Cutting Through The Sauerkraut - The Ten Most Common Stereotypes About German Food And Drink

For the past ten years, I have cooked and baked my way through Germany (see my blog Spoonfuls of Germany) and decided it’s about time for a negative top ten list. See for yourself what’s behind these ten most common stereotypes surrounding German food and drink.

1. German cuisine is just bratwurst, sauerkraut and potatoes

Via spoonfulsofgermany.com

Wrong. German cuisine is highly diverse. There is seafood in the North, numerous hearty dishes with root vegetables in the East, lots of cooking with wine and French-inspired dishes in the West, and Bavaria's famous cuisine in the South.

2. Germans eat mainly meat

Via plumdeluxe.com

Wrong. Vegetarians and veganism is on the rise in Germany. The number of vegetarians has doubled in recent years. For the first time in 2013, Munich’s Octoberfest offered vegan dishes. But it does not have to be always tofu to be vegan, a traditional German rutabaga soup is vegan also!

3. Germans are the world's leading potato eaters

Via spoonfulsofgermany.com

Wrong. With 57 kilograms per person, Germans eat almost less than half as many potatoes as the Latvians and Poles. But every German region has an amazing variety of potato dishes besides the usual suspects potato dumplings, fried potatoes, potato salad.

4. Germans eat lots of sauerkraut

Via riceandcurry.wordpress.com

Wrong. The French and the Americans actually consume more sauerkraut than the Germans. Cabbage, for that matter, ranks pretty low on the top ten list of the Germans’ favorite vegetables. Tomatoes are number one. Maybe that’s because of all the ketchup consumed with currywurst?

5. Germans drink only beer

Via spoonfulsofgermany.com

Wrong. Beer consumption is dropping, while wine consumption is on the rise. And who does not like a delectable classic strawberry punch (Erdbeerbowle) on a hot summer day?

6. German cuisine is not refined

Via plumdeluxe.com

Wrong. German cuisine can be very sophisticated, even in dishes with pork and sauerkraut.

7. Germans have coffee and cake every day

Via spoonfulsofgermany.com

Wrong, although the afternoon Kaffee und Kuchen is a tradition that luckily will never die in Germany. But since we all know that Germans work endless hours, who has time to sit around the coffee table, except on weekends? And you can always bring Black Forest cake to the office, too.

8. All Germans celebrate carnival

Via spoonfulsofgermany.com

Wrong. The “fifth season” (fünfte Jahreszeit) as it is often called, is not everybody’s thing. Many people, especially in the Rhineland, leave town on Shrove Thursday and return only late on Fat Tuesday, or early on Ash Wednesday. However, you do not have to be a carnival fan to love the different scrumptious carnival doughnuts.

9. German cuisine is bland

Via spoonfulsofgermany.com

Wrong. Many German dishes since the Middle Ages have incorporated exotic spices, especially in port cities like Hamburg and Bremen, and towns and cities along major trade routes. Think gingerbread from Nuremberg. And chestnuts have been grown in Palatinate since Roman Times.

10. German cuisine lacks humor (just like the Germans do)

Via germanpulse.com

Wrong. Lots of German foods have whimsical, quirky names. How about these delectable macaroons with a rather unappetizing name, Mannheimer Dreck (“Mannheim Dirt”). They were invented by a baker in the first half of the 19th-century following a new fine for dumping human and household waste onto the street. There are dozens of other hilarious names, but that’s the topic for another top ten list.