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LIVING IN GERMANY

Five German foods to try this summer

With its hearty pork and potato dishes, you may think that German food is more suited to the winter months - but a taste of these gorgeous summer treats will definitely change your mind.

Spargel queen in Beelitz
The Spargel Queen and six Landfrauen (country women) display their harvest of Spargel in the famous asparagus town of Beelitz, near Berlin. Photo: picture alliance / dpa | Ralf Hirschberger

Each region of Germany has its own summer culinary tradition for the best meals to snack on in the sun. What’s great is that many of them can easily be made vegetarian or vegan. 

Why not find some recipes based on the delectable treats below to impress the guests at your next summer party or barbecue?

  • Fried herring

Fried, salted herring is a classic northern German dish. It became popular in the Hanseatic League, which grew from a few north German towns in the late 12th century.

The League disintegrated in the late 16th Century, but Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck remained members until the mid-1800s. Members of the Hanseatic League developed a special cuisine due to their access to rich foreign ingredients from their connections abroad. This made Hanseatic food distinctive and unusual, as it was rare that other regions even in northern Germany would have access to similar ingredients and flavourings.


Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s state premier Erwin Sellering receives a fried herring from District Administrator Birgit Hesse at the International Green Week in Berlin. Fried herring, or Brathering, is a hanseatic speciality. Photo: picture alliance / dpa | Nestor Bachmann

The League traded in herring, so it soon became a staple. Salting the herring helped to preserve it, and the popularity of the food has stuck. Nowadays northern Germans eat Bratheringe – fried and marinated herrings. 

Herrings are often served as a salad (with a sour-cream dressing), with cream cheese sauce (Frischkäse-Sauce), marinated with spices or as Berlin-style Rollmops (rolled and stuffed with vegetables and spices). They are often also served with a side of crispy potato slices. 

Unfortunately there aren’t many vegan or vegetarian alternatives to this food itself, but beetroots, fried aubergine, apples or gherkins make for good vegan swap-in options in salads.

  • White Asparagus

States like Baden-Württemberg and Brandenburg pride themselves on their white asparagus (or Spargel) dishes, as the vegetable stands at the heart of their trade. Some states even rake in big bucks selling ‘asparagus tours’ to tourists where you can explore the asparagus-growing regions and even sample different types of asparagus. 

READ ALSO: Only in Germany: McDonald’s begins offering ‘Spargel Burger’

Some cities on the Baden route also offer an annual asparagus festival (Spargelfest) with a whole host of different asparagus-based meals on the menu, alongside fun asparagus-related activities. 

It’s such an immensely popular ingredient that around a fifth of Germany’s overall land for vegetable cultivation is reserved for white asparagus. 

It is thought that white asparagus was first introduced into Germany via the Roman Empire, but the industry dissolved. It emerged next in the 16th century, but only on the plates of the most wealthy and privileged. 


“Spargelino”, the mascot of famous Spargel town Beelitz in Brandenburg, walks with an elderly lady through the streets. Photo: Ralf Hirschberger/dpa

The fact that white asparagus used to be reserved for royalty and the court plays no small part in its popularity. It even has two nicknames in Germany which reflect its former pomp and prestige: das Königsgemüse (the royal vegetable) or das Weißgeld (white gold). 

READ ALSO: Why Germans go crazy for wild mushrooms in the autumn months

However, with now over 70,000 tonnes of asparagus consumed by Germans per year, the years of scarcity are now being more than made up for.  

Asparagus season (or Spargelzeit) usually spans from the middle of April to the end of June, so it is an ideal food for the spring or summer heat and can be converted into a number of diverse and versatile meals. 

Spargel can be eaten in soup, salads, tarts, pasta dishes or on its own with a light sauce or vinaigrette. Next time you visit a restaurant during Spargelzeit, you may even see a Spargel pizza on the menu! And if you fancy a tipple, it can also be incorporated into alcoholic drinks such as martinis.

Countless recipes in English or German can be found online if you fancy incorporating this royal food into your summer repertoire. Even better – it’s easy to keep recipes with this ingredient in them vegan or at least vegetarian. 

READ ALSO: Spaghetti ice cream to Wobbly Peter: Why we love Germany’s sweet summer snacks

  • Cabbage salad

Cabbage salad is a slaw-like, summery salad packed with flavour and nutrients. Red kraut salad is made with shredded red cabbage, red onion, pickled beetroot, vinegar and plum jam, whilst white kraut salad (Weisskrautsalat) is made with white cabbage, vegetable stock, vinegar, sugar and caraway seeds. You can also optionally add bacon – or vegan bacon alternatives if you want to keep it vegetarian or vegan.

The salad is popular far beyond Germany – it is a common side or barbecue dish in America, Poland, Serbia and Hungary. However, Bavarian variations of the salad are favoured throughout Germany. 


Cabbage salad can be made with either red or white cabbage and served as a delicious side dish at a summer barbecue. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/Gräfe und Unzer Verlag | Oliver Brachat

This simple-to-make, often vegan recipe is a favourite for many Germans in the summer months due to its lightness and versatility. It was also an incredibly widespread and popular food in the GDR, to be found on any raw food buffet.

  • Bavarian ‘bee sting’ cream cake

This traditional recipe, called Bienenstich (bee sting cake) in German, has a predictably interesting backstory. According to legend, a feud between the towns of Andernach and Linz escalated into violence when the former was attacked by the latter. 

However, the residents of Andernach managed to fend the residents of Linz off by throwing beehives at the attackers, who promptly fled. To celebrate the event, the people of Andernach invented the cake and named it after the event which inspired it. 


What could be better on a hot summer’s day than a light and delicious slice of Bienenstich? Photo: Alice Wiegand / CC-BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

The Bienenstich is a rich but not heavy dessert made which combines flaked, caramelised almonds, honey, sweet yeast dough and vanilla custard or cream. The honey is an important component, relating to and recalling the origin tale of the dessert. 

The cake takes less than an hour to prepare and is a brilliant addition to any party, barbecue or garden party. If made correctly, it is airy and light to eat – an excellent snack to enjoy in the heat. 

READ ALSO: Five German foods that aren’t what you think they are

This dessert is always vegetarian, and there’s a wealth of easy recipes online explaining how to make vegan alternatives which taste just as good as the original. 

  • Spätzle and spätzle salad

Spätzle dishes originate from Swabia and are eaten at all times of the year, but spätzle salads are a very common side dish at barbecues and other summer events. In fact, around 40,000 tonnes of Spätzle are produced in the German food industry each year – although this is only half as much as annual asparagus consumption, and to my knowledge there’s no Spätzle festival either.

A type of hand-crafted noodle or pasta, spätzle are typically made from a dough which combines egg, flour and salt, although there are easy vegan alternatives to this recipe. 


Why not spice up your Spätzle dish with some roasted red onions and pumpkin? Photo: picture alliance/dpa/www.biskuitwerkstatt.de | Mareike Winter

In the summer, Spätzle are mostly served cold with sun-dried tomatoes, courgette, pepper, asparagus, salad leaves and vinaigrette or pesto. This should help to offset a mid-afternoon carb fatigue and leave you feeling light and refreshed. 

Making spätzle is also commonly a family activity – some families even have a secret, special recipe for the dish which is handed down to each new generation – so if you’re planning to make this simple and delicious dish from scratch, make sure to enlist the help of your loved ones.

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INSIDE GERMANY

Inside Germany: Becoming German, European election vote and the Scottish ‘Mannschaft’

From what we can expect from voters at the European elections to what citizenship means to foreign residents and the Scottish take on the German word 'Mannschaft', here are a few things we're talking about this week.

Inside Germany: Becoming German, European election vote and the Scottish 'Mannschaft'

Inside Germany is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in Germany that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

What can we expect as Germany goes to the polls for Europe?

On Sunday, EU citizens living in Germany will cast their vote to elect a new European parliament. 

A lot has changed since the last elections were held back in 2019 – the UK has since left the EU (meaning no Brits in Europe can vote unless they have an EU citizenship), we’ve experienced a worldwide pandemic and war has broken out in Europe. 

The big story of 2019 from Germany was the Green surge. 

Although the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) received the largest share of votes (28.7 percent), the Greens won more than 20 percent of the vote in Germany, increasing by about 10 percent from 2014.

Support for the conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD) dropped considerably. 

So what can we expect from voters in Germany this time? 

According to recent polls, the conservatives are likely to secure a victory on the German side of things. The CDU and CSU will scoop up around 30 percent of the vote, according to surveys.

poster urging people to vote

A giant poster announcing the upcoming European elections, on the facade of the European Parliament building in Strasbourg, eastern France. Photo: FREDERICK FLORIN / AFP

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s centre-left SPD, on the other hand, is only polling between 14 and 16 percent. 

The poll figures for the Greens have fluctuated. The INSA institute reported in April that the Greens could receive 11.5 percent of the vote. But recent polls show the party receiving between 13 and 15 percent – a significant drop from 2019. 

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has also lost support. While pollsters INSA predicted the party would take 22 percent of the vote back in February, recent polls put them on 14 to 17 percent.

Meanwhile, the Free Democrats (FDP), currently in government with the SPD and Greens, have been hovering between just three and five percent in polls since the beginning of the year.

Aside from these well-known parties, there are also a number of smaller ones.

If you’re eligible to vote, who will you be choosing? Good luck at the ballot box and make sure to check The Local’s coverage as the results come in. 

READ ALSO:

Germany in Focus podcast

After devastating floods in Germany that have claimed lives and cause huge destruction, we talk about how communities are coping and the areas most at risk of flooding on this week’s podcast. We also get into predictions for the European parliamentary elections and answer a reader question on how much you need to earn to qualify for German citizenship, 

With the UEFA Euro 2024 tournament coming up on June 14th, we share some interesting facts about the stadiums involved and talk about the importance of football culture in Germany with guest Kit Holden. 

What does German citizenship mean to foreign residents in Germany?

With the new citizenship law coming into force later this month, we asked The Local readers to share their feelings about citizenship and the process in a questionnaire. More than 100 people filled out our survey in just a few days and were delighted to hear about the different experiences. 

In the first of our articles, we looked at what securing a German passport means to residents. 

Of 121 readers who took our survey, 81 percent intend to apply for citizenship, while 12 percent are still unsure. 

About six percent said they will not apply, and a few respondents had already naturalised. 

A German citizenship certificate and passport.

A German citizenship certificate and passport. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Fernando Gutierrez-Juarez

For many people, a huge benefit of citizenship is about gaining freedom of movement. 

“Free movement with the world’s strongest passport is the main goal here,” Khandakar Rahman from Bangladesh, told us. 

Others mentioned that they would feel more integrated – and have course receive full rights to voting. 

Kristian from Norway said the would “finally be an EU citizen, to be able to vote, and also to actually be German”.

READ MORE: What would German citizenship mean to foreign residents?

The Scottish ‘Mannschaft’ set to take on Germany 

As Germany is about to take on Scotland in the opener for UEFA Euro 2024, ad executives for the Scottish soft drink Irn Bru have outdone themselves. 

They’ve launched an advert playing around with the nickname for Germany’s national football – ‘Die Mannschaft’ 

READ MORE: German word of the day – Mannschaft 

I was keen to know what Germans felt about this advert featuring a guy in a kilt talking about how Scotland’s ‘Mannschaft’ may even reach the semis. 

While many Germans thought it was funny, a few pointed out that the advert technically doesn’t use the word correctly. 

One thing for sure is that the Scottish love it. 

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