# Why isn't German cuisine more popular in the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 9, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848 "2008-09-09T21:23:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/61 "2008-09-11T16:40:55Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > Pistols at dawn! Sauerkraut is the most wondrous awesomeness ever. I’ll be your second. Wait, dawn? That’s a bit early for me, how about noon? I admit that I was never crazy about my German heritage, I was being called a Kraut and a Nazi in grade school in the '70’s. C’mon people get over it! Besides that, my German ancestors on both sides came to the U.S. before it was the U.S.. So I never felt very German, bit I do love the food. I was never told that sauerkraut was supposed to be icky so I loved it. I will eat it cold as a snack. I never had a variety of German food but sauerkraut, potatoes\* and some sort of sausage or bratwurst was a standard meal. Braunschweiger was also commonly eaten as a snack or sandwich spread. Again, I was never told as a child that this stuff was supposed to be icky so I loved it. I just didn’t admit it to my friends at school. \*Re: potatoes, I don’t know if this is a German method of cooking potaoes or where my mother got the idea from but she’d take a bunch of potatoes and slice them and cook them in a skillet with lots and lots of butter until they were soft and melted in your mouth. Probably not very good for you but damn tasty. _sigh_ I’m hungry. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/62 "2008-09-11T16:47:38Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > I’ll be your second. > > Wait, dawn? That’s a bit early for me, how about noon? We can hire someone to take care of it. I don’t do dawn either. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/63 "2008-09-12T03:49:51Z")
I opened a “German” restaurant in a city where there are many people of German descent. It was well received but I think it was more for the beer than food!😃 ( Alas, I don’t own it anymore and it’s still going strong) ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/64 "2008-09-12T04:39:55Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Reputation-wise Scandinavian food tends to run neck and neck with Scottish food as being considered among the world’s worst cuisines. I don’t see that there’s any compelling demand to have restaurants devoted to the stuff. Scandinavia doesn’t include Germany, and is still excluded even when it’s broadened to the more inclusive “Nordic countries”. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/65 "2008-09-12T05:39:00Z")
Mrs Gelding and I lived in Germany for 3 ½ years back during the Johnson and Nixon administrations. Being the military equivalent of Yuppies we “ate on the economy” frequently in and around Kaiserslautern. We never had a bad experience in a local restaurant, big or small. When we came home we dashed off to the Amana Colonies which are renown for their German style food at places like the Ox Yoke Inn and the Colony and Zubers. The Amana food just didn’t measure up to the real thing. I don’t know anything about the restaurant in Ohio visited by Sen McCain, but I suspect it’s the same sort of thing. Good German-American food if you haven’t experienced real German food. When was the last time you had a white asparagus salad? ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/66 "2008-09-12T06:36:16Z")
For thoese who don’t have German restaurants near them; perhaps they call themselves Alsatian restaurants? The Alsatian cuisine, a mixture of German and French cuisine, is far more famous then German cuisine, so I guess a lot of German restaurants call themselves Alsatian. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alsace#Cuisine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alsace#Cuisine) ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/67 "2008-09-12T06:38:41Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > For those who don’t have German restaurants near them; perhaps they call themselves Alsatian restaurants? I don’t think many Americans would want to eat at a pet food joint 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/68 "2008-09-12T10:56:31Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > but every single time I’ve eaten at a German restaurant it has given me the most massive case of the farts. You say that like it’s a _bad_ thing. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/69 "2008-09-12T11:52:15Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > Whoa, now. Let’s not get carried away! 🙂 We have our Native American friends to thank for pit barbecue. (Though I don’t doubt the Germans in Texas may have put their own spin on it.) The roots of barbecue in Texas are mostly [African-American](http://http://www.houstonpress.com/2003-05-01/news/barbecue-in-black-and-white/). But the Central Europeans who settled the Hill Country did contribute. (They brought the sausage & the beer. And the accordions!) I’ll agree with almost everybody: German food has mostly disguised itself as “American” food. Texas has plenty of German restaurants, but they mostly specialize in wurst platters with side orders heavy on the potatoes & cabbage. Just the thing to soak up the beer. There isn’t much German “cuisine.” But I’ll gladly check out some of the Midwestern places mentioned above, if I get a chance. (While locating the Robb Walsh article cited above, I skimmed his artcles on CFS. Now, I’m very hungry–& sad because the neighborhood CFS place will probably be closed this evening. Bad hurricane!) ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/70 "2008-09-12T16:11:45Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > The roots of barbecue in Texas are mostly [African-American](http://http://www.houstonpress.com/2003-05-01/news/barbecue-in-black-and-white/). But the Central Europeans who settled the Hill Country did contribute. (They brought the sausage & the beer. And the accordions!) > > I’ll agree with almost everybody: German food has mostly disguised itself as “American” food. Texas has plenty of German restaurants, but they mostly specialize in wurst platters with side orders heavy on the potatoes & cabbage. Just the thing to soak up the beer. There isn’t much German “cuisine.” But I’ll gladly check out some of the Midwestern places mentioned above, if I get a chance. > > (While locating the Robb Walsh article cited above, I skimmed his artcles on CFS. Now, I’m very hungry–& sad because the neighborhood CFS place will probably be closed this evening. Bad hurricane!) Well hell, in texas the real barbecue joints only serve sausage and beef brisket… you don’t think the spanish and African Americans were the first to slow roast an animal from barbel to cue, do you? The Germans do Barbecue, some of the best in Europe, really. They go medieval on Beef Barbecue and Chicken. [Ochs am Spieβ](http://www.ochsamspiess.de/) {Ox on a spit}. That rotisserie chicken that is so popular and ubiquotous in America for the last 15 years or so?.. German. The first meal I had getting off a plane in Germany back in the 80’s was rotisserie chicken from a German chain. First rotisserie chicken I had ever had in my life. I saw huge rottiserie apparatuses that hold hundreds of Göckl at the fests, 10 years later, it’s in practically every supermarket in America. Had ochs am spiess at a castle ruins, some of the best beef barbecue ever…definitely the best beef barbecue bark I have ever eaten. Crunchy, and succulent… ---
**Author:** ![goodie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@goodie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goodie)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/71 "2008-09-12T16:41:17Z")
Why are there not more German restaurants when so many of our ancestors were German? The food is why they left Germany in the first place! ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/72 "2008-09-12T16:49:29Z")
> [@goodie](#): > > Why are there not more German restaurants when so many of our ancestors were German? The food is why they left Germany in the first place! Reminds me of the quote about Britain: “If you like the food, you will love the weather.” Which begs the follow up question: Why aren’t their more British restaurants in the US either? ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/73 "2008-09-12T17:31:03Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > Can’t really answer the OP but you reminded me that when I visit Ohio for the holidays I absolutely must go to Schmidt’s. They’re a german restaurant run by a german family for the last 120 some years. (Actually, the restaurant has been there since the 60’s, they started as a meat packing co in the 1880’s) > > Their cream puff is to DIE FOR. Schmidt’s lunch buffet was the greatest thing ever. Of course, you couldn’t really make any plans for the rest of the day afterwards, unless more drinking was involved. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/74 "2008-09-12T17:41:09Z")
I’ve also read that German cuisine is really 2 different cuisines. There’s the northern cuisine, which is bread, sausage, potatoes, those German noodle thingies, and beer. Hardy food for a colder climate. Then there’s the rest of the country, with forest game, river fish, and lots of seasonal fruits and veggies. The author made the point that German cuisine was very underrated partly because it didn’t have the strong culinary tradition that French and Italian cuisine had. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/75 "2008-09-12T17:44:39Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > Well hell, in texas the real barbecue joints only serve sausage and beef brisket… you don’t think the spanish and African Americans were the first to slow roast an animal from barbel to cue, do you? Of course not. There’s plenty of grilling and smoking traditions that came from Europe. However, barbecue the term and the pit-technique _seems_ to have come from the Caribbean and migrated outward, from the Arawak word _barbacoa_ meaning “a framework of sticks.” (The “whiskers to tale” _barbe a queue_ etymology is generally considered false.) Then again, it depends on what you are classifying as “barbecue.” Every person has a different definition to what constitutes barbecue. ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/76 "2008-09-12T19:07:00Z")
There is a great German restaurant in Peotone Illinois > **[PeotoneBierStube.com is for sale | HugeDomains](https://www.hugedomains.com/domain_profile.cfm?d=peotonebierstube.com)** > > Get the premium .com domain you deserve. Seamless and professional transactions. Payment plans available. (warning plays music, but you can turn it off) I’ve never had bad schnitzel there or any bad meal there. My husband and I love German food and try out German restaurants when ever we are traveling and come across one. Peotone has the best one we have been to so far. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/77 "2008-09-12T19:34:32Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Which begs the follow up question: Why aren’t their more British restaurants in the US either? Do fish & chip chains like Long John Silver’s count? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/78 "2008-09-12T20:13:47Z")
> [@Qwisp](#): > > There is a great German restaurant in Peotone Illinois > > [http://www.peotonebierstube.com/](http://www.peotonebierstube.com/) > (warning plays music, but you can turn it off) > I’ve never had bad schnitzel there or any bad meal there. My husband and I love German food and try out German restaurants when ever we are traveling and come across one. Peotone has the best one we have been to so far. Chicago’s got a great one in Laschet’s Inn: Laschet’s 2119 W Irving Park Rd Chicago, IL [http://www.laschetsinn.com/](http://www.laschetsinn.com/) And across the street you’ve got Resi’s Bierstube, with great sausages and potato pancakes: Resi’s Bierstube 2034 W. Irving Park Rd. German food (and beer) makes me very happy. 🙂 Spit-roasted _haxen_ (pork knuckles) with juniper-studded sauerkraut, sauerbraten and spaetzle, Thuringer rostbratwurst. I am getting so hungry… For that matter, Scandinavian food (mentioned upthread) also gets an undeservedly bad rap. My favorite beef stew is the Swedish [_kalops_](http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=15040) (the allspice and cloves give it a fragrant and mysterious sweetness), gravlax (salt-cured, unsmoked salmon) is delicious, dillkött (a veal-dill stew) reminds me of a similar dish my Polish mother would always make… [There’s some nice links to recipes and pictures here](http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=17327) from an American living in Sweden. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/79 "2008-09-12T20:16:25Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Reminds me of the quote about Britain: > > “If you like the food, you will love the weather.” > > Which begs the follow up question: Why aren’t their more British restaurants in the US either? According to Howard Chaykin, airline food is the national cuisine of England. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848/80 "2008-09-12T20:23:14Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > The first meal I had getting off a plane in Germany back in the 80’s was rotisserie chicken from a German chain. First rotisserie chicken I had ever had in my life. I saw huge rottiserie apparatuses that hold hundreds of Göckl at the fests, 10 years later, it’s in practically every supermarket in America. Huhner Hugo, by God. Good old “Chicken Hugo.” There use to be one across the street from every railroad station in West Germany. Oh, the smell! Oh, the sound of broiling chicken skin! Take me back. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-german-cuisine-more-popular-in-the-us/462848.md?page=5)