I’m going to be blunt here, I was deeply disturbed by this one. I kept seeing it in cafes and delis and I’m still to actually try it, no matter in which cute way they present it.

Hackepeter

In Northern and Eastern Germany, as well in Berlin, this dish is known as Hackerpeter. Even though you can find it in the rest of the country, Belgium, and the Netherlands as simply Mett.

This dish is a mixture of raw minced pork meat, seasoned with salt and black pepper, usually served on half a bun. The name met also apparently comes from the Old Saxon meti which stand for food. A variety of this dish can be found around the country as Zwibelmett, which is a version that adds chopped onions to the mix.

Even though some are still put off by the idea of it, there is an amazing amount of the population who doesn’t just enjoy having this for breakfast but are crazy about it. They came to a point of even creating the Mettigel, a version of this dish where they mold the meat into the shape of a hedgehog, using black olives as its eyes and nose and form the whole body’s spines with raw onion. (This as well is consumed raw)

Thankfully there is a German law, called Hackfleischverordnung, that makes sure that this is safe to eat. Making it a law for it to be sold only on the day of production, for it be constituted by less than 35% fat and to be stored under 2 degrees. This makes it safe to eat at wherever place you find it, or when in doubt…ask!

On a ‘type’ note:
Harbour is a fairly new font, released in 1998 and showing a clash of latin and germanic typestyles and taking calligraphic forms that derive from writing with quills.