Why German? Well until recently more Americans claimed ancestral relationships with the fatherland than any other nationality and therefore almost everyone knows some German dishes.

Germany published more cookbooks during the 15th and 16th centuries then any other country in Europe. German food has always been described as hearty although its foodways are being altered by global influences. Those of us from the first television generation who remember Swanson’s German style T.V. dinners still get warm and fuzzy when we think of apple sauce and potato pancakes.

Germany boasts 6,000 types of bread, 1000 types of sausages and some 600 pastry/cakes/sweets for the well known kaffeeklatsch all important facets of the national diet.  But with these numbers it’s hard to really define a national food culture since each baker and wurstmeister tweaks his own product and it’s more like American or California cuisine with many regional variations. Anyway we'll make a number of the following again based on time constraints and availability.