Popular Cuisine from Germany

Food is one of my passions and I want to dedicate this post to it. The idea of endless combinations of ingredients to create delicious dishes is so exciting. I love trying new ethnic cuisines and experimenting with new recipes. I’m quite adventurous when it comes to food. I have tried a pigeon stew in Italy, a cow's tail in France, and a crocodile sausage in New Orleans to name a few. So you can imagine that when I travel, my taste buds are in heaven!

Germany will be no exception. I’m looking forward to going to different regions and tasting their unique cuisines. Each state has distinct ingredients than vary their dishes. 

Germans are known for their hearty and meaty dishes with tons of sausage and potatoes. Below, I have chosen four regions I will be visiting and explored their local foods dishes. The links on a few of the foods will lead you to a recipe. Maybe you will want to give one of these German specialties a try.

Lower Saxony

Location: North

City: Hannover

The basis of Lower Saxony cuisine is seafood and dairy. Vegetables, such as kale, “Grünkohl,” are also popular.

• Seafood: crab, mussels, mackerel, trout, and flouder
• Kochwurst: a pre-cooked sausage
• Schlachteplatte: a dish with a variety of different meats
• Butterkuchen: a butter cake

Schlachteplatte

Butterkuchen

North Rhine/Westphalia

Location: West

Cities: Dusseldorf and Cologne

The basis of Westphalia cuisine is meats, beans, potatoes, and grain. Fish is less popular in this region due to its lack of availability.

Reibekuchen

• Reibekuchen: a potato pancake 
• Sauerbraten: marinated beef 
• Pumpernickel Bread: sweet rye bread

Bavaria

Location: Southeast

City: Munich

Bavarian cuisine is known for its simple ingredients and its big flavor. Their main ingredients are sausage, meats, and wheat products.

• Leberknödelsuppe: a Liver Dumpling Soup 
• Weisswurst: veal and pork sausage

** Weisswurt must be eaten with your hands dipped in sweet mustard and never with a fork and knife

• Breznknödel: a pretzel dumpling 
• Zwetschgenkuchen: a plum cake 

Leberknödelsuppe

Zwetschgenkuchen

Berlin

Location: Northeast

City: Berlin

The basis of cuisine in Berlin is pork, goose, fish, cabbage, pickles, and potatoes. Dumplings and potatoes continue to be a local favorite.

• Kartoffelsuppe: a potato soup 
• Königsberger Klopse: a dumpling of beef and capers
• Berliner Pfannkuchen: a deep fried sweet donut 
• Leberwurst: liverwurst

Kartoffelsuppe

Berliner Pfannkuchen

I look forward to tasting as many of these dishes as possible. Eating such delicacies from their location of origin make them that much better. Perhaps, I or my blogger friend Gwyneth, of The Dancer's Dish, will give one of these recipes a try. Keep you posted!