Germany’s Cooking Revolution

Roger Boyes, correspondent for the London Daily Times, takes a close look at the recent changes in Germany’s cuisine and the star chefs and cooking shows that are helping change people’s palates.

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At Oktoberfest parties, the traditional cuisine still reigns. Schweinshaxe (knuckle of pork) is served with sauerkraut, bread, mustard, and a large beer.

(© picture-alliance/ ZB)

As an English writer, I obviously have to be cautious about treading on the emotional minefield that is German cooking. The fact is though that most Europeans – even the central Europeans who were deeply influenced by what was boiling on the German stove – are skeptical about the likes of Grünkohleintopf (kale stew) and Eisbein mit Sauerkraut (knuckle of pork with sauerkraut). The mere sound of the names of these “typisch deutsche” meals puts one in mind of a heavy iron anchor dropped to the ocean bed, or more precisely to the pit of one’s stomach. It is farmer’s cooking – which usually means a single warm dish with enough calories to sustain you from dawn to dusk – or “gutbürgerliche Küche,” comprising a robust three course dinner, with plenty of gravy, dumplings and red cabbage. The great champion of gutbürgerliche Küche was Helmut Kohl with his famous invitation to fellow leaders to dine with him on Saumagen (“pig’s stomach”) in Oggersheim or in his favorite restaurant at Deidesheim. The statesmen smiled politely but later John Mayor, Margaret Thatcher or Francois Mitterand would privately express their horror at being force-fed blood sausage.

Less meaty

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Juliane Caspar, editor-in-chief of the Michelin guide, seen here from the side, holds the well-known French restaurant and hotel guide.

(© picture-alliance/ dpa)

That was then. And now? The French have just appointed a 38-year-old German woman, Juliane Caspar, as editor-in-chief of the French Michelin guide, the little red book that is feared by the world’s chefs. Frau Caspar has in effect become the most powerful restaurant tester on the planet. A German woman! Zut alors! A critic from Die Welt expressed the earth-moving significance of this appointment: “This is like Mercedes announcing that it has appointed a female Martian to be head of its development division!”

The fact is there has been a quiet revolution in German eating habits since Helmut Kohl ate for the Fatherland in the 1990s. Nine out of 69 of Michelin’s three-star restaurants are in Germany and there are dozens of one- or two-star establishments. What is happening is that Germans are demanding lighter food. Yes, there will always be a moment for goose and red cabbage (St. Martins Day in November), but the everyday dinner plate is looking less meaty than ever. Fish is back, and not always swimming in butter. And there is a more rigorous attitude to vegetables; fewer potatoes, more pasta. More experimentation with sauces to bring out flavor. Even notoriously rude Berlin waitresses no longer ask “Na, satt geworden?” (“Well, had enough?”) before whipping away your plate. They actually ask you whether you enjoyed your meal and wait for an answer.

Cooking has become sexy

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Star chefs Johann Lafer (r) and Horst Lichter (l) hosted German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (second from right) and his colleague Deputy Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn on the cooking show “Lafer! Licher! Lecker!" in September 2008.

(© picture-alliance/ dpa)

What has happened? One factor, plainly, has been the general western drive to eat more healthily, to be more conscious about what is entering your digestive tract. Mainly though it is the rise of the chef celebrity: cooking has become sexy. A German man who can cook is no longer seen as a misfit but as an attractive potential partner. There have always been television chefs in Germany. In the 1950s it was Clemens Wilmenrod – whose biggest culinary achievement was inventing the Hawaii Toast, a strangely sticky combination of toast bread, ham, cheese and pineapple – and later Alfred Biolek. Both attracted mass audiences but neither was exactly inspiring enough to change the tastes of a nation. But the onset of private television, the need to offer the viewer a relief from bad news and tough-talking detectives, the relative cheapness of a cooking show: all that brought a new wave of chef shows. Cooks like Tim Mälzer, Johann Lafer and Horst Lichter have become super-stars. They receive thousands of love letters every week. I feel sure that this never happened to Wilmenrod.

Cooking Duels

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Even renowned race car drivers cook: Germany’s Michael Schumacher (left) faced Brazil’s Rubens Barrichello in a pasta cook-off in 2003.

(© picture-alliance / Sven Simon)

This revolution has three components. First, TV meals appear to be cooked quickly. Even if this is an illusion, it gives the viewer the impression that it is possible to cook a healthy meal even though time is tight. Second, the portions shown on camera are small: this is quietly persuading many Germans that they have been eating too much. Finally, cooking has at last been made interesting for men. A sure sign of this is the involvement of Johannes B. Kerner who runs a food show as well as his talk show. More important: for men, he is remembered as an excellent sports reporter. His credibility is therefore high. German female viewers watch the cooking programs because they  radiate a kind of warmth, a sense of an intact family. But German men are drawn in by the competitiveness of the chefs. The trend is to Kochduell, cooks mano a mano. The program Fast Food Duell pushes all the masculine buttons: a top chef tries to create a beautiful, healthy meal before the pizza delivery service rings on the bell.

Here then are the ingredients for Germany’s cooking revolution. It has become fun again for both men and women to stand in the kitchen. And the fun is not in cooking Rinderroulade (beef rouladen, or rolls), but something lighter, more in line with modern tastes.

Guten Appetit, Deutschland!


This is a shortened version of the original article written by Roger Boyes, Germany correspondent for the "London Daily Times." He has been living in Germany for 13 years and is author of the column "My Berlin" in the "Tagesspiegel." In his book "My Dear Krauts" he describes the peculiarities of everyday life in Germany with typical British humor.

Copyright: Goethe-Institut