They always said it didn’t exist: the Schlaraffenland - the land of milk and honey. The land of plenty, where the portions are bigger than you could ever stomach, where you can choose from five types of dessert every single day, and where every Friday, you can get a humongous bowl of Milchreis (rice pudding) with sugar, cinnamon and cherries to celebrate the weekend.
I never believed that a place as beautiful as this could exist on this planet either. And then I came to Freiburg and discovered it: the Mensa. Yes, the Mensa. You read that correctly. The same concept I always evaded in Maastricht, hiding from the ‘food’ while protectively placing my hand over my wallet, is where now my dreams come true.
I have procrastinated to write about the Mensa - our canteen here in Freiburg - simply because I could never find the finite words to describe the infinite feeling I get every day when I enter the big, light building. How can I even start to describe the daily symphony of cutlery tapping on plates in a relaxing click-click-click? How could I ever describe the long lines, often making me wait twenty minutes for my food - twenty minutes filled with anticipation, conversations about life and love and everything in between? And no words could ever illustrate how the dopamine shoots through my body when I finally get the plate that is too big to hold, how I carry it to the pepper mill and make it disappear in shredded peppercorns before heading over to a table - always a different one, always allowing me a different perspective on the Mensa, Freiburg and life.
Going to the Mensa is like travelling the world. One day you're India, imagining the breathtaking Taj Mahal while chewing your eggplant-tomato masala. The next day, you’re in the middle of Turkey, watching the busyness of the streets pass you while you eat your Börek with spinach. And the day after, you’re back in the dark, cold Schwarzwald, enjoying a big, gut bürgerliche portion of Spätzle (a Southern German dish made by boiling small dough lumps made from eggs and flour). It’s a wonderful vegetarian (if this is what you, like myself, desire) taste tour around the world.
A little Schlaraffenland and all the wonders that come with it in the middle of Freiburg. Who would have known? Though I must say that such a culinary hotspot for such an affordable price so close by has its downsides too. I forgot how to cook. And even if I could, I’ve grown too lazy to even raise a spatula - food now simply appears on my plate. And even if I wouldn’t be lazy: nothing compares to the little taste bud party I can get at the mensa every day. From Monday to Friday, that is.
Jesler van Houdt