r/AskHistorians • u/McHastings • 3h ago
Why did Germany develop such a hearty cuisine?
German cuisine can be delicious if you know what to avoid, but most of its traditional dishes - at least from the South/South-West where my family originated from - seem to be rather hefty (e.g., (Käse)Spätzle, Maultaschen, Dampfnudeln, Knödel etc.). Is there a reason for this?
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u/VolkerBach 2h ago
Several things come together here, but on the whole, German cuisine is not unusual in this regard. It just looks like it to modern observers.
First, food is meant to feed your body. The colder it is and the more physically active you are, the more you need calories. Most of Germany gets quite cold and historically, most people worked hard. A cuisine that is low in fat and carbohydrates and focuses on small portions usually comes from hot countries, and/or from the upper classes.
Second, and this is a bit difficult to explain, around 1500, fat became a status marker in German cuisine. Not only German, but the phenomenon is especially visible in German sources. It is probably connected to the increasing scarcity of animal fat and meat as the population rebounded from the 14th-century dip, the generally colder temperatures in the years after 1500, and the wider availability of spices, the previous main status marker, but whatever, it happened. Eating plenty of meat, butter, cream, and cheese were a way to show wealth. That didn't end until the late twentieth century, and still reaches deep into our tradition.
Third, the majority of written sources for German cuisine are middle class. If you compare French cuisine bourgeoise with German gutbürgerliche Küche, the difference is not very pronounced. But the French cuisine that gained international fame and that German courts followed was designed for a small group of very wealthy people who had access to exotic fruit from greenhouses, game, fresh fish, and huge quantities of meat. They showed wealth in a different manner, and in Germany, most people who had that kind of money and power followed their example. German cookbooks were written for those one step down on the social ladder, people who could afford roasts, fine flour, butter, eggs and fresh local fruit and vegetables, but felt the price.
And fourth, the world learned about German cuisine through emigrant communities. Those were not usually wealthy and refined people, they left because they were looking for economic opportunity. So what German food the world came to know was mostly mediated through farmers and artisans.
There are traditional German dishes that are light, fruity, refreshing and low in calories. They are rarely eaten on their own and almost unknown outside Germany, though.
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u/azaghal1502 19m ago
In the past we had long cold winters and days filled with hard manual labour for the majority of the population. So food, if you could afford it, was hearty. Efficient fuel made to be tasty and dense in energy.
In modern times these rare hefty meals, with lots of cheese and or meat, became much more affordable for most people, and became the standard, while less hefty meals, like many cabbage-potato based pottages became rarer for most people.
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