Third-Degree Anglo-Catholic Knight and a true Norman-French-Creole (non-Masonic) Templar at heart. The HOUSE OF OLDENBURG is a German dynasty with links to Denmark since the 15th century. It has had branches that rule or have ruled in Denmark, Iceland, Greece, Norway, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Schleswig, Holstein, and Oldenburg... The current Queen of Denmark, King of Norway, and King Charles III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — head of the Anglican Communion (Church of England and its colony churches — including the Church of Scotland and the Episcopal Church in Scotland and America) are all patrilineal descendants of the Germanic House of the Glücksburg branch of Oldenburg... Nevertheless, during Oktoberfest, EVERYONE is "a little German" in "spirit", brew, and great food (lol)... BTW: We buy our GERMAN imported BUTTER at DNIPRO Euro Foods... *** FIND OUT MORE at https://tasteofschenectady.com/magazine/ #oktoberfest #porkrules #recipeideas