Butterbrot
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In
German cuisine The cuisine of Germany consists of many different local or regional cuisines, reflecting the country's federal history. Germany itself is part of the larger cultural region of Central Europe, sharing many culinary traditions with neighbouring c ...
, ''Butterbrot'' (literally: butter bread =
bread Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. It is a staple food across the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cu ...
with
butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...
) is a slice of
bread Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. It is a staple food across the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cu ...
topped with
butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...
. Also known as ''boterham'' in Dutch speaking countries, it is still considered ''Butterbrot'' or ''boterham'' even if additional toppings, such as
cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...
, spreads, or lunch meats, are added, as long as it begins with a slice of bread with butter. The words in formal and colloquial German and the different dialects for ''butterbrot'' (different from ''belegtes Brot'' - with
cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...
,
sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs, may be included as fillers or extenders. ...
s etc.), simply ''Brot'' ("bread"), ''Butterstulle'', ''Stulle'', ''Schnitte'' (all three
Low German Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...
/
Berlinerisch dialect Berlin German, or Berlinese (, , or ; derogative: , ), is the regiolect spoken in the city of Berlin as well as its surrounding metropolitan area. It originates from a Brandenburgisch dialect. However, several phrases in Berlin German are typi ...
), ''Botteramm'' (
Colognian dialect Colognian or Kölsch (, narrower ; full name ) is a small set of very closely related dialects, or variants, of the Ripuarian group of dialects of the Central German group. These dialects are spoken in the area covered by the Archdiocese and f ...
, cf. Dutch boterham), ''Bütterken'' (Lower Rhine dialect) to ''Bemme'' (
Upper Saxon German Upper Saxon (, , ) is an East Central German dialect spoken in much of the modern German state of Saxony and in adjacent parts of southeastern Saxony-Anhalt and eastern Thuringia. As of the early 21st century, it is mostly extinct and a new r ...
) or ''Knifte'' ( Ruhrdeutsch). Although it is increasingly replaced by other foods, it remains a common
staple food A staple food, food staple, or simply staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for an individual or a population group, supplying a large fraction of energy needs an ...
in Germany. Since 1999, the last Friday in the month of September was made the ''Day of German Butterbrot'' by the Marketing Organization of German Agricultural Industries. The
Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...
adopted the term ''buterbrod'' () from
New High German New High German (NHG; ) is the term used for the most recent period in the history of the German language, starting in the 17th century. It is a loan translation of the German (). The most important characteristic of the period is the developme ...
(''Butterbrot''), perhaps as early as the 18th century during the reign of
Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...
. In modern Russian the term has a more general meaning, whatever the ingredient on top of the slice of bread is. From Russian, the term ''buterbrod'' was adopted into Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Georgian, Kazakh and Ukrainian.


Comparison with sandwiches

A ''Butterbrot'' is commonly a single slice of bread and one ingredient on top of the butter or
margarine Margarine (, also , ) is a Spread (food), spread used for flavoring, baking, and cooking. It is most often used as a substitute for butter. Although originally made from animal fats, most margarine consumed today is made from vegetable oil. The ...
. For
breakfast Breakfast is the first meal of the day usually eaten in the morning. The word in English refers to breaking the fasting period of the previous night. Various "typical" or "traditional" breakfast menus exist, with food choices varying by regi ...
, this ingredient tends to be sweet and can be
marmalade Marmalade (from the Portuguese ''marmelada'') is a fruit preserves, fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits boiled with sugar and water. The well-known version is made from bitter orange. It also has been made from lemons ...
, jam,
honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...
, chocolate spread, hazelnut spread, or the less common
peanut butter Peanut butter is a food Paste (food), paste or Spread (food), spread made from Grinding (abrasive cutting), ground, dry roasting, dry-roasted peanuts. It commonly contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, ...
. For
dinner Dinner usually refers to what is in many Western cultures the biggest and most formal meal of the day. Historically, the largest meal used to be eaten around noon, midday, and called dinner. Especially among the elite, it gradually migrated to ...
or as boxed
lunch Lunch is a meal typically consumed around the middle of the day, following breakfast and preceding dinner. It varies in form, size, and significance across cultures and historical periods. In some societies, lunch constitutes the main meal ...
, and often also for breakfast, the ''Butterbrot'' is eaten with something savoury on top, usually a large slice of cold meat or cheese or sliced German Wurst, or one of the countless
cream cheese Cream cheese is a soft, usually mild-tasting fresh cheese made from milk and cream.Oxford English Dictionary Cream cheese is not naturally matured and is meant to be consumed fresh, so it differs from other soft cheeses such as Brie and Neuf ...
varieties, or even an entire
Schnitzel Schnitzel () is a thin slice of meat. The meat is usually thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer. Most commonly, the meat is breaded before frying. Breaded schnitzel is popular in many countries and is made using veal, pork, Chicken as foo ...
or halved mince meat patty, or hard boiled egg slices or egg salad, or other spreadable creamy salads, or smoked
salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...
, or various savoury spreads like
liverwurst Liverwurst, leberwurst, or liver sausage is a kind of sausage made from liver (food), liver. It is eaten throughout Europe, as well as North and South America, notably in Argentina and Chile. Some liverwurst varieties are spreadable. Liverwurst ...
, including also a wide range of
vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...
spreads. Boxed lunch ''Butterbrot'' can be folded for easier handling, and as such resembles the
sandwich A sandwich is a Dish (food), dish typically consisting variously of meat, cheese, sauces, and vegetables used as a filling between slices of bread, or placed atop a slice of bread; or, more generally, any dish in which bread serves as a ''co ...
. In
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
''Butterbrot'' only refers to a slice of bread with butter. If a topping is added it is named after the topping (e.g. ''Käsebrot'' "cheese bread", '' Wurstbrot'' "sausage bread"). The derivatives of the British sandwich and the ''Butterbrot'' of the German-speaking countries differ in some ways: The ''Butterbrot'' is usually made from the typical bread types of German-speaking countries, which are much firmer and fuller in taste, and with a crispy crust, compared to English sandwich slices. One popular type is ''Vollkornbrot'' (wholegrain bread), which has a sourish full savoury taste, due to the use of
sourdough Sourdough is a type of bread that uses the fermentation by naturally occurring yeast and lactobacillus bacteria to raise the dough. In addition to leavening the bread, the fermentation process produces lactic acid, which gives the bread its dis ...
as a
leavening agent In cooking, a leavening agent () or raising agent, also called a leaven () or leavener, is any one of a number of substances used in doughs and batters that cause a foaming action (gas bubbles) that lightens and softens the mixture. An altern ...
, and which often contains
rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...
, albeit bread made from
wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...
flour is usually the most common variety. Vollkornbrot exists in dozens of varieties with respect to taste, shape, color, etc. However, Germans also know a large variety of white or mixed bread kinds,
baguette A baguette (; ) is a long, thin type of bread of French origin that is commonly made from basic lean dough (the dough, not the shape, is defined by French law). It is distinguishable by its length and crisp crust. A baguette has a diameter ...
or
ciabatta Ciabatta (, ; ) is an Italian white bread created in 1982 by a baker in Adria, Veneto, in response to the popularity of French baguettes. Ciabatta is somewhat elongated, broad, and flat, and is baked in many variations, although unique for its ...
are so common they are sold in every supermarket, and many modern German families simply eat toast with topping for breakfast, as it is cheaper and faster. Another very popular bread type is ''Brötchen'' (
bread roll A bread roll is a small, oblong individual loaf of bread served as a meal accompaniment (eaten plain or with butter). Rolls can be served and eaten whole or are also commonly cut and filled – the result of doing so is considered a '' sandwic ...
s), of which countless varieties exist in any possible shape, size and made from any possible flour combination. Likely even more important are differences with respect to what is eaten on top of a ''Butterbrot'' or in a sandwich. Although exceptions exist, a ''Butterbrot'' is commonly not expanded the way sandwiches are. One slice of cheese and one or (in case of thin slices) maybe two slices of cold
meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...
are commonly considered sufficient; adding
lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae mostly grown as a leaf vegetable. The leaves are most often used raw in Green salad, green salads, although lettuce is also seen in other kinds of food, such as sandwiche ...
,
tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...
,
pickles Pickle, pickled or Pickles may refer to: Food * Pickle, a food that has undergone pickling * Pickled cucumber * Pickle, a sweet, vinegary pickled chutney popular in Britain, such as Branston Pickle, also known as "sweet pickle" or "ploughman's ...
,
onions An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classified ...
,
mustard Mustard may refer to: Food and plants * Mustard (condiment), a paste or sauce made from mustard seeds used as a condiment * Mustard plant, one of several plants, having seeds that are used for the condiment ** Mustard seed, small, round seeds of ...
,
mayonnaise Mayonnaise (), colloquially referred to as "mayo" (), is a thick, creamy sauce with a rich and tangy taste that is commonly used on sandwiches, hamburgers, Salad#Bound salads, bound salads, and French fries. It also forms the base for various o ...
etc. happens only following individual preferences. Also the ratio of bread and "topping" is relatively constant, thick fancy sandwich fillings have almost no equivalent for the ''Butterbrot''. German speakers differentiate between the German-style ''Butterbrot'' and the British-style ''sandwich'' by using the English word "sandwich" for the latter.


Present-day use

In German-speaking countries, the ''Butterbrot'' has been displaced gradually in the last 40 years by
muesli Muesli ( ) is a cold Swiss cuisine, Swiss breakfast dish, the primary ingredient of which is rolled oats. Traditionally, it is set to soak in water overnight ("overnight oats") and eaten the next morning with fresh fruit, nuts, lemon juice, and ...
,
breakfast cereals Breakfast cereal is a category of food, including food products, made from processed cereal grains, that are eaten as part of breakfast or as a snack food, primarily in Western societies. Although warm, cooked cereals like oat meal, maize g ...
or toast for breakfast and
take-away A take-out (US, Canada, Philippines) or takeaway (UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) is a prepared meal or other food items purchased at a restaurant or fast food outlet with the intent to eat elsewhere. A concept found in many ancient cultures, take ...
bakery products during daytime. Nonetheless, it remains a common staple food among many Germans. In addition it remains popular in the evening. It is also eaten a lot on hiking trips. In many parts of Germany the ''Butterbrot'' is still very common for second breakfast at school or work, much more common than, for example,
fast food Fast food is a type of Mass production, mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. ''Fast food'' is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheat ...
. Usually in September every year, the Central Marketing Society for German Agriculture (CMA, the agricultural industry's now-defunct lobby group) used to declare a "day of the German ''Butterbrot''". The 8th Butterbrot Day's motto in 2006 was "Re-Experience Enjoyment". The celebration was one of many "days of" and not very well known in Germany. In
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
,
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
,
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
, and other former Soviet republics, the ''buterbrod'' word has not experienced any decline. It is usually distinguished from "sandwich". In the Russian language, the term ''сэндвич'' (''sandwich'') has not been adopted as widely; it has not been in use as long as ''buterbrod''. * Normally, ''сэндвич'' Runglish-y word for sandwich is used in Russian for two slices of bread with some ingredients in between, and the very word "sandwich" implies "flat X between two flat Y" idea in Runglish (see "сэндвич-панель"). * However,
open sandwich An open sandwich, also known as an open-face/open-faced sandwich, bread baser, bread platter or tartine, consists of a single slice of bread or toast with one or more food items on top. It has half the number of slices of bread compared to a ty ...
is a "бутерброд" for a Russian.


Urban legends

''Butterbrot'' is said to always fall to the floor (and especially on carpet) with the buttered side downwards; an example of
Murphy's law Murphy's law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." Though similar statements and concepts have been made over the course of history, the law itself was coined by, and named after, Americ ...
. A common explanation is that the top side is usually heavier than the bottom side, particularly if the bread has additional toppings such as a spread. Another is tied to the common height of tables. The subject has been researched by various sources, including the German children's series '' Die Sendung mit der Maus'', and the scientific German TV series ''Quarks & Co''. It is often joked about what would happen if ''Butterbrot'' is tied to the back of a cat, in the same manner that hypothetical buttered toast attached to the back of a cat is sometimes joked about, with it being debated whether the cat would still honour the popular axiom that a cat "always lands on its feet", or if the ''Butterbrot'' would be "stronger", making the cat fall on its back — alternatively, it is sometimes humorously suggested that the cat would simply levitate, as it would be unable to satisfy both criteria for landing.


See also

* List of butter dishes *
List of sandwiches Sandwiches are a common type of lunch food often eaten as part of a packed lunch. There are many types of sandwiches, made from a diverse variety of ingredients. The sandwich is the namesake of John Montagu, Earl of Sandwich, a British statesman ...
*
Open sandwich An open sandwich, also known as an open-face/open-faced sandwich, bread baser, bread platter or tartine, consists of a single slice of bread or toast with one or more food items on top. It has half the number of slices of bread compared to a ty ...


References


External links


German Food Guide: Das Butterbrot, The German Sandwich
{{Authority control Sourdough breads Sandwiches German cuisine German sandwiches Foods featuring butter