From Maryland to Munich: A Look At The Kentlands Oktoberfest A local shares her opinion on the difference between the Kentlands festival and the Munich original

The second part of a two part series:

Okay, to be fair this is only the 19th year the Kentlands has been putting on the Oktoberfest. The population here is mostly families, so it's really not going to be the same as the one in Munich; I get that. But the Annual Kentlands Oktoberfest, which took place on Sunday from noon to 4 p.m., was quite unlike the week long festival I experienced in Munich in September.

My first stop on Saturday was the food. The main German food was in the form of Bratwurst, but there were also some American additions like hot dogs and funnel cake. The meat was different than the patent German Braut' I was used to, with its soft meaty inside. There was no marjoram or caraway mixed in with the meat, and the sauerkraut, I'm sad to say, was served on top, but it was probably better this way.

After my first edible experience, I encountered a delightful upside to my Kentland's eats; the Crab Cake. Now, clearly this is not German, but it was a treat. Sprinkled with a little old bay and packed between two soft buns it definitely made me happy to be home.

My happiness didn't last long as my thirst kicked in and I had a hankering for a good beer. Much to my dismay there was only one tent serving Coors, Coors Light, and Sam Adams. After ten minutes of standing in line I reached my verdict; "Diet coke it is"!

A short stroll over to another vendor and I had some Taiwanese pork and chicken with mustard greens. It was yummy, but I couldn't help feel it was an odd thing to eat at an Oktoberfest.

My apologies King Ludwig, the foreign food at this festival just so happened to be better than the German food; please forgive me. The one parallel here that did make me smile though was the band Alte Kameraden.

Playing traditional Bavarian music I heard a familiar tune. "Ein Prosit", the song they played every 30 minutes in the Munich tents was blaring through the speakers! I closed my eyes and for the first time all day I could almost pretend like I was back in the Lowenbrau tent. "Ein Prosit"- a toast; and I would have loved to if only the line for the beer tent wasn't a mile long and there was more than one of them.

What this festival lacked in beer it made up for in jewelry booths and hand-made head bands. So I came to grips with the fact that this would not be like Munich and decided to stroll around and enjoyed the sights and sounds of this festival.

A lovely day outing with the family, absolutely, but a glimpse of the original; hardly.

 Like my dad said, "It's like comparing a youth football game to the Super Bowl" and I couldn't have agreed more.

Who knows though, maybe if we give Uncle Sam another 184 years he just might catch up to the party across the pond.

Source: Bethesda Patch

URL: http://bethesda.patch.com/articles/from-maryland-to-munich-a-look-at-the-kentlands-oktoberfest