Edit: removed. (My post was too negative and was just me venting.)
Cafeteria food, esp. at universities, forget it. I could never stomach it and rather cooked for myself (lunchbox or just go hungry and eat at night) when I couldn't afford to eat at proper places.
If you get well cooked German food, a lot is outright excellent, with the style strongly varying across Germany. Northern and southern German cuisine is very different. I personally prefer the southern style. Also, there is quite a bit variation between south-east (Bavarian) and south-west German cooking. In a sense there is a food continuum between France and Austria, with different parts of southern Germany on different points of that continuum.
Likewise, if you go to eastern France, like the Alsace, the French food blends with German cuisine.
Lucky you, sounds like you haven’t lived in countries with bad food.
First, everyday food in Germany is also Italian, Turkish, Croatian, Lebanese, etc. - delicious cuisines. Second, there is plenty of good traditional German food (Käsespätzle, Leberkäse, Currywurst, Rouladen, Bratkartoffeln, Erbsensuppe, Schnitzel, not to mention the huge variety of bread, cold cuts, and cheese). It’s not haute cuisine, but tasty. Third, even the run-of-the-mill everyday German (Schnitzel, Pommes, Salat) is not as bad as you make it out to be. Lastly, any larger city will have somewhat decent instantiations of other cuisines available, too.
And the supermarkets are woeful. It’s hard even to get an “exotic” herb like cilantro often.
After living years in Germany I’d say, the Germans don’t love food for foods sake, unlike say the French, where it’s a passion.
Go to any Edeka, and you'll be spoiled for choice, including fresh herbs. And while German traditional food may not be as high concept or artistic as other cuisines, there is a definite pride in using good quality ingredients and making deeply satisfying meals. It's a more down-to-earth way of appreciating good food.
A simple platter of good sausage, local cheese, fresh butter and crusty bread is nothing fancy to look at, but it is deeply satisfying.
Regarding the restaurants from other cultures adapting to local tastes, that happens everywhere, and is a real shame for those of us with adventurous taste buds.
And market food is ridiculously over priced. A zucchini flower costs 2 EUR. anything rare or slightly pimp costs a fortune in Germany. And normally isn’t fresh.
And yes, sausages and cheese are great and the best in Germany. But not every night. And I don’t want to “from scratch” cook everything.
Oh and if I forgot some tomatoes and realized on a Sunday? Tough. Nothing is open.
A friend of mine worked in retail and said of Germany...they tried to introduce “exotic” potato types rather than just “for mash”, “for fries”. No one would pay 1 EUR more for a nuttier tasting potato. That’s the German market. Gut und Günstig.
Sucks.
I really wouldn't bash a country's food based on bottom tier experience. I have to agree though that it's easy to end up in a bad place and in Germany there's no limit to how disgusting it can get. Germans do seem to have a higher tolerance for this. Of course nothing beats the university cafeteria but I don't know anyone who likes that food, it's just that the typical student cannot afford to avoid it.
On the other hand there are not that many countries I can think of with high standard of living and minimum wage where food is consistently great even when comparatively cheap.
But indeed, if you go to extremely cheap places, you can have really bad food too - but that is independant of the food style. They make bad Italian food too :).
Edit: I’d probably add Poland to the same camp. Basic food is still quite good.
They only achieve this level of taste every couple of weeks or so (and this presentation a couple of times a year) but that's a huge improvement on the British universities I am familiar with.
I've visited one university in France, and it was a normal presentation but excellent quality, and a fairly normal day according to the locals.
A different idea regarding this: are you maybe eating a different cuisine normally? A change in cuisine can lead to digestive problems because your gut bacteria will be adapted to one but not the other and that needs time to change.
With the obvious consequences. My suggestion for cafeteria food is: Avoid anything that could be harmful if prepared improperly, because it will be.
In Denmark the university cafeterias are outsourced to private companies, and subject to the same quality standards as any restaurant or other place that prepares food.
https://m.faz.net/aktuell/rhein-main/wursthersteller-wilke-h...