German dietary taboos

The first is the fasting rules of different religious groups, the second is the customary dietary etiquette taboos in public places, and the third is individual dietary preferences affected by regional, generational, and health factors. All taboos need to be judged based on specific scenes and specific objects, and there is no general standard.

Let’s first talk about the faith-related taboos that are most likely to be tripped up. Traditional Catholics have a rule of not eating red meat on Fridays. It originated from the fact that Jesus was crucified on Friday and needed to express condolences by fasting from red meat. My former colleague Anna in Munich is a devout old-school Catholic. Every Friday department dinner she would only order fish or vegetarian pizza, but her brother was also baptized and religious. , gnawed the salted pork knuckle more than anyone else on Friday. When asked, he laughed and said, "God knows I worked overtime for three long nights this week, so I won't care about this bite of meat." After the Second Vatican Council, this rule was changed from mandatory to voluntary. Whether to abide by it all depends on the individual's piety, and there is no unified requirement. In addition, Germany currently has a population of nearly 6 million Muslims and nearly 100,000 Jews. The dietary taboos of this group are the same as those of believers of the same religion around the world: they do not eat pork, blood products, and meat slaughtered in non-religious ways. These are religious taboos of immigrant groups and are not German local traditions, but they are also common sense that need to be paid attention to in a pluralistic society.

Speaking of which, we have to mention the eating rules in public places. To put it bluntly, it is not "what you can't eat", but "you can't eat in inappropriate places." For example, many people complain about students studying in Germany eating chive boxes on the subway. The essence is not that there is a problem with the chive boxes, but that eating overly spicy food in a confined space disturbs others. Even if you eat local German garlic salami or stinky cheese, you will still be looked down upon. There are also drinking regulations on public transportation, which vary greatly from state to state: in Bavaria, drinking cold beer on public transportation is a daily routine, and white-collar workers can often be seen taking the subway home with half a liter of beer during rush hours. However, most cities in North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin explicitly prohibit drinking open bottles of alcohol on public transportation, and you will be fined if caught. Oh, by the way, there are a lot of little rules for formal dinners. I attended a Christmas dinner at my Bavarian landlord’s house, and I cut the pork chops with the same knife and fork that I used to cut fish. The 70-year-old lady smiled and said, "The elders say that the freshness of the fish will mix with the aroma of the meat." ", but her 18-year-old grandson rolled his eyes beside him and said that he usually doesn't even use a knife and fork when eating takeout. How can he be so particular about it? Most of these etiquette taboos are the habits of old-school families, and young people basically don't care. There is no need to be overly nervous.

As for the so-called "foods that Germans will never eat" that are so popular on the Internet, they are actually mostly stereotypes. Many people say that Germans don’t eat offal, but the traditional menu in Bavaria clearly shows pork liver pate and roasted pig heart, and the casings of weisswurst are also made of pig intestines. Last time I brought braised pig ears to the department for a picnic, my colleague from Munich said after one bite that it tasted similar to pork liver pate, and ate three pieces in a row. On the contrary, my colleague from northern Hamburg stayed away, saying that he had never eaten offal at home and couldn’t accept it. Some people also say that Germans don’t eat spicy food. If you go to a Thai restaurant or a Turkish barbecue restaurant in Berlin, many young Germans will choose the highest level of spiciness. They can eat spicy food better than many Chinese people. That is to say, most old-school Germans over 60 years old cannot accept overly exciting flavors. Of course, there is one hard and fast rule that is unified across the country: Germany’s Animal Welfare Act clearly prohibits the slaughter and consumption of canines and felines. This rule is written into the law and leaves no room for negotiation.

Oh, and there is another point that everyone easily overlooks: Germany has a very high rate of food allergies, especially those with intolerance to nuts, seafood, and lactose. One in every 10 children has varying degrees of nut allergy, and a serious case of it may land you in the hospital. I stepped into a trap last year and brought walnut cookies I baked to my landlord's house as a guest. As soon as I took them out, the landlord stopped me and said that his grandson was severely allergic to nuts. I'm scared to think about it now.

I have been in Germany for 6 years and have eaten countless times with Germans of different ages from different regions. My biggest feeling is that most of the so-called taboos are actually "depending on who orders the food." If we really want to eat together, asking "Do you have any taboos" in advance is more useful than memorizing 100 rigid rules. After all, eating is meant to be relaxing, so there’s no need to be tied down by strict rules, right?