Navigating Frankfurt’s Menu for Vegetarians | Germany

Germany is of course famous for sausages and beer – Frankfurt even has a sausage named after itself: the frankfurter. Here are some dish suggestions for vegetarians headed over to visit our beer-loving cousins across the world, who don’t want to miss out on sampling traditional foods. Just bear in mind this is a cold climate country and the food, although very tasty, is not likely to be light on your figure, so indulge responsibly!

Grießklößchen by Markus Hagenlocher

The Bread

German bread is precisely a case in point and is deserving of its own paragraph. Many an Australian has been dismayed to discover that what is sold as expensive artisan bread over here, is actually regular everyday bread elsewhere. I am not going to go into the 600 plus different kind of breads made in Germany (yes, the Germans are serious about bread and everything else), but my favourites are dark and moist rye sourdough breads like Schwarzbrot, but I also love poppy or sesame seed-covered rolls for breakfast (Brötchen or mini-breads!), especially if nutella is anywhere in sight…Germans also love their fruit preserves and cheeses, so you’ll always find something delicious to go with the rolls. One of my favourites here is Quark, or German cottage cheese – forget ricotta, which seems like a fake version of  this lovely, creamy and indulgent cheese, which comes either in blocks that you can cut with a knife or a softer kind in containers. And it is usually neutral, so you can go either savoury or sweet with it. So book your airfares to Frankfurt and enjoy this delicious food.

Dumplingorama

Germans love their gnocchi like (but larger) potato-based  Klöße, which you can have with veggie sauces like Frankfurt’s Grüne Sosse (green sauce: parsley, sorrel, dill, burnet, borage, chervil and chives mixed with cream and quark), which was resident’s Johann von Goethe’s favourite, or Chanterelle (mushroom sauce with cream and butter, yum!). Germany is also one of those amazing countries which sometimes serves sweet dishes as mains! So if you are a dessert-for-dinner enthusiast like me, you’ll enjoy Germknödel (fluffy yeast dough dumpling topped with poppy seeds, butter and sugar, and filled with spicy plum jam) and Dampfnudel (a little like steamed buns), served with vanilla custard, preserves or fruit compote. You might consider a glass or two of the local Apfelwein or apple wine to help you digest all this…

Green Sauce – a cold sauce with fresh herbs – Frankfurt speciality by Eigenes Werk

The Cakes

No respectable post on German food could possibly dream of evading talk of desserts. German Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake) is a sacred traditional ritual much like afternoon tea and biscuits in England. In other words , if there wasn’t a café culture, the Germans would have invented it, only the Italians beat them to it. Do yourself a favour and try a baked cheesecake, which is made using quark described above. Mmmmmmm. There are also plenty whipped-cream intense  tortes like the famous Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest cake with cherries), but they can be nauseatingly fluffy and sweet and heavy at the same time – at your own risk. Definitely try a Berliner – a round German-style doughnut filled with jam, and assorted baked cakes with fruit, like plum cake. Hopefully you won’t come back too plump

Patricia Bieszk is a freelance writer who loves to travel and sample local delicacies around the world.

Tags: artisan bread, case in point, chervil, chives, cold climate, cottage cheese, delicious food, everyday bread, fruit preserves, german bread, johann von goethe, mushroom sauce, ricotta, sesame seed, sorrel, sourdough breads, vegetarians, yeast dough

Category: Germany