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The newest thing in American fast food seems to be pretzel bread! Wendy’s has a new burger featuring a bun of pretzel, and Sonic has a pretzel hot dog bun.

The bun is of course soft pretzel in nature, but hardly anything new.

My husband and I discovered long ago that pretzels come in many shapes besides twisted. We first encountered the pretzel bun when we stopped at a train station in Switzerland. We were travelling to Bern, and knew we would arrive too late to procure dinner. We decided to peek around the train station to see what was offered in the mini mart type shops. I discovered these odd looking round fat pretzels. They were in the bins with other types of rolls, so I decided in the spirit of adventure to buy some, along with cheese and meat, to make sandwiches.

My husband was a bit skeptical, but was won over with his first bite into the fresh fluffy goodness that is a Swiss pretzel bun. We found you could get your sandwiches in Switzerland on all sorts of pretzels, from the traditionally shaped twist to long tube rolls. Our only mode of travel is “cheap as possible” so I became an expert pretzel sandwich maker quickly, and every trip to Switzerland starts with a stop at the local super market to stock up on sandwich making supplies.

The only problem with how wonderful pretzel bread is, is that is so delicious you can’t resist it.

My husband and I travel by train, and every train station in Switzerland has at least one pretzel shop. The smell hits you as you walk into any station. My husband knew how to get me to hurry up to get to the train station by saying “Look, do you want to have time to buy pretzels or not?”

He knew the agony I went through taking a train from Bern to Zurich, with everyone on the train eating a freshly baked pretzel, and since we had to rush to make the train we had no pretzels. There is nothing that makes me happier than riding a train through the beautiful Swiss mountains munching on a freshly made still warm pretzel. My husband, ever cheap, carries a light fold up cooler filled with drinks, because eating pretzels does lead to thirst!

The lines at the pretzel stores are filled with locals, not just tourists. i have to say the Wendy’s pretzel burger is excellent, though sadly not as fresh as those Swiss pretzels buns. I hope this is a fad that will become part of our local bakery, where freshness can make making pretzel sandwiches a part of my US routine also.

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Categories: Food, Travel