The most typical German food I can think of? No, it´s not Schnitzel (that´s Austrian). It´s not Eisbein, nor is it Schweinshaxe nor even Pretzels – all of them being bavarian. There is actually no “German cuisine” as such. A political entity called Germany did, in fact, not exist until 1871 – and one German culture does not exist unto this very day. That is also true of German cooking. So it is not quite easy to name the most German dish of all, when the different regions of Germany have not only different regional dishes, but even different cooking styles.
German food differs regionally
My family lives in Lower Saxony, which is part of northern Germany. However, our village is not very close to the seaside so seafish or shrimps are not part of our traditional regional cuisine. They are along the coastlines of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, of course!
But we are still far enough up in the north to differ very strongly in our food preferences from Bavaria, or Baden-Württemberg, or the Rhineland-Palatine. Actually, the difference is not just about preferences. It´s about availability. At least it used to be in times when ordinary people had to rely on local produce for their food.
Traditional German food – northern style
The region we live in is rather cold and was even colder during much of the middle ages. Wheat did not grow well, or not at all. That´s why Pretzels have no tradition up north. Other wheat-based product like white bread or yeast dumplings are more of a southern thing, too. I mean – we do know them and white bread is an everyday food for very many people, especially in the form of breakfast rolls or toast. But they are not traditional to our region. Our traditional baked goods are made from rye. Our traditional pancakes, even, were made with buckwheat before wheat became cheap and therefore popular.
The most German food of all? Well, we do love our potatoes…
From the 18th century onward, our first and foremost ingredient was potatoes. Which, as I learned today, were considered pig food in the south (we let them have some of our beets…). Much of northern Germany really was poor back in the day… We even have town names like “Sorge” (worry) and “Elend” (misery). From a modern point of view, that makes for very picturesque medieval smalltowns to visit on a weekend trip.
Anyway, back to food. Potatoes, then, definitely are our thing. Boiled and peeled. Mashed. Fried. As soup. As pancakes. Even baked into bread, sweet and savory pancakes. We love them!
Some rambling about potatoes (I could not stop myself)
While I write this, I am temporarily in a country that seems to be obsessed with wheat and corn, but I just can´t get decent potatoes here. They only have two types: Red ones and brown ones. Apparently, nobody even knows what their names are. Just red and brown, that´s it. In Germany, you don´t just buy potatoes. You go shopping for a particular sort, like Linda, Belana, Laura, Sieglinde… depending on what you are planning to cook, since they are either mashy, firm or medium and of course you may want them yellow, white, red or blue, big for mashing or grating, or small for boiling, baking or frying. Here is a list of potato sorts in Germany…
Vegetables that are typical for northern Germany
Besides potatoes, we eat a lot of vegetables in our region of Germany. The vegetation period can be very short locally – in some places the last frost can be expected as late as May, so vegetables that can´t stand the cold like Zucchini, Pumpkins, or of course Tomatos cannot be planted before 20th May. Mid-August is the end of the vegetation period. But there are vegetables that are way more tolerant of cool temperatures: Some salads, some cabbages and peas can be sown in March. Some other cabbages will keep growing in late autumn, especially kale; as will leek.
The most German food – in northern Germany
So traditional northern German food before the age of large-scale exchange of goods consisted of these: Peas, beans, lentils, linseed, beets and carrots, white and red cabbage, kale, leek, onions, buckwheat, millet, rye, oats, greencore (unripe spelt), nuts, apples, pears, berries, some herbs, possibly fish – and the occasional bit of game if one managed to sneak past the gamekeeper. I´m descibing the diet of ordinary people here, not that of wealthy farmers, merchants or nobility, of course. Potatoes came to continental Europe since America was “discovered”, and became an everyday food in the 18th century. Oh, and while cows´ milk was not available to most before the age of motorisation, people did keep goats. If they did not own a stable, a goat would be kept in the basement or even within the house, and the younger children would spend their day walking the goat so it would find some grass along the ditches or outside of the village.
One traditional dish across the whole of Germany
Things have changed a lot since then. People get anything they want (and can pay for) at the supermarket. But this is about tradition. And while anyone is able to get anything in all parts of Germany, there still are regional preferences. For example, a week without kale is a lost week to someone from northern Germany, while many in the south are not even quite sure what kale is or how to cook it. We even have festive winter traditions all around kale up here. And that has nothing to do with the kale hype that swept across the western world a few years ago – it´s just always been like that.
Now after saying all this – there still is one type of food that is common to all of Germany and is an actual everyday food in all parts of the country. And that is Eintopf.
Eintopf – the German version of a stew
“Eintopf” literally translates to “One Pot”. So basically, to cook Eintopf, you just take whatever vegetables you can get, cut them up to a convenient size, add something to make it more satisfysing like potatoes or pasta, rice or millet, boil it all in salted water, add oil or butter, salt and spices, and there´s your Eintopf. Of course there are countless specific Eintopf recipes, and some combinations taste better than others, but basically you can take anything there is. You can also add different sorts of meat, but that´s not necessarily expected. This makes Eintopf a very quick, simple and thrifty meal – you can use leftovers, you can use whatever vegetables happen to be on offer cheaply or look good, you can use whatever there is from your garden, and you can easily make it more for any guests that may happen to drop by. We even have a saying about this: “Fünf sind geladen, zehn sind gekommen. Gieß Wasser zur Suppe, heiß alle willkommen!” (Five were invited, but ten came – add some water to the soup and welcome them all!)
By the way, an Eintopf can also be called Suppe (soup), but the word is often used more specifically to describe a meal that outside of Germany would hardly be described as a soup – more of a stew or mash. It really is not meant to be a starter or side dish, but a whole meal, so it only contains a little more water or fond than is necessary to cook it without burning.
Look forward to Eintopf recipes!
While I just described how to make Eintopf out of pretty much anything, I will be sharing with you some specific tried-and-tested Eintopf recipes for inspiration and as an insight into traditional German cooking!
You can find here a very simple German pumpkin soup which qualifies as Eintopf because of its chunky consistency and nourishing quality.
There is also a festive pumpkin soup with ginger and orange juice that is a popular starter dish in Germany. You can find it by opening the pumpkin soup link and then using the link to the more refined version.
More Eintopf recipes are to follow in January!
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