A Guide to German Food

Traditional German Foods and Beverages

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Sausage Food is paramount in German culture, so expect to eat well when you visit. Like many geographically diverse countries, its cuisine varies among regions, but national dishes have evolved throughout the centuries. The southern regions of Germany, including Bavaria and neighboring Swabia, share many dishes, while there’s a commonality among dishes with bordering Austria, like schnitzel, a traditional Austrian dish made with flattened boneless meat coated in breadcrumbs and fried. In Austria and Germany, the term Wiener Schnitzel is protected by law, and any schnitzel called by that name must be made from veal.

The other neighboring countries have made their mark as well. In the west, you’ll find French influences; the eastern parts of the country are influenced by Eastern European cuisine; and northern Germany shows similarities to the cuisines of Scandinavian countries. Northern Germany is famous for celebrating the winter season with a hike in the mountains followed by Gruenkohlfahrt, a warming dish of cooked kale mixed with mustard, bacon and sausage.

Cooking styles also were directly influenced by the split of the country, after World War II in 1949. East Germany, closely associated with its neighbor, Russia, took on a more Russian style of cooking, while West Germans continued the traditional German cuisine.—Denise Shoukas

Here are some traditional German foods and beverages:

aalsuppe: eel soup, found in the northern region

bayerische crème: Bavarian cream

birnen, bohnen und speck: pears, green beans and bacon, a popular dish from the central region

brätwurst: sausage, brät- meaning finely chopped meat and -wurst meaning sausage

currywurst: sliced sausage served with a curry-flavored ketchup sauce

eintopf: seafood stew

frikadellen: beef dumplings

himmel und erde: translates to “Heaven and Earth”; this southern dish combines potatoes and apples with onions and bacon

kartoffelsuppe: potato soup

kirschwasser: a clear cherry brandy from the southern region of Bavaria

kölsch: a beer brewed in Cologne with a bright straw-yellow hue and prominent hoppiness

kraut: cabbage; red cabbage is rotkraut, while white is weisskraut

leberkäse: a specialty sausage found in the south, consisting of corned beef, pork, bacon and onions and made by grinding the ingredients very finely and then baking in a loaf pan to create a crunchy brown crust

lebkuchen: spicy cookie prepared especially during the Christmas season

obsttorten: fruit-topped cake

pichelsteiner: a special stew made with three kinds of meat and potatoes

sauerbraten: a large roast made of pork, beef or veal that is popular throughout Germany, flavored in different ways depending on the region

schnitzel: boneless meat flattened with a mallet, coated in breadcrumbs and fried Stollen

spargel: white asparagus, enjoyed in late spring as a side dish or a main meal

spätzle: tiny dumplings popular in the south; also known as knödel, potato dumplings, in the north

stollen: a loaf-shaped cake containing dried fruit and covered with sugar, powdered sugar or icing sugar; typically eaten during the Christmas season

weisse bohnensuppe: a popular white-bean soup

würstchenbuden: street stalls that serve to-go food

wüstchen: a sausage similar to the U.S. hot dog; hails from Frankfurt, hence the American name “frankfurter.”

zwetschgenkuchen: plum cake

zwieback: crisp, sweetened bread that’s baked twice, producing brittle slices that resemble melba toast

Denise Shoukas is a regular foodspring.com contributor
and is the author of foodspring’s food forager blog.

1 comment

Rauno I appreciate the effort to spread knowledge about the german cuisine but hey, there are a couple of mistakes in this article. For example: Spätzle and Knödel are totally different. Spätzle is a side dish consisting of pasta-like stings made of a simple fluor based dough while Knödel are balls made of a dough which comes in tons of different varieties. Most of them bread based. "Eintopf" stands for stew in general, not specifically for seafood stew. But I really like the article. It shows the world that there is more to germany than autobahn, bratwurst and lederhosen which by the way are only worn in parts of southern germany :)

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