Where my stomach calls home ...

When I was six years old, my grandmother informed me that my breakfast choices - cheese, summer sausage, and crackers - were more suited to breakfast in Germany than the U.S.A. 

12 years later I made my first pilgrimage to the spiritual home of my stomach. It should come as no surprise that visiting Germany did nothing to satiate, but merely whet me for more.

In particular, I still - 18 years after first tasting it - long for the unnatural-looking, orange-coloured juice called Mult-Vitamin Saft. Orange from carrots and flavoured with fruit juice, it is a little like a V-8 Tropical Splash. 

I said, “a little.” No, it is not the same. But it is the closest I have ever found in the U.S.

Note the healthy vitamins in this wine ; )  

My decades-long quest to find Mulit-Vitamin Saft outside of Germany took an unusual turn here in Tokushima yesterday. In a tiny store selling imported foods, a few, small, orange bottles sat on the refrigerator shelf. So unobtrusive I almost missed them.

“Multi-Vita Vino.”

What? Vino?

Well, I cannot pass up anything that might take me further on my quest. Buying one, I took it home. 

And the results are mixed. I like the juice, which this certainly was, and the wine gave it a punch. It is good, but not what I am searching for. 

My protracted quest resumes.

In truth, my journey to find Multi-Vitamin Saft was not at the forefront of my mind yesterday. I entered the store because Christmas is coming, and  I noticed the display of German chocolates. It is time for my other obsession. It is Lebkuchen time!