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From the Bratwurst to the insect burgers: fast-food culture in Germany

In major German cities, the selection of food stalls and Street Food is now very diverse. However, from the Currywurst to the vegan Food Truck, it was a long way to go. The German snack trends from the past until today.



In Germany, you know the greasy sausage shack in the Mall, when you are thinking twice whether to go in there and something on the Hand to get to. The selection is limited to: Bratwurst, curry sausage, French fries. Mustard, Ketchup or Mayonnaise. Those takeaways have shaped decades of the Republic, meanwhile, is slowly dying out, much like the classic corner pubs. They will be replaced by modern, bright shop local with Flair, in which Burger creations are offered, such as “the Burger of the week with grilled Antipasti vegetables, Basil pesto, Haselnussmayo and Scamorza-grilled cheese”. This truffle-Parmesan are served with fries. However, from the sausage to the Hand-to vegetable Burger, it was a long way.

Snack: an invention of the middle ages

The idea of the Snack or the meal is not new. Already in the middle ages there were in Germany mobile food stalls. Markets food was sold from carts. Outside of market days, food was on the way, however, is by no means the Norm. “Because Germany, like the whole of Central Europe was for centuries a lack of society, there was to eat just enough,” said the cultural anthropologist Gunther Hirschfelder of the University of Regensburg. This results in a solid meal order was. Was eaten according to fixed rules, fixed times and at home. To trot “through the area and to nibble anything was considered indecent”.

In the popular crime series “Tatort” is the classic sausage shack cult

Is broken this rigid System in Germany only after the Second world war. In the reconstruction of a new Form of out-of-home consumption: the so-called debris stalls in the rubble of the German cities. In Cologne, there are, for example, in the late 1940s, the “Puszta hut”, in the goulash out of pots is served. The is frowned upon out-of-home eating in General, but the Foundation stone is laid. Parallel to this, the American soldiers, the new guiding norm. They bring not only a lot of nonchalance, chewing gum and chocolate, but also their own culture. Even in the media focuses on the on-the-Go-eat “Diners” by the US movies of that time into the consciousness of the Germans.

Mass motorization and Snack-Boom

Another Foundation for the modern German fast-food culture was in the mining towns of the Ruhr area in the 19th century. Century. In the so-called “beer halls” will be offered clean water, because normal water is undrinkable. Later, the range expanded to include coffee or tea and magazines. After the war, the workers laid here on the way to the layer, or after work, a cigarette break and drank a beer. Soon, there are sandwiches.

The real triumph of the takeaways finally begins in the sixties with the economic recovery. Meat consumption is the norm, from England and the Netherlands, the Trend of the fries shacks spills over to Germany. The need for a quick Snack on the Hand grows and grows. Economic miracle, mass motorization and the new desire to travel will do the Rest. Guest workers from Italy, Greece and Turkey in the German Wholesale and industrial cities, their first fast local and booths on.

Way from quick snacks to a sustainable enjoyment: queue in front of a vegan snack bar in Berlin-Kreuzberg

The Sausage will soon be competition from Pizza and Gyros, and later by the popular Doner Kebab. 1971 is finally opened in Munich, the first German McDonald’s Restaurant. In the 1970s and ‘ 80s, the Fast Food culture is at its peak: The Snack can’t go fast enough and should make you full. Taste and sustainability are of secondary importance.

Slow Food, health, and environmental awareness

At the latest with the turn of the Millennium, the fast-food culture changed noticeably. The classic “Fast Food” has a bad reputation and is considered to be unhealthy. The Trend is away from simple “quick and convenient” way to health – and environmentally-conscious food. The residence time of snacks is increasing, the demand for vegetarian and vegan food is growing. And the booths fit: in the Meantime, there’s the classic Bratwurst from the Stall at the football stadium of the Indian vegan food at the Festival, to the insect-Burger Food Truck has something for every taste. “In our verse with decades of style, the social Life of the individual life-style is expressed by the lifestyle of eating,” said Gunther Hirschfelder. The “permanent Versnackung” and the “out-of-home Trend” will continue in his estimation, to continue, due to new forms of mobility and the growing number of Single households.

And what is the latest Trend, Snack 2.0? According to the deer of the fields, the trend is away from exoticism and towards a “non-political re-nationalisation” and regionalisation of the German fast-food culture. In short, The Leberkäs-Semmel at the local butcher or the pretzel from the bakery around the corner apply to younger people as cool. But it is surely only a matter of time until a new snack trend.

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