Finding a Little Bit of Germany
Living in Vancouver, we have access to a variety of cultural dining and shopping experiences from many different parts of the world. The majority of the options available to us here are typically Asian and South Asian which isn’t all too surprising given the large Chinese, and Indian communities. Comparatively, there is much less availability of European stores in town and in particular, stores offering German products are particularly scarce.
Located near the entrance to Chinatown on 220 Prior St. at Main St., I had been told about European Speciality’s Warehouse by a friend that I work with who goes there on a regular basis. I had actually gone to European Speciality’s twice before I went with Barb and on both occasions didn’t get there early enough as they close at 1PM on Saturdays.
While Barb and I explored the products on the shelves, Barb would stop every few feet and point out some product that her parents used to buy when she was growing up. In case you’re wondering, Barb’s parents bought a lot of German stuff on a regular basis.
We ended up picking up several items from European Speciality’s Warehouse but one of the items in particular is a cheese that happens to be a favourite of Barb’s mother which called hartzkäse (which means cheese from Hartz region of Germany).
Sidebar: When Barb and I first when to Germany together in 2001, Barb’s mother Ruth asked us to bring her some hartzkäse from Germany. We did bring it back to Vancouver but it got confiscated at the airport by Canada Customs people. To say that Ruth was disappointed is a huge understatement.
Although it took 5 years, we finally got Ruth her hartzkäse that we bought for her from European Specialty’s and she was definitely happy to get it.
Baden
European Speciality’s Warehouse
220 Prior St., Vancouver
604-688-9528
