What is German Food?

 

Left: Schnitzel "Wiener Art" (pork instead of veal) with fries and lingonberrry sauce; right: breaded schnitzel with potato salad

You have probably heard the term "German food" and maybe you thought of schnitzel and bratwurst. Both are certainly typical German food - but actually the term "German food" is quite misleading. Germany has several local cuisines and depending in which region you are, you will get the special food of that area. Even food that you can get all over Germany like bratwurst is not the same in the different regions - a Nürnberger Bratwurst is quite different from a Thüringer Bratwurst. In the following picture you can see three foods that are typical for certain regions in Germany, but are differently made in those regions. Of these three, Currywurst - originally from Berlin - might be the most popular one. It is a typical fast food (and way better than McDonalds, Burger King etc. It actually tastes like food.). I wrote about it here.

From left to right: Sauerbraten (marinated and braised beef) with potato dumplings and red cabbage; Zwiebelrostbraten (onion beef roast) with Bratkartoffeln (fried potatoes); Currywurst with fries

In this post I will show you Bavarian food and a little bit of Swabian food - both are favorites of mine. Most (but not all) of the Bavarian food photos were taken in a Biergarten (beer garden).

From left to right: Leberkäs (a type of meat loaf) with fried egg and bread; Obatzda (a spread made with very ripe camembert, butter, beer, onions and spices) with bread; Kaiserschmarrn (cut-up and sugared pancake with raisins)

The Leberkäs is also called Fleischkäs which is essentially the same thing. We often eat it sandwiched in a roll. A roll has several names in Germany, depending in which region you are. In Bavaria they're called Semmeln, in Swabia they are Wecken or Weckle. The short form for Leberkäswecken is LKW - which is also what we call a big truck. Welcome to the confusing peculiarities of the German language.

One of the biggest food seasons in Germany is Spargelzeit - white asparagus season. This is the time when many Germans kind of lose their minds foodwise. It only lasts a few short months - the start of asparagus season depends on the weather, but the last day traditionally is June 24th. My preferred way to eat white asparagus is as Spargelcrèmesuppe (creamy asparagus soup).

Two more very popular Bavarian soups are (on the left) Brezensupp'n (pretzel soup) and (on the right) Leberknödelsupp'n (liver dumpling soup). Both are delicious.

We also love to eat fish. Most fish here comes from the lakes and rivers, but also from the sea. I love Zander and I was very happy that I found it on the menu in a restaurant in Würzburg. The rainbow trout I had came from the Königssee, one of the most romantic lakes in Germany (blogpost will follow, I promise).

Clockwise from top left: Fish and chips; Zander with potato salad; pollock with potato cucumber salad; rainbow trout with herb butter and potatoes

You may be surprised that I include Döner in this post. Not a German food at all, it is one of the most popular street foods in my native country. Germany has a large population of Turkish people and they brought us the Döner (teşekküler, Türkiye!) When we're in Germany we need at least one Döner.

It was SO good!

Let's take a little break and have some gelato, shall we?

Now let's go over to Swabia and explore three of their local dishes. We had them when we stopped for lunch in Tübingen where I used to live.

From left to right: Fried Maultaschen (kind of Swabian ravioli); Saitenwürstle mit Linsen und Spätzle (the Swabian version of Vienna sausage with lentils and Swabian noodles); Schupfnudeln or Bubaspitzle mit Sauerkraut (potato noodles with sauerkraut)

Maultaschen has always been my favorite Swabian dish. You can prepare them in many different ways, the filling can be meat or vegetarian - they are so versatile. A glass of Trollinger (typical red wine from Baden-Württemberg) completes the meal.

We need dessert! What about (on the left) Dampfnudeln (a usually sweet yeast dumpling) or (on the right) a slice of Käsekuchen (cheese cake)? This is a Swabian Käsekuchen - it is not made with cream cheese like cheese cake in the US but with Quark which is very popular in Germany (I was looking for a good translation but couldn't find one; it's a low-fat dairy product, in France often called "fromage blanc" or white cheese; it is not like cottage cheese since it doesn't have any curds).

We're almost done! Just one more thing - cinnamon roasted almonds. They ae often sold at Christmas markets and at fairs, but in Munich's pedestrian zone I found a booth that sold small bags of them, they were still warm - the best way to eat them! So darn delicious!

I'm linking up to Kathy's Food Wednesday.