Guten Tag! The topic of today is Frühstück (breakfast), but with a twist. I’d like to share some information about the traditional Bavarian breakfast with you.

‘bavarian breakfast’ by masT3rOD on flickr.com under a CC license (CC BY 2.0)

A traditional Bavarian breakfast consists of the following:

Die Weißwurst
Literally ‘white sausage’, this is a sausage made from minced veal and pork bacon, seasoned with parsley, ginger, onions, lemon and cardamom. The Weißwurst is served in connected pairs. To eat it, you must first cut it down the middle, then remove its skin.

Der (Süß)Senf
Mustard – or sweet mustard – is used as a condiment for the Weißwurst.

Die Brezel (or ‘Brezn’ in Bavarian dialect!)
This is what we call a pretzel in English. While a regular German breakfast often includes any type of Brot (bread) or Brötchen (bread roll), the traditional Bavarian breakfast always includes a Brezel!

Das Bier
Beer. Yes, believe it or not, beer is an integral part of the traditional Bavarian breakfast! Specifically, Bavarians drink a type of beer called Hefeweizen for breakfast, which is different from other beers in that it is made from malted wheat and, apparently, helps the digestion process. Not that Bavarians need a nutritional reason to drink beer before noon – it’s just part of their culture, and even has a name: Frühschoppen.

Tradition, history, and fun facts!

• In German, ‘Bavarian breakfast’ translates to das bayerisches Frühstück. However, it’s not actually called that in German. Instead, the name for this traditional breakfast is das Weißwurst Frühstück – the ‘white sausage breakfast’.
• The origins of the Weißwurst date back to Fasching (carnival season) in 1857. Having run out of the sheep casing he was using for his sausages, a butcher decided to use a much thinner, pork casing, instead. But, for fear of this thin casing bursting open during cooking, he decided to boil the sausages instead of cooking them in a pan. His risk paid off; everyone loved the sausages, and they became tradition. Today, you’ll find that Weißwurst are served in a bowl of their own cooking water. Now you know why!
• Traditionally, the Weißwurst Frühstück should not be served or eaten past noon. This is because the sausages were highly perishable back in 1857, and there was no way of refrigerating them. Although things are very different today, the Weißwurst Frühstück is still not eaten after noon – in fact, it is said that the Weißwurst should not hear the noon bells chime. This is a lovely example of how tradition has been upheld when it could easily have been changed in light of modern technology.
• Another way to eat the Weißwurst is to suck the meat out of its skin. This method is called zuzeln. Zuzeln is a southern German/Austrian verb meaning ‘to suck’. Its High German counterparts would be: saugen, lutschen.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post! Does the Weißwurst Frühstück appeal to you? Have you ever tried it, and if so, what did you think? What do you like to eat for Frühstück? Let me know – in German, if you can! 🙂

Finally, here’s a postcard I have of a lady eating the Weißwurst Frühstück. Who knows what she’s saying at the bottom?

Bavarian breakfast. Own photo

Bis bald,

Constanze