My father’s German, and he’s always liked having warm meals for lunch and cold meals for breakfast and dinner.
When we went there a few years ago, the typical day looked like this:
Breakfast: Jams, spreads, breads and tea or coffee / OR Cold cut platter (see dinner)
Germans really love their bread. There’s an assortment of rye breads, wholegrain breads, and some breads with real bite to them here. Butter, fruit preserves (plum jam is my father’s favourite), croissants, tea and coffee and some sugar cubes - perfect German breakfast right there.
Lunch: Warm meal
Germans love the following things, and incorporate them often - potatoes, meat, bread, alcohol, fermented foods and spaetzle.
Some common dishes:
- Kaesespaetzle (cheese noodles)
- Beef Roulade, mash and gravy and some roast veges or red cabbage
- Beef Goulash with mash / spaetzle (I’ve seen it served in a bread bowl before, too, but that was in a restaurant)
- Nuernberger sausages, mash, sauerkraut, mustard
- nuernberger sausages have a very distinctive flavour. They’re little miniature bratwursts, I definitely recommend them!
- Sauerkraut is so infamous it’s a jelly belly flavour, but it’s actually delicious. If you’ve only eaten it outside of Germany you probably didn’t like it. The sauerkraut you often find at “German restaurants” in the US/UK/Australia can be quite bland because it’s basically taken straight from the tin. Real sauerkraut tastes fantastic - it’s got speck (bits of pork and pork fat), looks a little darker in colour than it does from the tin due to having been cooked for a while, and is filled with meat juices and flavour. You have to try sauerkraut in Germany. It’s not the same.
- Jaegerschnitzel (every chef/grandma has their own take on this… but it’s basically a mushroom-based sauce, and a delicious, huge schnitzel that’s been hammered extremely thin)
- Frankfurt sausage, mustard, mashed potatoes
Note, however, that my father’s quite old-fashioned as he was born in the 40s. Times have changed since my father’s time, and these days it’s becoming less and less common for people to eat their main meal at lunch and ‘Abendbrot’ for dinner - instead, lunch and dinner have been switched so that the hot, main meal is served for dinner instead of at lunch.
Lunch on the go?
In Germany, little ‘sausage stalls’ are incredibly common. They’re on every street corner, and you can buy delicious sausages there - usually there’s quite few types available - as well as choose from a selection of soups.
- Currywurst - this is a classic. Every German has a soft spot for currywurst. Try it.
- Thueringer Bratwurst
- Kransky
- Ham and pea soup (another classic, often has chunks of potato in there too - great with rye and butter)
- Pumpkin soup (there’s an ongoing debate - chunky or smooth? People are as passionate about this as they are about the chunky or smooth peanut butter debate)
- Goulash soup (like goulash, without as much meat, and much thinner in consistency - just as spicy, flavourful and delicious though)
Dinner: Cold cut platter + hot soup/leftovers from lunch
- Liverwurst (liver pate)
- Schmalz (basically lard)
- Selection of cold cuts - schinkenwurst, salami, sliced meatloaf, ham, leberkaese
- Selection of cheeses - e.g. Edam cheese
- All served with delicious bread - rye bread, white bread, sourdough, croissants
Dessert
Germans love sweets, but the variety’s probably increased since my father still lived there… nevertheless, here are some recommendations.
- Kaiserschmarrn (torn pancakes) - absolutely delicious, you must try this.
- Crepes
- Apple strudel (delicious when warm)
- Rote Grutze - national treasure, soft spot in Germans’ hearts - pudding and fruit compot
- Rumpot - alcohol, fruit and sugar during the festive season
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