an aussie in austria

Since the world is a bit tender and down at the moment, I thought why not write something a bit lighter this week.

Why not devote this blog to laughing at myself about one of my recent German blunders?

Because back when it was still possible to go to the supermarket without wearing a full biohazard suit, I discovered something I’d been misunderstanding for the last 6.5 years.

I like to buy fruit and veggies that are in season wherever possible – so I’m always taking note of where things are grown. I’d rather buy Austrian-grown, and if that’s not possible, then I next look to neighbouring countries, and so on, avoiding products from places further afield like Morocco or Chili. But sometimes it seemed it was unavoidable not to buy from this strange country called: Etikett. So much of the fruit and veggies seemed to come from there.

In German, like every other language, countries have slightly different names to English; like Spanien instead of Spain, Frankreich instead of France and Morokko instead of Morocco. I always puzzled over this place called Etikett – I figured it was some weird Middle Eastern country that definitely had dubious growing techniques and exploited workers.

In our last supermarket shop at Hofer before lockdown, I mentioned this fact to my husband who burst out laughing.

Etikett, in German, it turns out, translates simply to tag or label.

So the small label under the avocados that said Ursprung (origin) Etikett does not stand for the country, like the rest of the labels that say Spanien or Frankreich – it actually stands for – check the label for country of origin.

Welcome to my world.