Throughout our stay in Germany we have noticed a couple interesting facts about the food culture.
Note: this is not about the most important food types or dishes but rather a quick look at some things we found to be interesting (and delicious) regarding food.
Bread. If you are the type of person who enjoys a fresh slice bread from your local bakery with most meals then Germany is THE place. Germany offers more than 300 (!) types of bread prepared fresh daily from countless bakeries throughout the country. So, if you start today you might be able to try them all during the next 10 months! Also, if you are more interested, you can visit the different bread museums in the country. The reason for such a large variety of bread options grew popular from different cultural and regional preferences. The different cities and towns had their own bread, just like everyone preferred their own tastes in sausages, beer, etc. If you think that 300 types of bread is hard to imagine, try learning the over 35 different German dialects!
However, it would take even longer if you want to try every one of the special sausages Germany has to offer. It would take around two and a half years if you each type per day. There are more than 1,000 varieties, each with different flavorings, herbs, spice mixtures, texture and size. So what’s the reason for this? Centuries ago, Germany was formed from a number of tiny territories where food was a symbol of wealth. Therefore, when cooks were needed to prepare new and special sausages they all had one guiding thought: the more meat, the wealthier everyone looked!
There is one spice that appears in almost everything that can be eaten. It is often referred to as Germany’s ‘can’t live without’ spice: Paprika! One will find it on everything from sausages to cheese, even sprinkled on potato chips, fried eggs, schnitzels and bread. You can hardly find a bag of potato chips that isn’t flavored with somehow. The simple, “just salted”-chips we all know and love don’t stand a chance against the Paprika chips in German supermarkets.
Sauerkraut? German for “Sour cabbage”. Arguably the most famous vegetable dish associated with Germany. Eating fermented, sour cabbage might not be everyone’s idea of a tasty treat, but sauerkraut is actually a lot better than it sounds. In fact, it is fantastic. Sauerkraut goes with everything from hotdogs to burgers and schnitzel. Even great by itself as a side dish!
Between late April and May one might encounter the white asparagus phenomenon known as Spargel. While being a very healthy and yummy dish no matter how it is prepared. Spargel is waved around and embraced warmly in supermarkets all over Germany in late spring! You can see spargel served on the side or pureed with cream in what is known as ‘spargel soup’, a must try this time of year.
Did someone say beer? In Germany and especially in Bavaria, beer is considered a type of food. Let us give you some info on just how important (and awesome) beer is in Germany:
– Germany however, will make it very hard for you to actually buy a beer! Why? Well there are over 1,500 different brands and types of beer in this country!
– Germany is the cheapest place in Europe to buy “Bier”!
– Germans love beer so much, that they rank second in the WORLD-WIDE beer consumption per person after Ireland.
– And last but not least: Germans like beer so much that they even made up an expression for it: “Das ist nicht mein Bier” meaning “This is none of my business” and literally translating into “This is not my beer”.
World Goes Passau 