Being a vegetarian tourist in Vienna during the fall means eating a lot of pumpkin soup. There are worse things. This one was from Café Landtmann. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.
Between family, friends, and my high school reunion, this Thanksgiving weekend was socially and gastronomically packed, and ended, not entirely surprisingly, with a severe case of the flu. After a couple days of mentally and physically rejecting all food in favor of whimpering on the bathroom floor, the cold sweats have passed and I’m starting to regain both my senses and my appetite. As I do, I’m reminded of the importance of taste and smell—senses too often overlooked by writers in favor of vision and sound—in not only establishing the physical or social context of our stories, but in clarifying our characters’ relationships to the outside world as well as their inner health. With that in mind, I’m closing out November with a celebration of fall foods from Vienna (one of the inspirations for my current novel), even if, however ironically, I’m doing so with pictures.
Hearty pumpkin soup from Café Museum, Vienna. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.
Eispänner, Esterhazytorte, and Sachertorte at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.
Dumpling soup at Café Landtmann. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.
The truffle-like “Landtmann Orbs” at Café Museum, Vienna. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.
Pumpkin soup at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.
Evening cappuccino at Café Neko, Vienna. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.