June 26, 2020

The Art of the Beer Garden Food Feast

King Max and the Hungry Beer Garden Patron

A refreshing beer and a meal in the cooling shade of the beer garden: It’s a beloved rite of spring and summer that dates back to early nineteenth-century Bavaria. For several years, the citizens of Munich had taken to spending more of their time (and cash) during the warmer months at the beer cellars along the banks of the Isar, preferring these shaded chestnut groves to the stuffy inns where the beer was decidedly less fresh. Innkeepers were incensed and petitioned King Maximilian I. Joseph of Bavaria (1806–1825) to do something to stop these dastardly brewers from serving beer garden food.

An epicurean friend of brewers and innkeepers alike, good King Maxl devised a sage solution that would determine the course of beer garden history in Bavaria down to the present. On 4 January 1812, he diffused mounting tensions between the two parties by decreeing that brewers could keep right on selling their beer fresh from the cellars beneath their leafy gardens. But in a nod to the innkeepers, he limited beer gardens to the sale of beer and bread. Hungry patrons were henceforth free to bring their own food with them to eat with their beer. To this day, residents of Bavaria’s towns and cities flock to beer gardens with a picnic basket full of beer garden treats, a privilege reaffirmed in the Bavarian Beer Garden Ordinance of 1999.

The Brotzeitkorb (picnic snack basket)

Next time you find yourself in Bavaria, you, too can partake of this venerable tradition by packing your own picnic basket with some of these Bavarian classics: Obatzda (a cheese spread), Wurstsalat (sausage salad), Radi (white radish), a selection of cheeses and sausages, potato salad, tomatoes, cucumbers, pretzels, and some salt, pepper, and butter. Don’t forget a cutting board (wooden ones look nice, and you can use it as a serving platter), a paring knife, and cutlery. If you want to be extra classy, pack a cloth tablecloth (bonus points if it’s the blue and white colours of Bavaria or the red and white colours of Franconia). And one more thing to remember: A beer garden picnic is a special occasion, one of those timeless Bavarian rituals, so pack your victuals in a picnic basket.

No Brotzeitkorb? No problem!

Even if you don’t show up sporting a picnic basket stocked with provisions, you won’t go hungry in a beer garden. You have two choices of seating: the small group of tables set with table cloths and cutlery are for ordering à la carte from a server; bare tables are for those who want to put together their own meals at the food stands that ring most beer gardens. If you don’t speak German, simply point to what you want. But if you want to sound like a real pro, here are some terms for common beer garden food items.

Cold Snacks

Brezn: “Pretzel” may almost sound like a German word, but the actual word for those wonderful soft and doughy pretzels is Brezn.
Obatzda (also Obazda, Obatzter, Obatzen): Reputedly developed by Katharina Eisenreich, the innkeeper at the Bräustüberl Weihenstephan from 1920 to 1958, Obatzda consists of camembert cheese (sometimes mixed with blue cheese), butter, onions, paprika, caraway seeds, and a shot of beer to give it just the right consistency. If you order Obatzda, be sure to order a pretzel with it. This is a virtually obligatory beer garden combo. Though it doesn’t look like a large portion, Obatzda is a quite hearty dish and fills you up quickly. Also, don’t worry about cutlery. That’s what the pretzel is for: dipping up your Obatzda. If you’re in Austria, look for Liptauer, a Heuriger (wine garden) mainstay that’s similar to Obatzda.
Radi: Billowing mounds of shaved white radish served with a sprinkling of salt. An extremely popular beer garden dish.
Wurstsalat: A cold sausage salad in a vinaigrette with onions. Comes in many regional variations. Swiss Wurstsalat is made with cervelat and a Swiss cheese like Emmental. Bavarian versions are made with Fleischwurst (also known as Lyoner Wurst), a cold cut that’s similar to mortadella (bologna sausage). Many versions include pickles.
Kartoffelsalat: Potato salad. But not the potato salad we’re used to in North America. In Central Europe, you’ll find these sublime salads served in a tangy vinaigrette, sometimes warm, sometimes cold, occasionally creamy, usually chunky, and rarely with mayonnaise. The variations are myriad.
Schnittlauchbrot: As simple as it gets: A slice of fresh dark bread with top-notch butter and sprinkled with chives and some salt and pepper.

Warm Delights

Sauerkraut: Sauerkraut is one of the most important elements of Bavarian cuisine. It goes wonderfully with all sorts of bratwurst, with Schweinehaxe (roast pork knuckle), and with a myriad of other rich and hearty dishes. But apparently a real Bavarian would never order sauerkraut to accompany his or her Weiswurst. I’ll leave it up to you to adjudicate on the relative merits of that food combination. (As a philistine Canadian, I find the combo just fine.)
Steckerlfisch: A delicacy in many beer gardens is the Steckerlfisch, a whole trout or mackerel grilled on skewers in small stalls at the edge of the beer garden.
Weißwurst (veal bratwurst): Weißwurst served in a broth with a soft pretzel and sweet mustard is a classic. In Bavaria, Weißwurst is usually only eaten till the clock strikes noon as part of that enjoyable morning ritual known as Frühschoppen. That said, you can still find them at larger beer gardens later in the day. You should *always* eat your Weißwurst with sweet mustard if you want to look like a true Bavarian. And whatever you do, don’t put ketchup on your Weißwurst. Save that for the Currywurst in Berlin. Beer pairing: Weissbier.
Ein halbes Hendl: A half a grilled chicken. Also enormously popular during Oktoberfest.
Leberkäs: This is one of these food delights that is virtually impossible to translate, combining as it does the German words for liver and cheese. It’s not liver, and it’s not cheese, though those ingredients make rare cameo appearances. It’s a kind of meat loaf, but that doesn’t quite capture the essence of Leberkäs. You’ll have to try for yourself. It’s typically served with your choice of sweet or hot mustard, a slice of bread, and sometimes a potato salad. Also known as Fleischkäse in other parts of Central Europe.
Fleischpflanzerl: Bavarian term for meatballs and meat patties. Also known as Buletten or Frikadellen, or as Fleischlaberl in parts of Austria.

Platters

Brotzeitbrettl, Käsebrett, Kellerbrett: These hearty platters (and their cousins that end in “-platte”) typically combine cold sausages, Liverwurst, cheeses, pickles, Obatzda, bread, tomatoes, and the like. You might think that a platter of cold cuts and cheese with bread is a nice, light snack. Oh, it’s definitely not. Be prepared to loosen your belt.

Regional Variations

Regional variations of beer garden food staples abound. In Franconia, you’ll find Stadtwurst mit Musik (a cold cut salad with onions — the onions create the “music”), and Ziebelaskäs (a dish made with curd cheese or quark and onions). In Swabia, scrumptious lentils with Speck and Spätzli often make an appearance on menus. Austrian dishes sometimes feature Kernöl, a delicious dark green pumpkin seed oil. Fish dishes are a mainstay no matter where you go. In northern Germany in particular, these are often smoked or marinated. Matjes nach Hausfrauart (pickled herring with cream, onions, and dill) is not to be missed if you’re near the sea. And if you’re in Germany during Spargelzeit (asparagus season), you’re in for a treat.

Measure by Measure

We’ve been talking a lot about food here, but let’s not forget the main reason we’re here: liquid sustenance. Signs in larger beer gardens announce variations of the following: “No half-liter orders after 4 p.m.” Unless you opt for a Weissbier, which is served in a 500 mL glass, there’s one size, and one size only: the majestic Maß, or hefty one-liter mug of frothy beer.