German Agriculture and Cuisine
An in-depth look at the agrarian heritage, favorite meals, and popular dishes of Germany.
Location: Germany
Agriculture
Germany has a rich farming tradition. Most farms are private, owned by families who work them mornings, evenings, and weekends when they are not at their regular, full-time jobs.
Germany’s farms continue to produce a great bounty of crops, as they have been for thousands of years. Even the less fertile soils of the northern lowlands and southern highlands produce rye, oats, potatoes, wheat, barley, and sugar beets. Southeastern farms grow hops for beer, and the farmlands around Hamburg and Berlin are rich sources of vegetables. Temperatures and humidity in the Rhine and Mosel Valleys are ideal for vineyards, and German wines are sent all over the world. Further south, the hills are covered with orchards of cherry and plum trees, and the fields below them are a source of dairy cows, pigs, and chickens.
Beekeeping
Germany has a long history of beekeeping, dating back to the early Middle Ages. On Lüneburg Heath and the areas surrounding it, nearly every medieval farm had a Bienanzaun, or bee enclosure, producing honey and beeswax using a specialized form of beekeeping known as heath beekeeping, adapted to efficiently obtain the heather honey for which the reason was famous. Beehives were plaited straw baskets, transportable so that they could be moved around the farmstead as needed to provide the bees with sufficient forage. A small number of colonies would be allowed to overwinter on the property, and these would grow and spread over time through springtime swarming. Centuries of selective breeding led to the development of the European Dark Bee, common to the area today. In medieval Germany, honey and beeswax were traded across central Europe, particularly through the trading center of Celle on the Südheide.
Cuisine
As with most cultures, German cuisine is defined by the produce of the country. The relative lack of diversity of climate in the country led to German food gaining a reputation as boring or stodgy—especially prior to the increase in international trade in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
In ancient times, the short growing season and mild climate limited the crops to primarily wheat and barley, with pasturelands used for sheep, cows, and goats. The meat of these animals was saved for the wealthy or for feast times, but milk, butter, and cheese were common. Spices were those grown in the country, including parsley, celery, and dill.
Conquering Romans introduced grapes and winemaking to the region, and developments in agricultural methods allowed Germans to add oats and rye to their crops. Expanding trade networks following the Roman conquest also brought new ingredients and spices, especially to larger cities.
But modern German cuisine, especially when separated from popular French and Italian influences, still shares much with the food of the earliest Germanic tribal peoples. Meat is commonly served at every meal, especially cured meats and sausages, often accompanied by mustard, horseradish, and the juniper berries that can be harvested from the Luneberg Heath. Accompanied by yeast breads and vegetables (particularly potatoes since their introduction in the nineteenth century), cheese and beer, these make up the core of everyday German food.
Meals
Germans traditionally eat three meals a day—a hearty breakfast, a large, hot lunch eaten between 12 and 2 p.m., and a smaller, simpler evening meal. Snacks between meals are the norm; Zwischenmahlzeit is the word for these “in-between meals.” Pausenbrot is a snack eaten by students between breakfast and lunch—a sandwich, fruit, yogurt, or Musli bars are popular.
A traditional German breakfast starts with coffee, tea, or hot cocoa, followed by warm bread topped with butter, marmalade, or honey. Quark (curd cheese similar to Indian paneer), sausage, or hard cheese are also popular. Young people are increasingly likely to eat cold cereals like Musli, topped with milk or yogurt and fresh fruit. Leisurely breakfasts may also include eggs (hard-boiled, fried, or scrambled). In modern times, full breakfasts of fresh bread (purchased from corner bakeries), cheese, and sausage are often enjoyed only on weekends.
A typical lunch might consist of Kartoffelsalat mit Wurstchen (potato salad with sausage or meat balls), Spatzle noodles with stir-fried vegetables, Schnitzel with buttered vegetables, or fish sticks with mashed potatoes. Meat and vegetables are served at most meals: pork and chicken with green beans, carrots, peas, and cabbage. Potatoes arrived in Germany in the sixteenth century, and became a staple of the German diet by the early nineteenth century. They remain a favorite, whether boiled, fried, mashed, or made into dumplings (Knodel), croquettes (Krokette) or French fries (Pommes Frites).
In the mid-afternoon, friends or families might gather for Kaffee und Kuchen (Coffee and Cake), similar to a British teatime. Rich, dark coffee with cream—or less commonly, tea--is enjoyed with homemade cake or pastries purchased from the corner bakery.
The evening meal, or Abendbrot, is a light meal eaten between 6 and 7 p.m. Bread, cheese, meat or sausage, and mustards and pickles are served with salad or soup. Adults drink beer or wine.
Popular Foods
As with any national cuisine, typical dishes are far too numerous to do more than provide a sampling here. But the following describes some of the better known German foods, especially those that have existed in some form for centuries.
Pretzels are often associated with Germany. In medieval times, the unusual shape of these delicious breads was originally meant to represent the crossed arms of Jesus Christ upon the cross, and they were a popular Easter snack.
Spaetzle, a type of small dumpling or pasta, is made with fresh eggs and flour. It has been part of the regional cuisine since medieval times, and may have originally have been made from spelt flour. Made today from durum wheat with a high semolina content, it is often served with roasted meats and gravy, or in soup.
Roasted pork or beef, often served with cabbage, is very popular in a variety of styles: Schweinshaxe (roasted pork hocks), Schweinebraten und Kohl (braised pork roast with cabbage), Sauerbraten, and others. Schnitzel, tenderized meat cutlets that are fried with or without a batter of breading and egg, is prepared with some variations based on the region from which the recipe comes.
German desserts include apple cake, rice pudding, or streusel cake.
Bibliography
Kathryn Lane, Germany: The Land (New York, NY: Crabtree Publishing Company, 2001).
Richard Lord, Festivals of the World: Germany (Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Gareth Stevens Publishing, 1997).
“Germany,” The World Factbook, 15 January 2019, Central Intelligence Agency, accessed 19 January 2019.
“Meals and Manners, Eating Habits in Germany,” CMA Global Partners, LLC. 2019. Germanfoods.org. Accessed 20 January 2019.
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