Any ideas on why ethnic German restaurants never really took hold of the American culinary landscape the way that other ethnic foods/restaurants have – e.g. Thai, Mexican, Italian, middle eastern, Chinese, Japanese, etc.? If there was a heyday for German cuisine and restaurants in America it would probably be some time in period between the wars around the 1930’s, and it seems these restaurants are dying out and continue to decline as the original owners died off and the children and grandchildren choose not to continue the family restaurant businesses.
The decline/lack of German restaurants is a bit surprising. If you think about it, there is historically a sizeable contingent of Americans with German ancestry and many popular foods are not entirely alien to American dinner tables and palate sensibilities: schnitzel, noodles (spaetzle) sauerkraut, sausages, beer, various casseroles. It’s a bit curious how no one has come forward with a heavily Americanized/bastardized fast food chain equivalent to say a PF Chang’s or Taco Bell.
What accounts for the commercial lack of interest in German culinary offerings?
(Mods feel free to move to General Questions if you feel it is warranted)
I think the anti-German sentiment of the World Wars may have killed a lot of them. Favorite German dishes were quickly Americanized, (Liberty Cabbage, anyone?) and German-Americans weren’t really quick to make their ethnicity distinct again following the wars.
I don’t know but if you’re looking for one here’s a handy state-by-state listing of German restaurants. I doubt it’s exhaustive, it appears to all be self-reported.
Unsurprisingly the states with the most seem to be Pennsylvania, New York, and Wisconsin, based on a very quick sampling of the site, by myself.
Presumably the same as the lack of interest in British, Scandinavian, Polish and Russian cuisine. Grim, gray gruel.
Note how the popular cuisines you name are either 1) in warm climates with their associated spices or 2) far off in the East where there is enough contrast to be interesting while the size of the Chinese and Japanese societies ensures that their best-known meals aren’t too alien.
If someone truly feels like eating German food, they can eat Ashkenazi food which is close enough and was preserved because of the idiosyncrasies of the associated religion.
I’ve been in a few US hofbraus that served very Germanic, very tasty stuff - heavy on the meats, sausages, onions and potatoes, but then, that’s the center of my yum-yum scale.
So when I went to a real bierstube in Dusseldorf, I found the menu full of… meat, sausage, onion and potatoes. Ate a platter big enough for two longshoreman, washed down by about a gallon of the house brew. Wonderful stuff.
I think vague anti-Germanism is part of it, plus being beer-centric, which might discourage the family crowd of today, and being extremely heavy and high in bad stuff, which discourages even those pretending to eat healthy.
That was my first thought too, but this alone can’t explain it when you consider a certain other country that launched a surprise attack on a Hawaiian naval base, and abused American POW’s throughout the war, has wildly popular sushi and kobe beef restaurants all over.
My wild guess would be that German immigrant culture in the US was less tied to cities, where restaurant culture is most likely to form. My recollection is that German immigrants were more apt to seek out rural communities after they arrived. Scandinavians were the same way, and their cuisine has never had much of a restaurant presence either.
It could be argued this has already happened, but it’s presented to us today simply as “American cuisine”; a lot of German dishes, over time, have evolved into other dishes that most people don’t necessarily associate with German cuisine:
Chicken fried steak, said to be adapted from Wiener Schnitzel by German immigrants applying their cooking techniques to the locally available ingredients, i.e. beef.
Egg noodles, hamburgers, potato salad, all kinds of casseroles, sausages, and pastries, these things all have roots in German cuisine.
Another theory: Prohibition killed off German-American beer hall culture, with German food being collateral damage. If they couldn’t drink together in public, why bother eating?
I wouldn’t call it “Grim, gray gruel” but it’s not very exotic food to most people, not far from traditional American fare.
Also, I don’t see a tradition of opening German restaurants in this country among German-Americans. Opening restaurants has been a family tradition for many Italian-Americans, and a business tradition for other nationalities.
And they’re not always called German restaurants, there’s plenty of Pennsylvania Dutch food at restaurants in Pennsylvania, they don’t necessarily advertise themselves as Pennsylvania Dutch either but still carrying the traditional dishes.
Let’s not forget the origin of two very common American foods, hamburgers and hot dogs. Burgers may or may not have strong ties to German dishes but hot dogs clearly are a variety of Wurst.
They’re still doing pretty good in Milwaukee, at least. I recently enjoyed my sauerbraten with red cabbage and potato dumplings at one of them.
But it is true, in most other cities there’s a dearth of places to find decent rouladen, schnitzel, hasenpfeffer, pork hocks, roast goose shank, kasseler rippchen, spaetzel, etc.
I can’t shake the impression that “German restaurant” means “wood paneled dungeon where you eat bland, greasy food that will make you bloated and uncomfortably full but not satisfied.” That has been my experience.
Having a tall beer and a snack in a biergarten on a beautiful sunny day sounds great, and I like throwing oktoberfest parties at home. But a German Restaurant is not at all appealing to me.
It’s damn hard to find a good authentic Jaeger Schnitzel in the U.S. And believe me I’m always looking. Sure it’s not full of chili peppers or trendy ingredients but German food is not bland.
I think this is the real reason; people commonly eat stuff derived from German cuisine, and going to a restaurant usually means that you get something you’re used to, only with a big side of sauerkraut or red cabbage.
I mean, I like German food, but outside of traditional English food, it’s probably the least foreign sort that I can think of.
(FWIW… I go to an Austrian restaurant for my Germanic-style food. They do it up right!)
That looks fantastic. I recently went to Cafe Berlin on Capital Hill in DC. They got it right on the schnitzel but my daughter had the sauerbraten and it was just ok. The flavor was there but it wasn’t tender enough. It should be slow cooked and fork tender.
Authentic German cuisine has been so far removed from American culture that if you mention Wiener schnitzel someone makes a dick joke because they think it’s a type of sausage. Despite the fact that I had one grandfather that was born in Germany I didn’t know German food at all until I was stationed there.
Hot dogs (frankfurters) and Hamburgers are as American as their German names!
Actually, in foodie heaven here on the West Coast there is a mini-renaissance of German food, but it’s sort of considered a once-in-awhile thing as it is much heavier food than folks are used to getting at finer restaurants.
Dutch food, maybe. But not the german food I know. Not made by my urgrossmutter!