Traditional North German Food

Traditional North German Food

Introduction
Lobscouse - Labskaus | Green Eel Soup 

Pears, French Beans and Bacon | Rich Sweet Dishes

Published: 24th April 2009

It's always interesting to think about the various foods countries are associated with. For England, it's probably fish and chips. Almost everything else save the curries gets drowned in ketchup or HP Sauce, but then the English do have tea and toast, ham, eggs and baked beans, all of which are well-known abroad. Italy has its pizza and pasta, there's doner kebab for Turkey and haggis for Scotland. Sometimes, a country's preference for a certain food has even resulted in its inhabitants being named after it, and not in a positive sense. When not being descibed as 'cheese-eating surrender monkeys', the French are associated with frog's legs, and the 'krauts', are - you guessed it - Germans.

However, we don't do any of the aforementioned countries justice if we reduce them to the one dish or two which it is commonly associated with. In Germany, there is the phrase 'living like a god in France', and as Germans aren't renowned for eating snails or frog's legs, this clearly indicates that there is much more to French cuisine than just these two dishes. What about Germany, though, what else does it have to offer, other than Bratwurst mit Sauerkraut?
Schleswig-Holstein Meerumschlungen
Like in other countries, what is eaten varies greatly with the area you are in. The very same way that foreigners think 'Germany' when they hear 'sauerkraut' (and vice versa), Germans think 'Northern Germany', and often even 'Schleswig-Holstein' when they hear Labskaus, Birnen, Bohnen und Speck, or Pharisäer.
'Schleswig-Holstein Meerumschlungen' is the first line of Schleswig-Holstein Lied, the anthem of the Schleswig-Holstein federal state. Meerumschlungen means 'embraced' or 'clasped', in this case by the North Sea to the west and the Baltic Sea to the east. Those living on the land in between have always relied on agriculture and fishing, though nowadays tourism is an important source of income. The country is flat and the climate is rough; the winters used to be long, stormy and cold. People earned their living by very hard manual labour, and all this is reflected in the dishes that are traditionally eaten: in the stews, seafood, sweet dishes and even beverages.
This project aims to introduce the best-known dishes of the area. Some dishes have a well-known historical background, and others just an anecdote to go with them. For instance, the humble Grütztopf (porridge bowl) came to be in the former coat of arms of the North Frisians. Legend has it that during one of the many battles between Frisians and Danes, the Frisian men had started to retreat. Their wives, who were cooking porridge in the camp, wouldn't admit defeat, so they attacked the Danes with the hot porridge. On seeing the courage of their wives, the men joined in the battle again and were victorious. As a reminder and in thanks, the men included the porridge bowl in their coat of arms. The crest doesn't exist any longer in this form, but the porridge bowl still features in the crest of South Tondern. This is just one example of how much the northerners cherished their food. Some dishes like the ones mentioned above may make you wrinkle your nose, but if you have an open mind and are a bit adventurous, they are well worth trying, if only for the story that goes with them.

Written and researched by me, edited by Tufty