- If you have the chance to try Kletzennudeln you should definitely do it. They are an exceptional Carinthian specialty you can very rarely get anywhere: Sweet noodles filled with dried pears and soft cheese. Be best Kletzennudeln are the hand made ones made with minced dried pears, rather than the lower quality version using pear powder.

- Some salads are made with Kernöl (green pumpkin seed oil), a Styrian specialty. Even though it looks frighteningly (dark green or dark red, depending on lightning conditions) it has an interesting nutty taste. A bottle of good, pure Styrian Kernöl is very expensive (around 10-20 Euros), but maybe one of the most Austrian things to take home. (Beware of cheap Kernöl, sometimes sold as "Salatöl". Be sure to seal the bottle appropriately, the oil expands when slightly heated and leaves non removable stains. Just in case, sun light occasionally removes them, though.) Kernöl or pumpkin seed oil is also available in some online shops.

- Manner Schnitten are a very Viennese sweet specialty, but just the square form factor and pink packaging are really unique. You can buy them everywhere. (Maybe you've already seen these as a product placement in some Hollywood movies or for example in "Friends" and wondered what they are.)

- Powidl is a type of savoury prune jam with alcohol, another speciality from Vienna. It makes a good present as it tastes exotic and is hard to find anywhere else in the world.

- Sachertorte is chocolate torte with chocolate icing and filled with apricot jam. It should be be served fresh with freshly beaten, lightly sweetened cream, which the Austrians call "Schlagobers". The original is available in Vienna in the Cafe Sacher, but similar cakes are very common in many other vienese Cafes.

Vegetarianism is not as widespread in Austria as it is in English speaking countries, though awareness is slowly improving, especially in bigger cities. Most restaurants don't cater for vegetarians specifically, but you're likely to find at least 3 meals on the menu containing no meat. But unfourtunately, your choice as a vegetarian is limited and you'll soon get bored of being forced to eat the same "healthy option" everywhere you go. As an alternative, there is normally at least one vegetarian restaurant in every bigger city. In more traditional or rural restaurants, you will be viewed as highly eccentric if you say you are vegetarian, and it's likely that not a single meal on the menu is meat free. This is especially true for traditional Austrian cuisine which relies heavily on meat -- even apparent vegetable dishes such as potato salad or vegetable soup often contain meat products. Some traditional meals that are guaranteed to be vegetarian are Kaiserschmarren (sweet pieces of fluffy pancake with fruit compote), Germknoedel (Dumpling with sour prune jam), and Kasnudel (similar to ravioli).

Drink

Vienna is famous for its café culture, and there are coffee houses all over the city, many of which have outdoor terraces that are popular in the summer. Visit them for coffee (of course), hot chocolate and pastries. Most famous is Sacher-Torte. Most likely you will find the "top" coffee houses at the Ring, the Kärnter Strasse, Graben, and some other (maybe difficult to find) places in the first district (Innere Stadt). There are also very nice old coffee houses a little outside of the Ring at the districts within the Gürtel. Please do never just order "coffee" as you find dozens of different sorts from Kleiner Schwarzer (small black coffee) and Großer Brauner (big coffee with cream), Melange (coffee with milk) to specialties like Kapuziner (small black coffee and a drip of cream) and Kaisermelange (coffee, milk, egg yolk and cognac) on the menu and the Viennese Ober (the "senior" waiter) takes pride in this variety.