Every year from September to November, Germany hosts the world's biggest pumpkin festival. It takes place in Ludwigsburg which is only a 2.5 hour train ride away from where I live in Saarbrücken. I decided to go and explore this intriguing cultural event!
For Halloween in New Mexico, my family and I decorate our house in many different ways, and we get pumpkins to carve. I was curious if I would find any similarities between my family traditions and this German event.
Kürbis, means pumpkin or squash in German. Kurbis have been appearing in my local food store for a few weeks now. At first I did not know that they were pumpkins because they are shaped differently from those I have seen in the United States. Pumpkins here are definitely not the same shape as jack-o'-lanterns, back home.
The first time I tasted a German pumpkin, it was in soup. My German sister thought of it and explained that in the autumn, her family often makes soup out of puréed vegetables. I was curious to try it! We used German pumpkin, carrots, coconut milk, ginger, and many spices that I did not recognize. It was delicious!
At the pumpkin festival, I learned that every year they make an enormous batch of pumpkin soup! I cannot imagine how many pumpkins they use to make that quantity of soup!
