As I mentioned in my Breaking Your Fast in Austria post, I will be talking about food in Austria. Since breakfast has already been covered, let’s move on to lunch.
It’s still the big meal out of the day for most Austrians. Out in the country they seem to have the luxury to drive home, cook something up real fast, and hurry back to work. In Vienna, they are like most city folk, and scurry off to a restaurant.
What an Austrian might have for lunch is the beloved Wiener Schnitzel. No, I am not talking about the fast food chain. Wiener Schnitzel is veal pounded very thin, breaded, and fried. A wedge of lemon is served on the side to sprinkle over it. A potato salad is served in a bowl. Potato salad is not mixed with mayonnaise, it’s mixed with oil and vinegar. But if you are being a real Austrian, you won’t just use any oil, you’ll use pumpkin seed oil. It makes the potatoes look green. It’s actually really rather good, it’s just a surprising sight at first.
Wiener-Schnitzel
A variation of the Wiener Schnitzel is the Cordon Bleu. It is also veal pounded very thin, but with cheese and ham included. I don’t know how they do it, but it’s tasty. If you’re going to go this very bad route, go all the way and have some French fries on the side.
cordon-bleu
Lunch is a big topic and I’ll continue to address the more popular items on the Austrian menu.