Currywurst () is a

fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredie ...

dish of German origin consisting of steamed, fried

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. ...

, usually

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved ...

(german:

Bratwurst Bratwurst () is a type of German sausage made from pork or, less commonly, beef or veal. The name is derived from the Old High German ''Brätwurst'', from ''brät-'', finely chopped meat, and ''Wurst'', sausage, although in modern German it is of ...

), typically cut into bite-sized chunks and seasoned with

curry ketchup Curry ketchup, also called Currygewürzketchup (curry spice ketchup) in Germany, is a spiced variant of ketchup and a common sauce in Belgium, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. It is typically served on prepared meats such as frikandel, or o ...

, a sauce based on spiced

ketchup Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and tangy flavor. The unmodified term ("ketchup") now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes used egg whites, mushrooms, oysters, grapes, mussels, or walnuts, among ot ...

tomato paste Tomato paste is a thick paste made by cooking tomatoes for several hours to reduce the water content, straining out the seeds and skins, and cooking the liquid again to reduce the base to a thick, rich concentrate. It is used to impart an intense ...

topped with

curry powder Curry powder is a spice mix originating from the Indian subcontinent where it is typically called garam masala. History Key ingredients of curry powder consist of ginger, garlic, fennel, mace, cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon and turmeric ...

, or a ready-made

seasoned with curry and other spices. The dish is often served with

fries French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips (Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or '' allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. Th ...

History

The invention of currywurst is attributed to

Herta Heuwer Herta Charlotte Heuwer (née Pöppel; 30 June 1913 – 3 July 1999) owned and ran a food kiosk in West Berlin. She is frequently credited with the invention of the take-out dish that would become the currywurst, supposedly on 4 September 1949. ...

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

in 1949, after she obtained ketchup (or possibly Worcestershire sauce) and curry powder from British soldiers in Germany. She mixed these ingredients with other spices and poured it over grilled pork sausage. Heuwer started selling the cheap but filling snack at a street stand in the

Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Prussia, it is best known for Charlottenburg Palace, the la ...

district of Berlin, where it became popular with construction workers rebuilding the devastated city. She patented her sauce under the name "Chillup" in 1951. At its height the stand was selling 10,000 servings per week. She later opened a small restaurant which operated until 1974. On 30 June 2013 Heuwer's 100th birthday was celebrated with a

Google Doodle A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running ...

Today, currywurst is often sold as a take-out/take-away food, Schnellimbisse (snack stands), at

diner A diner is a small, inexpensive restaurant found across the United States, as well as in Canada and parts of Western Europe. Diners offer a wide range of foods, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a co ...

s or "

greasy spoon A greasy spoon is a small, cheap restaurant – either an American diner or coffee shop, or a British or Irish cafe – typically specializing in fried foods or home-cooked meals. The term ''greasy spoon'' has been used in the United States si ...

s," on children's menus in restaurants, or as a

street food Street food is ready-to-eat food or drinks sold by a hawker, or vendor, in a street or at other public places, such as markets or fairs. It is often sold from a portable food booth, food cart, or food truck and is meant for immediate consump ...

and usually served with

french fries French fries ( North American English), chips ( British English), finger chips (Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or '' allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France ...

bread roll Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made food ...

s (Brötchen). It is popular all over Germany but especially in the metropolitan areas of Berlin,

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

and the

Ruhr Area The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/k ...

. Considerable variation, both in the type of sausage used and the ingredients of the sauce, occurs between these areas. Common variations include the addition of

paprika Paprika ( US , ; UK , ) is a spice made from dried and ground red peppers. It is traditionally made from '' Capsicum annuum'' varietals in the Longum group, which also includes chili peppers, but the peppers used for paprika tend to be milder ...

or chopped onions;

halal ''Halal'' (; ar, حلال, ) is an Arabic word that translates to "permissible" in English. In the Quran, the word ''halal'' is contrasted with '' haram'' (forbidden). This binary opposition was elaborated into a more complex classification k ...

food stands often prepare currywurst with beef sausage. Often currywurst is sold in

food booth A food kiosk or food booth (also food stand, temporary food service facility) is generally a temporary structure used to prepare and sell food to the general public, usually where large groups of people are situated outdoors in a park, at a parade ...

s, sometimes using a special machine to slice it into pieces, and served on a paper plate with a little wooden or plastic fork, mostly a

Currywurst fork A chip fork is a small fork made from wood or plastic that is given away by fast food suppliers with portions of fish and chips, french fries, currywurst, and similar, and used when eating. Chip forks are specially designed to keep eaters' fingers ...

. It is also sold as a

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more lim ...

-shelf product to prepare at home. The

Deutsches Currywurst Museum The Deutsches Currywurst Museum was a museum in Berlin dedicated to German currywurst sausage. The museum was located in Berlin-Mitte near Checkpoint Charlie and was the first and only museum about currywurst. The museum received approximately ...

estimated that 800 million currywursts are eaten every year in Germany, with 70 million in Berlin alone. The

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post ...

plant at

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's ...

runs its own butchery producing about 7 million

Volkswagen currywurst Volkswagen currywurst is a brand of sausage manufactured by the Volkswagen car maker since 1973. It is manufactured at the company's Wolfsburg plant and sold in restaurants in its six German factories. The currywurst are also sold externall ...

s per year, serving many directly to Volkswagen employees.

In popular culture

The currywurst is an icon of German popular culture. Former Chancellor

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of German ...

is a noted fan of currywurst. By tradition, every candidate for the mayor of Berlin is photographed at a currywurst stand. The song "Currywurst" on

Herbert Grönemeyer Herbert Arthur Wiglev Clamor Grönemeyer (born 12 April 1956) is a German singer, musician, producer, composer and actor, popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Grönemeyer starred as war correspondent Lieutenant Werner in Wolfgang Pete ...

's 1982 album ''Total Egal'' is a tribute to the snack. The 1993 novel '' Die Entdeckung der Currywurst'' (English title: "The Invention of Curried Sausage", ) by

Uwe Timm Uwe Timm (; born 30 March 1940 in Hamburg) is a German writer. Life and work Uwe Timm was born in the year 1940 in Hamburg. Uwe Timm was the youngest son in his family. His brother, 16 years his senior, was a soldier in the Waffen SS and died i ...

was made into a 1998 play and a 2008 film both of the same name. The plot is based on an alternative but unproven theory that currywurst was invented in

. The

opened in Berlin on 15 August 2009, commemorating the 60th anniversary of its creation. Curator Martin Loewer said "No other national German dish inspires so much history and has so many well-known fans". The museum received approximately 350,000 visitors annually. It permanently closed on 21 December 2018. In 2019

Berlin State Mint Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

issued a commemorative currywurst coin celebrating the 70 years since the savoury snack was first sold in Berlin by Herta Heuwer. The silver alloy coin features two currywursts pierced with a wooden chip fork and poured with the sauce (coloured by print), and

in the background (caption: 70 Jahre Currywurst). The other side of the coin shows the

Brandenburg Gate The Brandenburg Gate (german: Brandenburger Tor ) is an 18th-century neoclassical monument in Berlin, built on the orders of Prussian king Frederick William II after restoring the Orangist power by suppressing the Dutch popular unrest. One ...

(caption: Münze Berlin, 2019). File:Currywurst med toast (4541065102).jpg, Served with bread File:Currywurst-1.jpg, Currywurst - served sliced File:Taxiteller.jpg, A "Taxi Teller" is a plate of fries served with currywurst, shashlik sauce, mayonnaise, gyros meat, and

tzatsiki Tzatziki ( el, τζατζίκι), also known as tarator or cacık (), is a dip, soup, or sauce found in the cuisines of Southeast Europe and the Middle East. It is made of salted strained yogurt or diluted yogurt mixed with cucumbers, g ...

File:Curryking-4612.jpg, Currywurst as a supermarket-shelf product to prepare at home

References

External links

Deutsches Currywurst Museum BerlinBerlin's obsession with currywurst
- ''BBC News'' report
Trying to perfect the recipe at home for BAOR veteransCurrywurst is The Secret Weapon
- ''AEG Perfunkt'' video about a West Berlin ''cult snack shop''

{{Authority control Berlin cuisine Fast food German sausages Sausage dishes Street food 1949 in Germany Curry dishes

History

In popular culture

See also

References

Further reading

External links