Breakfast
Germans prefer breakfast menu consisting of bread, toast, and bread rolls supplemented with jam, honey, marmalade, eggs over a cup of strong coffee or tea. For children, usually milk or cocoa is preferred. Delicacies like deli meats, such as ham, salami are also common on breakfast menu.
Lunch and Dinner
Traditionally, Lunch has been the main meal of the day which is usually eaten around noon. In comparison, Dinner is always a smaller meal which is made of sandwiches sometimes. But, last 50 years have seen a quite radical shift in those eating habits. Of late, most of the people prefer a small lunch around noon and like to enjoy a hot relaxed dinner in the evening. Breakfast is still a very elaborated, popular concept and can be perfect occasions to invite friends and guests.
Side Dishes
Noodles make the important part of German side dishes. They, especially Spätzle contain large amount of egg yolk. Besides noodles, potatoes and dumplings are very common. Potatoes entered late in German cuisine (18th century) and were the most ubiquitous in the 19th and 20th centuries.Generally, Potatoes are often served boiled in salt water, but mashed and fried potatoes also are traditional, and french fries have now become very common part of side dishes.
Drinks
Association of German Cuisine with Beer is quite old one, with many local and regional breweries offering a wide variety of beers. In most of the country, Pils is most popular name today, whereas people in the South like Bavaria prefer Lager or wheat beer.Again a number of regions have a special kind of local beer.
Wine is also popular throughout the country. The principal source areas of German wine are the upper and middle Rhine and its tributaries. Riesling and Silvaner are among the best-known varieties. Traditionally, white wine is preferred over red or rosé, and sweet wine more popular than dry.
Desserts
A great variety of cakes and tarts made with fresh fruit are enjoyed throughout the country. Apples, plums, strawberries, and cherries are used regularly on cakes. Cheesecake, German doughnuts, Berliner or Krapfen are also very popular desserts. "Rote Grütze", red fruit pudding is another popular dessert in northern Germany. "Rhabarbergrütze" , a rhubarb pudding and "Grüne Grütze", a gooseberry pudding are some popular variations of the "Rote Grütze".
Ice cream and sorbets are also very popular. Italian-run ice cream parlours were the first large wave of foreign-run eateries in Germany, becoming widespread in the 1920s. A popular ice cream treat is called Spaghetti Eis.
Chief Constituents of German Food
Meat and Fish - Pork being the most preferred constituent of German food, although other main sources like beef and poultry are consumed. Among poultry products, chicken is the most popular, but goose, duck, and turkey are also well appreciated. Generally, you will find local pot-roasted meat and imported pan-fried dishes from France. Meat is often eaten in form of sausage throughout Germany. It is a trend for certain families here to make their own sausage for personal consumption.
Today many seafish like salmonTrout, fresh herring, mackerel, sardine, tuna are commonly served while common freshwater fishes on German menus are carp, pike, and European perch. Once, seafood was traditionally restricted to the northern coastal areas. Freshwater fish are often served grilled Fresh water fishes are more preferred in traditional German food than sea water fishes.
Vegetables
Vegetables are usually preferred in form of vegetable soups or stews. They also make good side dish. Cabbage, carrots, spinach, turnips, peas, beans, are very common. Fried onions are a common addition to many meat dishes throughout the country. Potatoes, while a major part of the diet, are usually not counted among vegetables by Germans. Asparagus, especially white asparagus known as spargel, is particularly enjoyed in Germany as a side dish or as a main meal.
Bread
The country boasts more than 6000 different types of bread, ranging from white wheat bread to grey bread and black rye bread. Most types of bread contain both wheat and rye flour. Bread is a big part of the German diet, and usually eaten for breakfast and as sandwiches in the evening, not as a side dish for the main meal. Bread is served with almost every meal.
Regional Specialities
Traditional German Cuisine is characterized by some famous, regional delicacies over the years.
1. Frankfurt am Main and Hessen offer specialities like Frankfurter sausage, a smoked sausage made from pure pork, Green Sauce made from minced and an abundant amount of seven fresh herbs, Handkäs mit Musik, a strong cheese made from curdled milk served in a dressing.
2. Bayern or Bavaria offers delicacies like Schweinsbraten, a pot-roasted pork, white sausage, a speciality from Munich, a wheat bear known as Weinzenbier and knodel, dumplings from white bread.
3. Hamburg region offers specialities like Aalsuppe, a sweet and sour soup of meat broth, dried fruits, vegetables, and herbs, Labskaus made from corned beef, andJükääg, a cabbage roll.
4. Rheinland has characteristic cuisines like Reibekuchen, Potato fritters with black bread, Rheinischer Sauerbraten, traditionally horse meat dish, Blood sausage, Halve Hahn, a cheese sandwich with onions.
5. Saxony region offers the delicacies like gingerbread known as Lebkuchen. Pulsnitz is the most popular Lebkuchen Saxony offering. Leipziger Allerlei is also another popular cuisine.
6. Saarland offers specialities like Geheirote, Potatoes and dumplings made of flour served with a creamy bacon sauce and Dibbelabbes, a potato hash prepared from raw grated potatoes, bacon and leeks, and baked in a Dibbe
A typical German meal consists of around six to seven courses. Starting from an appetizer (Vorspeise), a soup (Suppe), followed by a main course (Hauptspeise) with one or two either raw or cooked side dishes (Beilagen). "Nachspeise" are after-meal treats. During the whole day, they love to drink drip coffee with majestic "Torte" or "Kuchen" (cake). Any true German "Hausfrau" would never like to be so rude to not serve coffee and cake to her welcomed guests!
