[S2E4] The Gospel of the Clean Plate

Ever wondered why Austrians playfully abduct brides or melt tin on New Year's Eve? Uncover the whimsical and often surprising customs that color Austria's cultural landscape. From the heartwarming tradition of "Schultüte" cones filled with goodies for first graders to the thrilling yet eerie Krampus and Perchten processions that roam the countryside during the holidays, our episode promises a delightful journey through Austria's quirky cultural tapestry, rich with humor and anecdotes.

As the leaves begin to fall in Vienna, our conversation shifts to the intricate dance of dining and drinking etiquette. Picture this: you're at a lavish Austrian dinner, and the host signals with a hearty "Mahlzeit" before anyone dares lift their fork. Learn the dos and don'ts of these social rituals, from the art of the toast with a firm "Prost!" to the historical narratives that shaped Austria's culinary customs. We draw fascinating parallels between past and present, from wartime food practices to contemporary consumption habits, all while sprinkling in personal stories of navigating these traditions with grace and, sometimes, a touch of awkwardness.

Now, clean your plate and tune in to discover the vibrant world of Austrian traditions. Dr. Schnitzel and Mr. Giggles are going to take you to places where history, humor, and a dash of mystery converge to offer a rich cultural experience.

Transcript

Mr. Giggles 0:39

Hey, welcome back to the Schnitzel Giggles podcast. We're sitting on episode two of season two. I'm sitting on a chair. Hey, Gute Oh man we're going to cut that out, I hope.

Dr. Schnitzel 0:52

Already messed up the first couple seconds of our new episode.

Mr. Giggles 0:56

Yeah, Well, as promised, the weather is cooler outside. Yeah, you can hear it. Yeah, it can. All you in vienna, I'm sure you're. You're wearing your your hoodies and scarves and ramping up the heater to 37 degrees inside, for some odd reason oh yeah, and the furry boots, furry boots, boots with the fur, was with the fur.

Dr. Schnitzel 1:16

Have you seen boots with the fur?

Austria Quiz Time

Mr. Giggles 1:18

yeah, the whole club was looking at her oh, that's a song reference.

Dr. Schnitzel 1:22

Yeah, well you, you just proved to us that you're such a hip and uh up-to-date.

Mr. Giggles 1:28

Yeah, I'm making, making song references from the early 2010s.

Dr. Schnitzel 1:33

Yeah, yeah, really, really hip and with it yeah, well, that's at least basically brand new in austria.

Mr. Giggles 1:38

Yeah, most of my song references are from the late 90s, so I guess I'm getting closer yeah yeah, it's right on board with austrian radio yeah, well good hit me one more time okay yeah, all right, you did it again. Oh boy, no, this is getting toxic. Well, this is exactly what we've planned. Welcome back, good to see you.

Dr. Schnitzel 1:58

Yeah, good to see you again I've got a a little bit of a quiz for you to test your austrian cultural knowledge to see if you truly are the expert on this show season two and mr giggles still doesn't believe that dr schnitzel is an expert on austrian stuff well, I've heard you've got some gaps in your pop culture references, so I heard that too so now we're gonna see if you have gaps in your cultural and historical references let's prove them right?

Mr. Giggles 2:26

yeah, it must be proof. Uh, consider the source, and so I've got an article here from a news source called the local punkte. Shout out to you guys not a sponsor, but we're using your stuff, so figure we should give you some credit.

Dr. Schnitzel 2:44

Yeah, a little bit of credit.

Mr. Giggles 2:45

But they have an article that's titled Six Unique Traditions that Austrians Love to Love. So I wanted to see if these were traditions that you were familiar with, perhaps that you have some fun anecdotes about. Oh, so I'm going to quiz you, quiz you. I'm gonna do a short little description and then you're gonna tell me what this tradition is called all right, are you ready? Yes, we've got six, hence the title. Oh, that's six traditions. Yeah, we might not go to all six I think, if I fail after the second one.

Mr. Giggles 3:17

Maybe we should stop. Yeah, we might. We might cut this short, okay. So it seems like it's wedding season these days. A lot of people are getting married is that could say that.

Dr. Schnitzel 3:27

Are you saying that? No, it's just a kind of precursor to it.

Mr. Giggles 3:30

Yeah, okay people getting married, lots of guys missing baseball games because there are weddings.

Dr. Schnitzel 3:34

It's it's made the playoffs a little bit difficult well, usually it's actually spring season, that's more wedding season, but I don't know, maybe it's, maybe it's cheaper. Yeah, it's probably cheaper.

Mr. Giggles 3:44

All these guys are being considerate of their budgets, but apparently there's a tradition of stealing the bride Right, where they sneakily take the bride away from the reception and take her away to a bar, apparently.

Dr. Schnitzel 3:59

Yeah.

Mr. Giggles 3:59

And then the groom has to go in search of her and then buy rounds or buy her back right seems like a problematic tradition. It is these days. Yeah, good thing I'm starting with this one. Uh, what's that called?

Dr. Schnitzel 4:12

I'm not sure if it's just brautsteelen or if it's something else it's something else, something else.

Mr. Giggles 4:17

Yeah, you got the first part right.

Dr. Schnitzel 4:19

Yeah, well, braut is bride, therefore that's what it's called.

Mr. Giggles 4:22

You got it right yeah, what I have here is Brautraub.

Tin Disappointments and Egg Experiments

Dr. Schnitzel 4:25

Okay, brautraub Raub is also kind of stealing To rob, to rob, that's what the word sounds like to me.

Mr. Giggles 4:31

That's what it sounds like. Yeah, okay, did you participate in this tradition when you got?

Dr. Schnitzel 4:36

married. No, and I I've never actually been to a wedding myself as a guest where that really happened, except for maybe once when I was a kid. I felt like that kind of happened, but it was just weird. The bridegroom was just going around and looking for the bride. But I think he found her in the end and I think it's more a countryside tradition more than a city tradition. But we might even go into that in a later episode and see more like traditions that are traditions that are part of the country, like deep down in the valley and the alps.

Mr. Giggles 5:05

Little teaser someday, all right, yeah, I have to ask, uh, my various friends who have been involved in a wedding recently if the bride was stolen yeah, that's all, that's all.

Dr. Schnitzel 5:17

This isn't a wedding episode so we won't go into those stories all right, well, good one for.

Mr. Giggles 5:22

So apparently there's a common New Year's tradition where you buy pigs with pieces of tin sold alongside them and little metal spoons, yes, and you melt these tins down and then drop them in some water. Well, probably what you mean is bleigeisen. I do mean that yeah Good.

Dr. Schnitzel 5:37

Yeah, yeah. That's kind of this idea of you melt it and whatever comes out is kind of a good fortune indicator have you ever participated in this? I did it once, yes, just for fun, just to see, and actually in the end I was like disappointed because it just the melatonin just looked ugly like you know, drops of liquid metal just having cooled down again yeah and it had no actual forms.

Dr. Schnitzel 5:56

I don't know, I didn't know what to do with it. It's like I thought it would be shaped like a car or something, like something I can, I think of, like identify, but no, so you didn't put too much stock in the uh no in the reading I just did it also, I think, when I was still a kid too, because I'd heard of it. I was like, okay, like let's try it just for just for the schnitzel giggles. Did you do this in secret?

Mr. Giggles 6:15

or do you feel ashamed about yourself doing this?

Dr. Schnitzel 6:18

no, I did actually ask my parents to do that with me and they and they were okay with it. Huh they're okay with just for me to see what it's like just exploring your cultural background my culture. Yeah, so I can one day sit here on a chair, good and on an episode preparing you for podcasting preparing for party, my parents prepared me for podcasting.

Mr. Giggles 6:34

All right, two for two. How about a common easter tradition where you take a hard-boiled egg and smash it against another one I have picked? Do you do this? Yes, a lot. I was having some some troubles really understanding, like do you actually ever hit the egg and it doesn't crack?

Dr. Schnitzel 6:50

well, you have two people competing against each other. Yeah, so each one. You grab an egg, an easter egg, and you just hit you know the tip of the eggs. You point them at each other and then one of them usually cracks. Don't both of them crack? Sometimes, yes, but not always really so you usually there's one egg that's a little stronger than the other and then you won that round.

Mr. Giggles 7:06

I feel like I might have to incorporate this into our next easter celebration. Yes, and it's again just for schnitzel giggles.

Dr. Schnitzel 7:13

Yeah kids love it and adults love it, and then sometimes you're like oh, I lost, and you actually turn around and you do the other tip.

Dr. Schnitzel 7:20

Oh, wow and so you have kind of a chance maybe to get a draw yeah, there's all kinds of variants, but there's even when you go to an easter market maybe they have it in vienna, but certainly in the small towns where it's a big celebration, they have people you can actually sign up to compete, like on the market square, and then you you sit against, maybe you maybe a stranger or your neighbor or whoever, and then you're just like, oh okay, let's do it. And then they have a big basket of eggs and you just grab one and it's all fun family friendly fun.

Mr. Giggles 7:46

It sounds like a blast and you get to eat the eggs in the end. I mean sure, yeah, it's a nice, fun pre-breakfast activity. I just I guess I have a less than adequate understanding of eggshells and how they both don't break in that situation.

Dr. Schnitzel 8:01

They are not as fragile as you might think.

Mr. Giggles 8:03

Certainly, they're very strong, they are Protecting life and all that. That's what the purpose is, yeah, but when two are smashed together, you feel like I just feel like they would both break. But obviously I'm wrong. You've never. You've never tried that. I'm man enough to admit it. I don't.

Dr. Schnitzel 8:17

We, this isn't a tradition, and here's a pro tip for the beginners use hard-boiled eggs only.

Mr. Giggles 8:23

Oh, hard-boiled eggs is probably a key, key detail for those of you at home, although that'd be a fun.

Dr. Schnitzel 8:30

We could start our own tradition that the schnitzel yeah, like maybe two-thirds of the eggs are hard-boiled, the other third or not oh and so you know, you go up there and you, yeah, I guess you could probably tell, or not?

Dr. Schnitzel 8:42

I guess, if they're cold there's a way actually to tell like cooked eggs from non-cooked eggs apart, just by holding them, because there's something about water, right? Yeah, do you know the trick you know the trick is you need to spin them, put them on the table and spin them. So if they spin really fast, it's solid inside. If they don't spin very fast, they're still Obviously there would be no spinning allowed before each round. Yeah, so you couldn't cheat.

Cow, School, and Demonic Traditions

Mr. Giggles 9:03

Yeah, that would be, that would kind of that would defeat the purpose, go against the spirit of the game. Right, yeah, that would be a fun little trick, a little prank to add in some. That has been a thing.

Dr. Schnitzel 9:15

I'm sure it has happened before.

Mr. Giggles 9:17

Mom was feeling kind of wanted to switch up, feeling like she needed to add some more laughs to the Easter breakfast, or dad. Or dad, you know, he's sneaking in a couple of unhard-boiled eggs, or a naughty younger sibling. There's so many options. Yeah, so it could be really anybody, really anybody in the family could decide to do this.

Dr. Schnitzel 9:36

It could be the sister. It could be the sister, it could be the brother. It could be the crazy uncle. It could be a cousin that stays overnight. It could have been a cousin that stayed overnight.

Mr. Giggles 9:44

That's right. That would have been a likely option. I'm curious if that's ever happened. Listeners, if you have participated in this lovely Austrian tradition and somebody in your family decided to be a prankster and ruin Easter or make Easter more fun, I bet mom would be really upset. Right, raw egg all over the breakfast table.

Dr. Schnitzel 10:02

Whoever needs to clean up the mess is going to be upset. Sure, sure Okay.

Mr. Giggles 10:06

Good, that's good.

Dr. Schnitzel 10:07

All right, discover this stuff.

Mr. Giggles 10:09

The next ones are so this one that happens up in the Alps, okay, involves cows. Okay, okay, that's, that's very general.

Dr. Schnitzel 10:24

Still, it involves cows with large bells and decorations. You know that's called. Is it the I'm up trip? It is, it is good yeah, even as a city kid, I kind of know you know of it, I'll know of it yeah, man, it'd be kind of fun to watch all the cows coming out of the alps down in the pasture that's at the end of like the summer

Dr. Schnitzel 10:36

when it gets colder, so they've been eating the nice, the good grass and plants up there, feeding for the winter and then they come down and that's kind of a big celebration when the cows kind of finally come back to the valley yeah and they have. They're all decorated. When I thought, I saw that on tv once yeah again when I was a kid.

Dr. Schnitzel 10:52

So many kids stories. Today the cows have. They have all flowers around like their. The horns are decorated and they have flowers around the necks and and so on and I first thought when I first saw it that some cows are getting married. Oh, because it looked like. I mean, it looked like a bride, yeah wow, that's kind of rude.

Mr. Giggles 11:11

Got a nice thing to say. I didn't say brides look like cows.

Dr. Schnitzel 11:14

I said the cow looked like a bride okay, tomato, potato, whatever oh my, but you never witnessed this in person.

Mr. Giggles 11:21

No, I feel like this. This could be a fun thing to do sometime for the schnitzel giggles absolutely, but it only happens like christmas. It only happens once a year so you gotta be there in october.

Dr. Schnitzel 11:29

We gotta and just this year I just I did hear about that the fact that the weather, like the temperatures, dropped so fast. That's right they actually wanted to stay longer, but now they say, like we have to like move it up by a week or so yeah, it's all the the snow levels, because they have. That also happens with with sheep and and cows and other, like any kind of gotta get them out of that.

Dr. Schnitzel 11:47

It's gotta get out of there and they can only take so much, because there's not enough shelter, not enough heated shelter, okay uh, another one that just recently happened uh these next ones are pretty easy.

Mr. Giggles 11:58

I think most people know about these.

Dr. Schnitzel 12:01

Maybe I don't.

Mr. Giggles 12:02

I would imagine you do I would imagine you participated in this tradition quite recently.

Dr. Schnitzel 12:08

Let's find out what you think of me.

Mr. Giggles 12:10

It has to do with the beginning of school.

Dr. Schnitzel 12:12

Okay.

Mr. Giggles 12:13

And giving a certain type of gift to your student as they start out school.

Dr. Schnitzel 12:19

The school tutor, tutor. Yeah, I also got one, but imagine I got it when I was a kid. Really, wow, huh.

Mr. Giggles 12:25

Think about this turns out, all these traditions are for children, for children I mean kind of, I guess yeah, I mean we as teachers here at the school received at the beginning of our of our time here that was like our first.

Dr. Schnitzel 12:38

That's sort of like a toning cheek situation. Yeah, of course, of course, but it's an introduction, yeah, nice.

Mr. Giggles 12:42

Like an early introduction to a tradition.

Dr. Schnitzel 12:44

Yeah, In Austria the tradition is every first grader gets a schultwitter which is like a big cone just made out of yeah, just cardboard, and the parents fill it with some gifts for the beginning of the school year. So it's like a christmas stocking. It's for school almost. Yeah, like christmas. Talking for school is a good comparison man. You either have any. Sometimes you have some some candy in there, but also some maybe some pens or pencils for the school year supplies or a toy, the least exciting part of the oh fine, I got an eraser pencil shop bag of haribo.

Mr. Giggles 13:15

Okay, good, all right, and then finally, a tradition that is quite frightening. And one that is, yeah, one that is right around my birthday traditionally Makes me always really nervous to go out during my birthday season, because I don't want to get scared and beat up by these big scary Some demons, demons, yeah.

Dr. Schnitzel 13:37

What does your description say about the campus tradition?

Mr. Giggles 13:45

What does it say about it mean? Does it have any short uh description? Uh, it says locals dressed up as the wicked beast crampus wild pagan spirits of germanic folklore, exhibit their costumes in a procession. The costumes are usually very frightening or at least very ugly. Uh, originally, crampus was the horrible goat-like creature that followed saint nicholas and punished bad children. Yeah, yeah. In recent years, however, the two processions and traditions have largely combined into one main event, the two uh being, oh, I guess, saying crampus or perchten, perchten, perchten perchten is another old word for that.

Dr. Schnitzel 14:15

Yeah, perchtenlauf yeah, I mean, I've seen videos of like smaller towns where they like really go all in on it and these dudes are chasing after people, or whatever right and again, it seems I have to say this as a kid as a kid first encounter that.

Mr. Giggles 14:30

Plus, it's something that really is also much more celebrated if you can call it celebrated in the countryside than in the big city of vienna yeah, I think I was scared away from it by you know people telling me that like, oh yeah, there's people walking around dressed up and they chase you. I don't think I've ever seen it in vienna yeah again, I never go out on your birthday.

Dr. Schnitzel 14:51

I may have been able to avoid it pretty, pretty successfully in the small towns, I mean, it's kind of the village events, like there's a certain evening, certain nights, and then the whole town comes together and then they have like a chase. You know, like in spain they have this bull chase, where the bull chase actually the people yeah so that's kind of similar, but usually the young men dress up as campos and they sometimes chase maybe some women they like or they would at least or scattered kids.

Mr. Giggles 15:17

That's also part of it just some good old-fashioned fun of chasing people and scaring the daylights out of them.

Dr. Schnitzel 15:22

And there's this kind of it almost turns into a wrestling competition where there's I don't know if there's a referee or not. You don't really need a referee, but there's this idea of people sitting at a table. They set up a table in the town square and then they unleash the campus, like there's 20 guys running at, like a group of people sitting at the table, just enjoying them yeah, they.

Dr. Schnitzel 15:41

I mean, they don't even get to have a meal. But no, it looks like a restaurant setup, though, or like a living room setup, and then they just need to fend off those campuses and they need to hold off, and the campuses try to drag you away from your seat and just drag you into the snow. Sounds like a blast, that's austria at its finest.

Mr. Giggles 15:58

Certainly something that may be fun to witness, maybe not participate in.

Austrian Dining Traditions and Cultural Norms

Dr. Schnitzel 16:02

No sounds dangerous depends if you're the campus or not, and that's the thing. Sometimes it's. It's sort of an initiation right or something like something like that for the young man, because if you are as a regular can drag down a campus. Who tried to drag you down?

Dr. Schnitzel 16:16

then you yourself can become a grandpa well, I don't know if you can become a campus, but you're the hero of the day, all right, and you get lots of attention. Yeah, okay, because you're strong enough to fight a big deal the monster, all right, we should do another episode on that as well, perhaps sure plus, I think there have been many, many, many podcasts, even like international podcasts, who've been looking into the campus idea because, yeah, it's one of those traditions that I think I was aware of prior to coming to austria.

Mr. Giggles 16:40

Something that pops up every once in a while is crazy. As a matter of fact it is.

Dr. Schnitzel 16:43

It is older. It's older than uh, it's like a pagan tradition that's kind of blended into the the saint nicholas tradition as well.

Mr. Giggles 16:51

It goes back, yeah, way, way back all right, well, that's all I got for you those are the six good wow, all right, well. Well, that's all I got for you. Those were the six Good Wow, all right. Well, see you later, is that it?

Dr. Schnitzel 17:01

Well, there's one tradition that you missed, I think. Okay, whenever you are invited to an Austrian home, you cannot really call it a tradition, though Especially not a tradition like what did it say that they love to love? They love to love Austrians love to love of. You might think people like it and love it because it's it's, it's very deep down in so many austrian hearts and behavior and mannerisms. So, when you are at someone's house, you're a guest and you're having dinner, for example, once you have your meal, you're finishing up your meal. There's a tradition in austria concerning the plates. Okay, and it doesn't really have a name. Really it doesn't have a name, although there is a name. I'm gonna tell you in a moment. There's a name for it, but the very fact I'm confusing myself here the very fact that you are sitting at the table finishing up your meal, your host might be expecting something from you oh, okay do you already know what I'm getting at, or still?

Dr. Schnitzel 17:57

I mean I could go a lot of different ways but, you're setting up in a very, very mysterious fashion here yes, so imagine you have I don't know, there's still three potatoes on your plate or something after you and you're like I think I've had enough. How do you think an austrian would interpret that?

Mr. Giggles 18:12

oh, are you?

Dr. Schnitzel 18:13

you saying like, if I leave some food, if you leave some food on the plate, hmm.

Mr. Giggles 18:17

As a guest. I mean this is a hard scenario to place myself in.

Dr. Schnitzel 18:22

I don't feel like you never get invited. That's the thing.

Mr. Giggles 18:26

Okay rude. No, no More, so that I would. Oh you always I'll probably finish. Finish what's on there, uh, unless, I guess, unless it was something I didn't like very much. Okay, then maybe I'd leave it on there, sure, yeah and then like oh, is everything okay, do you not like it?

Dr. Schnitzel 18:43

oh yeah, it's great, just kind of full so in in austria, the tradition that we all love to love is that it is really expected for you to clear your plate, so eat up, which, of course, is different if you're a guest. If you're especially a non-Austrian guest, your host, I hope, will have some tolerance towards maybe different customs. But people are taught to clean plates.

Mr. Giggles 19:07

Yeah, finish off everything that you've preserved.

Dr. Schnitzel 19:09

However, the exact opposite also exists. So that makes it really, really In Austria, in Austria.

Mr. Giggles 19:15

That makes it really hard.

Dr. Schnitzel 19:17

That's why I was wondering what your experience was concerning that.

Mr. Giggles 19:20

Yeah again, I don't often leave a plate uncleaned if.

Mr. Giggles 19:25

I'm over for a meal, although I have had situations in other countries where if you do clean your plate, it immediately gets filled back up. Yeah, because cleaning your plate is a sign that you still want more. So you just keep getting food, keep getting food. Yeah, so I would imagine, as an austrian going to one of these countries, you're in this endless cycle of of overeating because, like I must clean off my plate and then the other, your host, is like oh no, he's still hungry. Because that's a sign that you know when you finish that you're still hungry. And if you're not hungry anymore, then you leave just a little bit to indicate that you're no longer wanting anymore as a matter of fact, as an austrian, I have literally been in that dilemma.

Mr. Giggles 20:08

I was like I'm finishing my finishing up. It's like oh, no, like.

Dr. Schnitzel 20:13

And then yeah, you have some more. And then I'm eating more. It's like no, I have some more, it's like you just have an endless.

Mr. Giggles 20:17

I was done. I was done three plates ago, yeah, but you feel so compelled that you have to finish it. Yeah, man, what a cycle of cross-cultural goodness.

Dr. Schnitzel 20:25

Yeah, and that is really an issue because, uh, in other cultures, like you just said, it is an indicator that if you leave the food on your plate, you said you have enough, and then they stop serving you.

Mr. Giggles 20:36

Yeah.

Dr. Schnitzel 20:36

Whereas in Austria, if you leave something on the plate, they wait for you to finish until they actually clear the whole table. So they'll just leave your plate in front of you Eventually well, they might be waiting for a couple of minutes and then maybe they'll ask if everything's all right. Yeah, because in a way, they will be waiting for you to finish at first. That would be the first expectations and, unless you say something, that's what they will expect Interesting.

Mr. Giggles 21:01

Yeah, I don't think I've really ever come across that being an issue. Again, I'm going to finish my plate. It's kind of funny to consider why so many countries that are in fairly close proximity to each other have such different responses to the food left on the plate. You know, because, like, like. What are the reasons that austrians have this cleaning your plate mentality, do you think, as opposed to, hey, if your plate's cleaned off, I'm giving you more food?

Dr. Schnitzel 21:28

well, as far as I know, what I found out is that it used to be the case that austrian etiquette would say leave something on the plate when you're done. Okay, that was the original idea. That's why I said why it's so confusing is because both exist, but you got to figure out which one is appropriate.

Mr. Giggles 21:44

Yeah, which family dynamic you're sitting in.

Dr. Schnitzel 21:46

And there's a term in German that is hard to translate into English, and it's called Anstandsrest. Okay, and Anstand actually is a word for decency or like civility. There is one term in English that's called manners bit. I don't know if you've ever heard of that, because I haven't. Manners bit have you heard of manners, my friend.

Mr. Giggles 22:07

I've never heard of manners Other than the delicious wafer treats.

Dr. Schnitzel 22:12

Mann, dann mag man eben. That's another thing, directly from Vienna. But this word anstand, rest, I mean rest is like like the, the rest are like pieces, like leftovers yeah so it's like leftovers of decency if that the polite leftovers the polite leftovers. So you leave it in order to be a polite guest and that was the expectation for the longest time in austria.

Dr. Schnitzel 22:34

I'm talking about going into the 19th century, okay, but then some things changed and there are several reasons that maybe we don't even can go into that they say, well, it's actually more polite to clear a plate. I think one main reason, especially talking about the 20th century, would be the great wars, the world wars where there was hardly any food left okay, yeah so not finishing up. What he got served was a complete waste of food.

Dr. Schnitzel 23:00

They don't want to just throw food away if people people are hungry right, and so that war generation that I kind of also still knew growing up. Sure, when I was a kid, when you're a kid, yes, they would insist on, like you wouldn't leave. Sometimes their plates looked like they came right straight out of the dishwasher. Wow, because they would insist on like you wouldn't leave.

Dr. Schnitzel 23:16

Sometimes their plates looked like they came right straight out of the dishwasher wow because they would clean it up, so like they would even take us up pieces of bread and like wipe up, wipe up the plate with with the bread that was a fun thing to do.

Mr. Giggles 23:25

Yeah, I mean that's. That's a fun thing to uh yeah at any time.

Dr. Schnitzel 23:29

But they were, they felt compelled to do that yeah it'd be rude if they didn't right, and even thinking of soup, something that might be rude in austrian culture.

Dr. Schnitzel 23:37

If you have soup and you kind of tilt your plate in order to get the last couple drops with your spoon, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, I know that's. Yeah, we'll scrape is something that you probably shouldn't do, even though if it's less than a spoonful in your plate, I think that's fine, even if you kind of showed you you cleared your plate so can you hold the bowl up to your mouth, drink it?

Mr. Giggles 23:56

that's probably, probably, probably not in polite society.

The Gospel of the Clean Plate

Dr. Schnitzel 23:59

There is a I don't know if it's just I think there's a couple of those castles in austria. You can book a night and dine like like a night with a cake, so it's like you have to eat with your hands only. Okay, so they serve you all kinds of food, like the back in the middle ages, yeah, and then you just rip apart like all the meat and food and bread.

Mr. Giggles 24:16

They bring you. There's a place in a few locations in america called medieval times, where that's their big thing is that they don't give you silverware, but they do give you wet wipes at the end.

Dr. Schnitzel 24:26

I never did. We. Should we try that. I never did that myself.

Mr. Giggles 24:28

So to eat with your hands or to go to no, no, I never to go to medieval times like like a time. I mean I don't know if there's a medieval times over here in Europe.

Dr. Schnitzel 24:37

The way we do it here. I think you can just book it for a year like a group of people, like a restaurant booking. Probably the main difference is that in Austria you can go to real castles, like there are real medieval castles.

Mr. Giggles 24:46

Okay, you have a hard time finding those in the States. That's very true, truth be told bit old.

Dr. Schnitzel 24:57

No argument for me. Good, let's move on. Okay, where? Was I oh, like you asked me if that's okay with the soup yeah, the war generation. They would clean up everything at the end of every meal and they would also teach their children that. So the generations that came out of the the war times are pretty strict on that and these days it's become less and less of an issue. But they usually said you know, people are starving elsewhere. And then, yeah, that's actually, that's, that's one that that I feel was around when I was a kid growing up, you were a kid too.

Mr. Giggles 25:21

I was a kid too no longer, contrary to what some people say, about what some people might say, but it was. It was during that time where there always seemed to be like really bad famines and hunger around the world was an issue. It's still an issue in places, but it seemed like it was always a much more in-your-face, prominent issue and maybe like you, know, parents would say like they're starving kids in Africa.

Dr. Schnitzel 25:46

Right, I heard the same thing you should eat.

Mr. Giggles 25:48

You should eat all your food, which always will like. You're not shipping this food to them, so what I leave on my plate has no, don't blame me for those problems.

Dr. Schnitzel 25:56

It's not my fault. I mean we all know. Of course the intention was to evoke some gratitude Sure From the kids. But, I even asked the same question what does it help if I eat more than I need to and I grow fat? And the kids in Africa? Are going to starve even more because of that. They in africa, like I'm gonna starve even. I think I'm gonna starve more because of that, or yeah, they're probably gonna starve the same amount.

Mr. Giggles 26:17

Yeah, I mean the harsh truth is, sadly, me, yeah me, yeah me. Finishing the plate wouldn't change that right, but it is interesting how these things become. It sounds like that was kind of the same, the same argument I would imagine, for the austrian side of. Like you know, we're in the middle of war, yeah we got to eat everything we have, because we don't have that much. Did you know? There's a poster, a us poster really.

Dr. Schnitzel 26:36

I mean, there is one really I'm really yeah, what are these? That is called the gospel of the clean plate the gospel of the clean plate, and it says don't waste any food. And it literally says on it leave a clean dinner plate, take only such food as you will eat. And then the line that hit me was thousands are starving in europe so.

Mr. Giggles 26:58

So before the line of their starving kids in africa, it was their starving kids in in europe yes, it was issued by the new york state department of health, by herman m biggs, commissioner.

Dr. Schnitzel 27:08

Okay, but it's a poster from 1917. Okay, that makes sense so that was exactly the times of world war one, and so the americans trying to empathize, I guess, with the europeans.

Mr. Giggles 27:19

We'll have to make sure to share a copy of this poster. Yeah, on our social we will put that on our social feeds.

Dr. Schnitzel 27:24

Schnitzel giggles pod net instagram oh yeah, follow it, follow yeah the one thing that is true in that context, at least when talking about war times, is there is not enough food, and all the food that you can save can be sent to the soldiers More or less. You know like you can save the rations for the people fighting, because the soldiers need it in that unusual state of things that they're in. So, in this case, not overeating.

Mr. Giggles 27:50

Yeah, there was a system in place where people were eating less because they were under ration orders, precisely so food was being sent to different places and you need to make sure, but it probably wasn't a problem to finish your plate. If you're under rations, like you don't have as much food to eat.

Dr. Schnitzel 28:07

The point is, once the food is on your plate, it will not get to a soldier. You're not going to wrap it up and send it to someone, but the mindfulness of the situation is important, I suppose. Fortunately, neither you or I have ever been in that situation where we are living in a war zone or something like that.

Mr. Giggles 28:22

Yeah, I think the closest we have as an experience was toilet paper during the days of Corona.

Dr. Schnitzel 28:29

Yeah, the scarcity of the toilet paper. Hey, stop it, stop it. Yeah, the scarcity of the toilet paper, hey, stop it. I'm stop.

Mr. Giggles 28:37

I'm stop it. I'm okay. I'm seeing myself going down a dark road with.

Dr. Schnitzel 28:41

Some people have compared the kobe days to ward days, but I think that's just no, it's certainly not at all. That's just a slap in the face to anyone an apt comparison.

Mr. Giggles 28:49

I think that's the closest we've ever gotten in our privileged lives.

Dr. Schnitzel 28:52

But the idea like everyone has to do their part for the community, for the country, makes sense.

Mr. Giggles 28:57

Yeah, and I can see how those things become so ingrained in your way of living. One of the things that has affected recent generations in America was people that were raised during the Great Depression. I'm sure there's some of that because that was pre-World War ii over here, but we're, you know, using things and how you, how you like held on to things. You know it's kind of a joke that you know people my grandparents generation, for example would be like really stingy on what they threw away and what they held on to and how they reuse things, which all good things. But you know, you hear these stories of people saving all their ice cream tubs or something right, because they're going to use them for some sort of container, but then they just have stacks of ice cream tubs, because they don't want to throw anything away or even like the little wooden thing from the popsicle, like the yeah, popsicle sticks, that's right.

Mr. Giggles 29:45

Yeah, saving everything.

Backwash or Courtesy Drink?

Dr. Schnitzel 29:46

I literally have a box of nails at home for my grandfather yeah who kind of reused, like he pulled the nails out of the wood, yeah, and some of them are slightly bent even, sure, but he would reuse them at any chance he could, and and I still have them. There's lots of nails that I couldn't even use up in a lifetime. Now, right, yeah, because I mean, how much stuff are you?

Mr. Giggles 30:03

building. I mean I'm not building up. Yeah, all the ikea stuff doesn't need any nails. So yeah, it's very rare that I give you all the nails, and I'm not a carpenter, you aren't uh. Yeah, it's interesting how, how those times of crisis can, like have such long-lasting effects on society and how it can actually in some ways change cultural realities like this whole plate situation in austria. Exactly like it. It completely flipped how they approached a meal.

Dr. Schnitzel 30:28

Yeah, but coming back to one more confusion that you might encounter in austria, yeah is like I told you. I told you just the word anstanz. Uh, what's it called?

Dr. Schnitzel 30:40

you're making it up yeah, no, I told you. I told you about the word anstanz rest. Yeah, and there's also the word anstanz schluck. Okay, schluck is a sip, so in some ways it's expected that you, when you have a drink, that you leave especially when it's alcoholic drinks that you might not finish it up. Okay. Also, some people say, because it doesn't even taste that good, the last sip of a drink.

Mr. Giggles 30:59

Yeah, the last 10% is all backwash. Yeah, it's all the backwash.

Dr. Schnitzel 31:02

The backwash is basically what you would call Anstandschluck. However, I'm going to flip it once again.

Mr. Giggles 31:19

So we are doing 180 degrees flip like three times here in this episode. It seems like getting dizzy.

Dr. Schnitzel 31:22

You're getting getting dizzy and busy, so not getting jiggy. I'm just getting jiggy with it, not not getting family show. Okay, yes, yeah, where was I will smith no. So if you're ever in the situation where you are being offered a drink or, let's say, maybe some cookies or something, you know, some finger food, something?

Dr. Schnitzel 31:35

like that yeah, some snacks and you refuse to take any of those, yeah, your host might say to you well, take an anstandstück or take an anstandsschluck. Or same scenario some, some guy might say I'm not supposed to drink anything, but I'm gonna take an anstandsschluck. So that idea would be it's kind of the opposite idea you only take one sip of a glass. It's like a courtesy drink.

Dr. Schnitzel 31:54

It's like a courtesy drink, yeah, and you just say I'm going to take one cookie in order to please your host. It's not the last cookie on the plate or the last sip in the glass, so it's really the opposite.

Mr. Giggles 32:12

So Anstands, stueck or Anstandschluck can go both first or the very last piece or sip of something, I think. I think I just recently participated in this culture, oh, cultural norm, okay, uh, we were walking out of our apartment, out of the hoof, and our downstairs neighbors were downstairs hosting some people and they're like here, take a cookie, and like, ah, you know, we're heading out, you know somewhere? Yeah, no, it's okay, we're trying to be, we were trying to be polite, but not necessarily taking something. Yeah, they're like no, no, no, just just take one, take one while you walk, which I guess it was kind of yeah, I think you did the right thing.

Dr. Schnitzel 32:39

Uh, culturally speaking, so if they really offer you and they insist two times, three times, and just say I'll have one, yeah, I mean I have to have to the amount of cookies that I've that I've taken out of like okay I'll take one cookie a lot of cookies. There's a lot of cookies. Yeah, at some point it's time to put that cookie down.

Mr. Giggles 32:56

Yeah, put that cookie down now, but uh, I, I think the uh, the interesting, yet another 180 another another difference, uh, when it comes to beverages, is that same idea of like. Once you finish like.

Austrian Drinking Etiquette and Customs

Mr. Giggles 33:11

If you finish that beverage, they're going to refill it right away, which can be a very dangerous thing if you don't understand the cultural implications of you finishing a beverage and you get into this endless cycle again of maybe having too much of a certain type of beverage, because you, you know, you finish it just to kind of be done with it, and then it's refilled, and so you feel obligated to finish that one, and then it goes on and on I've heard of this being an issue in some places yeah, it is an issue.

Dr. Schnitzel 33:40

Maybe you will have a story or not, some other day yeah, some other day.

Dr. Schnitzel 33:43

Yeah, probably we'll save that for probably not exclusive content yeah yeah, for all our patreons for the patreons and so on, buy us a coffee. There's one more thing I think I need to mention before we wrap up this episode. That is really a good, good tip if you visit Austria, if you live here, and that kind of has a certain importance to Austrians. I'm talking now about the beginning of a meal, not the end, where there's some leftovers. I'm talking about the beginning of a meal, not the end, for where there's some leftovers.

Dr. Schnitzel 34:12

I'm talking about beginning again.

Dr. Schnitzel 34:13

Okay, usually when you sit down together at the table and we talked about this in the first season, we talked about the word martzad oh yeah so if you are a guest at someone's home, you would usually wait for the host to say either martzad or guten appetit, yeah, and then you start eating. You don't eat before that, and maybe that kind of goes with a lot of american experiences as well. However, the one thing I've noticed a lot is the drinking part. When you are ordering drinks at a restaurant or if you're having drinks at someone's place. The one thing that really does not go well with austrians if you order we talk again we talk about alcoholic beverages if you order beer or wine and you're like, oh, here's my beer, and you just immediately oh yeah, chuck it down.

Dr. Schnitzel 34:51

Yeah, don't be doing that so I've seen a lot of people doing that, and even with me, though, although I kind of know a lot of cultures, I still feel uneasy as an austrian in those situations. So because usually you would post yeah, each other.

Dr. Schnitzel 35:04

Or, if it's a little more fancy, you say zum wohl, yeah, so that would be the issue we're not friends, never, literally, never fancy but the point is, if you are like, if you're having like a wine dinner, like exclusive, exquisite restaurant, and you rather use the term some word and you don't get post and everything so but if it's like just a beer restaurant, like that's more casual, then you can maybe use both.

Mr. Giggles 35:27

I feel like I felt some of that discomfort at times because it when maybe we have guests visiting us from outside that aren't used to kind of what it's like going out yeah, you've been hosting a lot of guests from outside and you're kind of their tour guide.

Dr. Schnitzel 35:40

Yeah rough, you could do a whole season about.

Mr. Giggles 35:43

I could probably could and you know, some of those guests might be listening to this podcast, so choose your words yeah I will, I will, but that of you know, when you order the first round of beverages and you're just kind of waiting for everybody to get theirs if they don't all come at the same time or whatever, of just people being very quick to take a sip and like that makes me feel uncomfortable because I'm like what are you doing?

Mr. Giggles 36:08

You're already adapting Hold up. Come on, like, just wait two seconds, but then occasionally I think we've we've both been guilty of this where like we all of a sudden. You know, we get our beverage and we're thirsty and we just take a drink, oh no.

Dr. Schnitzel 36:23

Yes, if it's really to quench your thirst, it might be acceptable, but if it's more like a social gathering, of course, which often is accompanied in ulster by wine or beer, yeah then the the social thing takes the priority yeah, so wait, wait till you get a chance to prost and stare stare into each other's eyes and and then take your drink.

Mr. Giggles 36:43

You're that thirsty?

Dr. Schnitzel 36:44

have a bottle of water to stare into the eyes is actually not. It's not a joke, as a matter of fact, no it's very, very much something you have to do. You don't have to go very deep for the staring.

Mr. Giggles 36:53

You have to really make that deep eye contact Go ahead this is great for podcasting, staring at each other's eyes.

Dr. Schnitzel 37:02

Right now we should play like two truths and a lie, like with our podcast, one thing is a complete nonsense thing. Yeah, you keep staring at me. What's?

Mr. Giggles 37:10

going on yeah.

Dr. Schnitzel 37:15

All I have is a water bottle. Yeah, all right, well, well, good bye-bye.