I am taking a class called, Vienna's Victuals: Austrian Food and Drink, where we learn about Austrian cuisine. Last year, during my winter term of college, the cafe on my campus had weekly soup specials that honestly brightened up the dreariness of the pandemic. I quickly became a soup fanatic and was always excited to see what soup the cafe would serve next. Before coming to Vienna, I never quite understood why people who weren’t sick would casually eat soup; however, eating a bowl of soup for lunch every day during my time here has opened my eyes to the intensity of flavors that a soup can actually hold. Packed with delicious vegetables and healthy nutrients, soups can be more than just your typical chicken noodle. Soups can be rich, creamy, cheesy, spicy, and most importantly, filling. Nothing is better than warm soup on a chilly day.
Before arriving in Austria, every Google inquiry that I made about what foods Austrians might eat led me to the same result: sausages, meats (particularly schnitzel), cakes, and coffee. Never was I expecting to find a delicate, seasonal pumpkin soup, known as Kübiscremesuppe. To take it one step further, I was not expecting Vienna to be such a global city with migrants from all over the world introducing their food staples to Vienna. For instance, Döner Kebab street food carts owned by Turkish migrants can be found on every corner.
