The Aldi German Cheese Meal That's Giving Shoppers FOMO
There are a few iconic German foods that come to mind when we think of Deutschland. These are typically not good. Things like pickled cabbage or flavorless potatoes are often cited whenever the subject of German cuisine arises. It's easy to forget that after the Second World War, Germany had to drastically change its culture. Author Ursula Heinzelmann, via Deutsche Welle, claims that there was a kind of Renaissance that arose after the fall of the Third Reich and that galvanized people to change. One of the things that the people of the Fatherland altered was how they approached food.
"Germans had a real problem with their national identity. It just wasn't terribly cool to be German. ... I grew up in the 60s and 70s, it always felt like you'd much rather be Italian or French than German," said Heinzelmann. Being Italian or French meant changing many things, including diet. If you didn't want to be German, you ate differently. "So you ate your coq au vin, your camembert, your pizza, and your mozzarella," explains Heinzelmann.
All this influx of other foods began to mesh with more traditional German cuisine. Thus came hybrid foods that had a little bit of both worlds. Now, some of these mixed foods have found their way to Aldi's freezer section.
Shupfnudeln first twists your tongue, then delights it
Hard though it may be to believe, people on the internet sometimes overstate their cases. For instance, when an individual fires up their magical thinking box and posts on Reddit that they're "moving to Germany," due to a frozen food they found at Aldi, they may be employing hyperbole. Then again, there are worse reasons to move than delicious food. Such as never having to see a Walmart again.
The dish that drove the poster to claim they were going to expatriate was something called Pickle Cheese Shupfnudeln. The bag says it is "Alsatian gnocchi with a creamy cheese sauce," but the poster merely says it's, "So good!"
Though it certainly sounds like the poster enjoyed the meal, some people were concerned about the name. Though, not the part of the name you'd think. "Why is it called Pickle?" asked one flummoxed individual. Thankfully another helpful commenter explained, "The cheese is pickled." This likely gives it a unique flavor.
The Pickle Cheese Shupfnudeln appears in the frozen goods section at Aldi. However, there was an implication on the Reddit thread that it might be a specialized offering that can only be found during German week, which Aldi Things says is already past.