Germany Food And Drink

German food gets bad press. Maybe it isn’t as “gourmet” as French cuisine or “delicato” as Italian fare, but deutsche Küche has a robust charm that meat-and-potato lovers find especially satisfying. And if the local food is not to your taste, Germany’s cities offer a wide variety of quality ethnic restaurants.

Since the 1970s, vegetarianism has steadily gained popularity in Germany. Approximately one fifth of Germany’s population now eats little or no meat, and in most cities vegetarian and Biokost (health food) restaurants and supermarkets are common. Be sure to mention ich bin Vegetarier(en) (“I am a vegetarian”) when dining, or simply say kein Fleisch (“no meat”). As most vegetarian fare relies heavily on cheese, vegans may have a more difficult time. For more information, see Dietary Concerns .

The typical German Frühstück (breakfast) consists of coffee or tea with a selection of Brötchen (rolls), butter, marmalade, wurst (cold sausage of myriad varieties), Schinken (ham), Eier (eggs, usually soft- or hard-boiled), Käse (cheese), and Müsli (granola). Mittagessen (lunch) is traditionally the main meal of the day, consisting of soup, sausage or roasted meat, potatoes or dumplings, and a salad or Gemüsebeilage (vegetable side dish). Abendessen or Abendbrot (supper) is a re-enactment of breakfast, with less Müsli and coffee, and more wine or beer. Dessert after meals is rare, but many older Germans indulge in a daily ritual of Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cakes), analogous to English “tea-time,” at 3 or 4pm.

Germany’s bakeries produce a delicious range of Brot (bread). Vollkornbrot is a heavy whole-wheat, Roggenbrot is rye, Schwarzbrot (black bread) is a dense, dark loaf, and Bauernbrot (farmers’ bread) a lighter, slightly sour country recipe. Go to a Bäckerei (bakery) and point to whatever looks good. Bread is usually sold as a whole loaf; for half, ask for ein Halbes . German bread does not contain preservatives and will go stale the day after its purchase, so Germans typically make the Bäckerei a daily stop. Brötchen (rolls) come in a staggering number, starting with the simple, white Wasserbrötchen and extending to the hearty Kürbiskernbrötchen (pumpkin seed rolls). No visit to Germany would be complete without a taste of a Bretzel , the south German soft pretzel that puts ballpark vendors to shame, and that in larger bakeries also comes in roll and even baguette shapes.

Aside from breads, the staples of the German diet are wurst (sausage, in dozens of varieties; see The Best Wurst), Schweinefleisch (pork), Rindfleisch (beef), Kalbfleisch (veal), Lammfleisch (lamb), Huhn (chicken), and Kartoffeln (potatoes). Sampling the various local specialties around Germany gives a taste of diverse culinary traditions. In Bavaria, Knödel (potato and flour dumplings, sometimes filled with meat or jam) are popular, as is Weißwurst , a sausage made with milk. Thuringia and northern Bavaria are famed for their succulent grilled Bratwurst , a roasted sausage eaten with potatoes or bought from a street vendor clasped in a roll and bathed in mustard and sauerkraut. Southwestern Germany is known for its Spätzle (rough, twisty egg noodles), and Maultaschen (pasta pockets) are popular in Swabia. Hessians do amazing things with potatoes; be sure to sample the grüne Soße (green sauce). The North and Baltic seacoasts harvest Krabben (shrimp) and Matjes (herring), as well as other fresh forms of seafood.

When Turks began immigrating to West Germany in the early 1960s, the German palate was first treated to such now-ubiquitous delights as Döner Kebap ; thin slices of lamb mixed with cucumbers, onions, and red cabbage in a wedge of Fladenbrot , a round, flat, sesame-covered bread. Other well-known Turkish dishes include Börek, a flaky pastry filled with spinach, cheese, or meat; and Lahmacun (also called türkische Pizza), a smaller, zestier version of Italy’s staple fast food. Turkish restaurants and Imbiße, popular and cheap fast-food stands, also offer Kefir (flavored yogurt drinks) and Baklava for dessert.

Beer and wine are the popular meal-time beverages. Saft (juice), plain or mixed with mineral water, is an alternative. Germans do not guzzle glasses of water by the dozen; instead, they will sip a (small) glass of carbonated mineral water—ask for Wasser ohne Gas to get the non-bubbly kind. If you ask for water in a restaurant, you’ll get the expensive bottled type, so be sure to ask for Leitungswasser (tap water) if that’s what you want.

With few exceptions, restaurants expect you to seat yourself. If there are no free tables, ask someone for permission to take a free seat by saying Darf ich Platz nehmen? (DAHRF eesh PLAHTS nay-men; “may I sit here?”). In a less formal setting, just say Hallo. It’s standard for perfect strangers to sit next to you—they may or may not be interested in conversation. At the table, Germans eat with the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right and keep their hands above or resting on the table. While eating, it is polite to keep the tines of your fork pointing down at all times. When you’re finished, ask the server Zahlen, bitte (TSAH-len, BIT-tuh; “check, please”); it’s considered rude to bring customers the bill before they have asked for it. Taxes ( Mehrwertsteuer ) and service ( Bedienung ) are always included in the price, but it is customary to leave a small tip, usually by rounding up the bill to the nearest euro.

Eating in restaurants at every meal will quickly drain your budget. One strategy to save money at restaurants is to stick to the daily fixed-price option, called the Tagesmenü . A cheaper option is to buy food in grocery stores. University students eat in cafeterias called Mensen . Some Mensen (singular Mensa ) require a student ID or charge higher prices for non-students. In smaller towns, the best budget option is to stop by a bakery ( Bäckere i) for bread and garnish it with sausage and cheese from a butcher ( Fleischerei or Metzgerei ).

Beer brewers shall sell no beer to the citizens, unless it be three weeks old; to the foreigner, they may knowingly sell younger beer. —German Beer Law, 1466

Germans have brewed frothy, alcoholic malt beverages since the 8th century BC, and they’ve been consuming and exporting them in prodigious quantities ever since. The state of Bavaria alone contains about one-fifth of all the breweries in the world. Germans drink more than 120L of beer per person every year. According to legend, the German king Gambrinus invented the modern beer recipe when he threw some hops into fermenting malt. During the Middle Ages, monastic orders refined the art of brewing, imbibing to stave off starvation during long fasts. It wasn’t long before the monks’ lucrative trade caught the eye of secular lords, who established the first Hofbrauereien (court breweries).

Beer	Region	Description
Altbier	Düsseldorf	dark, top-fermented beer
Berliner Weiße	Berlin	light beer, often served with Schuß (raspberry syrup)
Bockbier & Doppelbock	Einbeck (near Hannover)	strong, bottom-fermented; many seasonal versions
Dampfbier	Bayreuth	fruity, top-fermented
Dortmunder Export	Dortmund	mild, bottom-fermented lager
Dunkles Lagerbier	Bavaria	dark lager, strong malt, bottom-fermented
Gose	Leipzig	top-fermented wheat beer with oats
Hefeweizen	Bavaria	wheat beer, more hops than Weißbier
Kölsch	Cologne (Köln)	pale, top-fermented beer (by law, served only in Köln)
Märzen	Bavaria	amber colored lager
Pils (Pilsner)	North Germany	clear, bitter taste (extra hops)
Radler (Alster)	Hamburg	mix of half beer, half lemon-lime soda
Rauchbier	Bamberg	dark and smoky
Weißbier (Weizenbier)	Bavaria/south	wheat beer, smooth and refreshing, rich brown color

To ensure the quality of this new phenomenon, Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria decreed in 1516 that beer could contain only pure water, barley, and hops. Wilhelm’s Purity Law (Reinheitsgebot) has endured to this day, with minor alterations to permit the cultivation of Bavaria’s trademark wheat-based beers. As a result, German beer contains no preservatives and will spoil relatively quickly. Most German beer is Vollbier, containing about 4% alcohol. Export (5%) is also popular, and stout, tasty Bockbier (6.25%) is brewed in the spring. Doppelbock is an strong malt reserved for special occasions. Ein Helles gets you a light-colored beer, while ein Dunkles can look like anything from Coca-Cola to molasses. The average German beer is maltier and thicker than Czech, Dutch, or American beers, hence the term “ flußiges Brot ”: liquid bread. Generalizations are difficult, however, as each region boasts its own special brew.

The variety of places to drink beer is almost as staggering as the variety of brews. A traditional Biergarten consists of outdoor tables under chestnut trees; often, simple food is served as well. In the days before refrigeration, the broad leaves of the trees kept beer barrels cool—now they just shade the beer drinkers. A Bierkeller is a subterranean version of the Biergarten . To order ein Bier, hold up your thumb, not your index finger. Raise your glass to a Prost (cheers), make eye contact with your companions, and drink (for more information, see The Proper Prost). Another option for drinking is the Gaststätte , a simple, local restaurant. It’s considered bad form to order only drinks at a Gaststätte during mealtimes, but at other times friends linger for hours over beers. Many Gaststätten have a Stammtisch (regulars’ table) marked by a flag where interlopers should not sit. The same group of friends may meet at the Stammtisch every week for decades to drink and play cards. Kneipen are bars where hard liquor is also served.

Wine And Spirits

Although overshadowed by Germany’s more famous export beverage, German wines win over connoisseurs and casual drinkers alike. Over 80% of the wines are white, though they vary widely in character. Generally, German wines are sweeter and taste fresher than French, Mediterranean, or Californian varieties. Because Germany is the northernmost of the wine-producing countries, the quality of a vineyard’s produce can vary considerably with the climate.

Dry wines are labeled trocken or halbtrocken (literally, half dry), while mild, sweeter wines are called lieblich. Only wines with 45g/L of residual sugars can be labeled süss (sweet). Cheap wines are classified as Tafelwein (table wine) or Landwein (superior table wine), while the good stuff (which is still pretty affordable) is Qualitätswein (quality wine). The label Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete , or Q. b. A., designates quality wine from a specific cultivation region. Qualitätswein mit Prädikat (quality wine with distinction) denotes an even purer wine derived from a particular variety of grape. The Prädikat wines are further subdivided according to the ripeness of the grapes when harvested; from least to most ripe, they are Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese, and Eiswein. The grapes that produce the Trockenbeerenauslese are left on the vine well into winter until they have shriveled into raisins and begun to rot—seriously. During the Erntefesten (harvest festivals) of many towns in the Southwest, vintners will sometimes add alcohol to the fresh-pressed, cloudy grape juice to make the intoxicatingly spicy Neue Süsse (new sweet wine).

Most vineyards are clustered in the Rhein and Mosel valleys, along the Main River in Franconia, and in Baden. Of the dozens of varieties, the most famous are Riesling, Müller-Thurgau, Sylvaner, and Traminer (the source of Gewürztraminer). In wine-producing towns, thirsty travelers can stop by a Weinstube for samples. In Hessen, the favored beverage is Ebbelwei or Äpfelwein (apple wine), a hard cider similar in potency to beer. After a meal, many Germans aid their digestion by throwing back a shot of Schnapps, brandy distilled from fruit. Kirschwasser, a cherry liqueur from the Black Forest, is the best known and the easiest to stomach, but adventurous sorts can experiment with the sublime Black Haus, 100-proof blackberry Schnapps also from the Schwarzwald. Each year, unsuspecting tourists are lured into buying little green bottles of Jägermeister, a pungent take on German herbal liqueur.

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