German Regional Cuisine: What to Eat Region by Region

Country-wide guides

• German Regional Cuisine: What to Eat in Each Region

  German regional cuisine follows the landscape: seafood and dark bread along the coast, floury dairy cooking in Bavaria, wine-country plates in the west. Here is what to order in each region and which dishes you can find anywhere.

• Allgäu Food: The Dishes to Order in Bavaria's Alpine South

  Allgäu food is mountain cooking built on flour, eggs and cheese, with meat saved for festivities. Order Käsespätzle with fried onions, try a cabbage fritter, and leave room for plum dumplings or elderflower fritters in early summer.

• Bavarian Food: What to Eat, What It Is, and How to Order

  Bavarian food is Alpine cooking built around pork, dumplings, pretzels and beer, served in beer halls and small cafés alike. Here are the dishes to order first, what each one actually is, where in Munich to eat them, and how ordering and paying work.

• Black Forest Food: What to Eat in Germany's Southwest

  Black Forest food runs from Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte and kirsch-soaked cake to smoked ham, Swabian Maultaschen and Spätzle. Here are the dishes to order, the drinks that come with them and how a country Gasthof meal works.

• Cologne Food: Himmel un Ääd, Halve Hahn and What to Order

  Cologne's table runs on black pudding with apple sauce, a rye roll with cheese and potato fritters with apple purée, all washed down with small glasses of Kölsch. Here is what each dish is, which brauhaus and café to try, and how a meal in the Rhineland actually runs.

• Fish in Germany: What to Eat and Where

  Fischbrötchen is the fish order to start with in Germany: a crusty roll filled with pickled herring, cod, mackerel, pollock or salmon. From there the menu splits between the northern coast, where herring, North Sea shrimp and smoked fish dominate, and inland ponds, where carp and trout carry the tradition.

• Franconian Food: What to Eat in Franconia, Dish by Dish

  Franconian food is pork shoulder with a crackling crust, marjoram sausage, vinegar-simmered Blaue Zipfel and fried Küchle. Here is what each dish is, how it comes to the table and where to order it in Würzburg.

• Frankfurt Food: What to Eat in Germany

  Frankfurt's table is built on a herb sauce, a sour-milk cheese, a short pork sausage and a tart apple wine. This guide explains each one, how it reaches the table, and which cafés, market stalls and lunch spots fit around them.

• Northern German Food: Dishes to Eat and Their Origins

  Northern German food is a coastal and northern-plain kitchen built on fish, potatoes, kale, and preserved ingredients, with rye bread and a serious sweet tooth on the side. Here are the dishes to know, what each one actually is, and how to order them without surprises.

• Saumagen: The Palatinate Stuffed Stomach, Explained

  Saumagen is a Palatinate specialty of pork, potato, and sausage meat simmered in a pig's stomach, then sliced and pan-fried. Here's what to expect on the plate, from the filling to the serving.

• Saxon Food: What to Eat in Saxony and Lower Saxony

  Saxon food splits into two menus. Saxony in the east brings Sauerbraten, Eierschecke and Quarkkeulchen; Lower Saxony in the northwest brings kale with Pinkel, spring asparagus and Hanover's Welfenspeise. Here is what each dish is and how it lands on your plate.

• Swabian Food: Spätzle, Maultaschen and What to Order

  Swabian food is the hearty egg-noodle cooking of Baden-Württemberg, built on flour, eggs, potatoes, lentils and onions. Start with Käsespätzle or Maultaschen, add a plate of Linsen mit Spätzle if you are hungry, and finish with red currant cake in summer.

• Thuringian Food: What to Eat and How It's Served

  Thuringian food means two things above all: Thüringer Klöße, the raw-and-cooked potato dumplings that anchor a Sunday plate, and the thin grilled rostbratwurst sold from grills across the state. This guide explains what each one is, what comes with it, and how to read a Thuringian menu without guessing.

• Westphalian Ham: What It Is, How It's Made, and How to Eat

  Westphalian ham is a cured, cold-smoked ham from Westphalia in northwest Germany. It is sliced paper-thin, eaten uncooked on bread with pickles, and tastes milder and softer than prosciutto.