For the love of sausage

Germany is not especially well-known for its light and delicate cuisine. That’s was fine with Guus from Holland who came to Germany on a mission: to find the ultimate German specialty – the bratwurst. He found it, and ended up taking much more of it with him when he went home.

by Fritz Habekuß

Your first sausage ought to be a good one. Because, as we all know, first impressions are often lasting impressions – not just with people, but sausages, too. Guus, who comes from Zwolle in The Netherlands, was lucky. His mouth still waters when he thinks back to his first sausage – a Currywurst (curried sausage). But he had to wait quite a while before he could finally try one. “I came to Germany in the wintertime. Of course, I knew that sausages were a German specialty, but I couldn’t find any for a long time,” the 21-year-old Erasmus student explains. It was baffling because he had spent his semester in Dortmund – a city known for its working-class culture and no-nonsense mentality.  

But then, slowly but surely, summer came and Germans got out their grills, and “suddenly there was sausage everywhere.” And Guus ate them to his heart’s content. Even today, he prefers this German “fast food” to the Dutch frikandel. “Of course, I wouldn’t dare admit this back home,“ he says and laughs, “I don’t think my fellow Dutchmen would like that very much.”    

One country, many sausages

Although food is the first thing Guus thinks of when it comes to German clichés, it is more the mood than the food that he still associates with his stay in Germany. “It’s difficult to say what it is exactly. Probably, it’s more like a special feeling,” he says. He remembers an atmosphere of openness in Germany, all the student parties in a country with many different facets. He got acquainted with other students very quickly and easily. “Much easier than in Holland,” Guus claims. “I took lots of German-language seminars and worked at the radio station – I met so many great people there,” he says. Today he has friends all over the world, and naturally in Dortmund. He met them while travelling – to Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt – Guus has been practically everywhere, especially in the cities around Dortmund. His tour of Germany was also a culinary adventure. “I had the impression that every German state had its own special type of sausage,” says Guus. That’s not really true, but almost. Indeed, Germany has as many sides as it has different tastes. The Bavarians swear by their Weißwurst – but not all of them. If you go to Franconia, you’ll be served a Franconian bratwurst, even though Franconia is a region of Bavaria. Sound complicated? It is.

Germans love international cuisine

What? You don’t like sausage? Don’t worry – you can find lots of alternatives in every larger city – vegetarian, vegan, Chinese, Italian, Arabic cuisine. And if you want to cook something yourself, you’ll find a rather large assortment of products in German supermarkets. If you live in a large city and need something very special for a certain recipe, you may just well find it at an ethnic food specialty shop.

Cooking is also a good way to meet people. Did you know that the Studentenwerk at many universities organise international evenings where you students from around the world cook dinner together? Cutting onions or peeling potatoes, you’ll find it easy to strike up conversation, and in the end, whip up a delicious meal. And if your dinner flops, then at least your fiasco in the kitchen will bring you all closer together.   

Instead of cuckoo clock or lederhosen, Guus decided to take a very special souvenir back to Holland – a first-class Currywurst recipe! Even though he is knows that German cuisine has much more to offer than sausages.  

Guus' currywurst recipe

1. Fry up 30 bratwursts in a pan and cut them into little pieces.
2. Mix the sausage segments with a bottle of catsup, Zigeuner sauce and a dash of cherry juice.
3. Season with curry and paprika – and voila!

With this much Currywurst, the only thing to do is throw a little party and invite a bunch of new friends. But if there’s a vegetarian coming, it’s BYOV (Bring Your Own Veggie).

Link: Did you know that Berlin's home to the world's one and only Currywurst Museum?