Beginners' German: Food and drink
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# Teil 7

## Culture: Imbissbuden

Figure 11
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You can buy different sausages, such as Bockwurst , Bratwurst and Currywurst , throughout the German-speaking countries in snack bars (Imbissbuden), and there are over 40 different regional varieties of Bockwurst alone. The sausages may be served in a bread roll (Brötchen ), with potato salad (Kartoffelsalat ), Sauerkraut or chips (Pommes frites or Fritten ), and of course a little mustard (Senf ).

Snack bars may be located in a mobile stand, a kiosk or a small shop, and many take the form of a Stehcafé or Stehimbiss , which provides no seating, just a few tall tables that customers can stand at while they eat their snacks. The Austrian Würstlstand pictured here is in Vienna (Wien ).

## A

This is a text about two of the most popular snacks in Germany: the Currywurst and the Döner . You do not have to understand every word but try to get the gist of the two paragraphs. Then decide whether the six statements below are richtig (true) or falsch (false) according to the text.

## Täglich lockt die Currywurst

Figure 12
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Die Berliner Imbiss-Spezialität gibt es in vielen Variationen. In Berlin gibt es sogar ein Museum ihr zu Ehren: die „Currywurst“. Man sagt, Herta Heuwer hat die Currywurst am 4. September 1949 erfunden. An ihrem Imbissstand an der Ecke Kant-/Kaiser-Friedrich-Straße in Charlottenburg hat sie gebratene Brühwurst mit einer Soße aus Tomatenmark, Currypulver, Worcestershiresauce und weiteren Zutaten angeboten. Heute gibt es viele traditionelle Imbisse, wo man die Spezialität kaufen kann.

## Döner + Falafel: Der Berliner Kultsnack

Figure 13
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Was ist fast noch typischer für Berlin als die Currywurst? Der Döner! Der Döner ist das beliebteste Fast Food-Gericht in Deutschland, und wo kann man das besser essen als Berlin? Nicht nur in Kreuzberg findet man an jeder Ecke einen Imbiss mit Döner und Falafel. Einige haben Kultstatus wie das Habibi am Winterfeldtplatz.

- Vokabeln
- ihr zu Ehren in its honour

- hat... erfunden invented

- hat... angeboten offered

- nicht nur not only

## Comment

Brühwurst is not a specific type of sausage, but a category of uncooked sausage, usually of finely minced pork or beef, which has undergone some kind of heat treatment during the manufacturing process. Further cooking is then necessary prior to serving. 60% of all sausages in Germany fall into this category.

Es gibt nur wenige Sorten Currywurst.

richtig
falsch

In München gibt es ein Currywurst-Museum.

richtig
falsch

Man sagt, Herta Heuwer hat die Currywurst erfunden.

richtig
falsch

Man sagt, die erste Currywurst war an einem Imbissstand in Berlin-Charlottenburg.

richtig
falsch

Der Döner ist in Berlin auch sehr beliebt

richtig
falsch

Döner kann man nur in Kreuzberg kaufen.

richtig
falsch

For more information on the Currywurst-Museum in Berlin, see www.currywurstmuseum.de.

## B

- Vokabeln
- einmal once, one portion
- zweimal twice, two portions
- dreimal three times, three portions
- das Grillhähnchen grilled chicken
- Pommes frites (pl.) chips
- eine Portion Pommes one portion of chips (colloquial)

Now practise ordering some items at an Imbissstube . The items you want are indicated on the following price list. Ask for each item separately in response to the questions you hear in the recording.

Figure 14
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Audio 29
Transcript

## C

Here is a chance to practise using some numbers. Read the following statistical information collected in a Süddeutsche Zeitung survey about people’s favourite snacks, and answer the questions you hear in the recording. There is no need for complete sentences here; just answer in short phrases.

- Vokabeln
- beliebteste most popular
- bevorzugen prefer

## Was für Snacks essen die Deutschen gern?

Wenn der kleine Hunger kommt, ist die Pizza für viele der beliebteste Snack. 71 Prozent der Deutschen bevorzugen das italienische Gericht, wenn sie sich unterwegs etwas zu essen kaufen.

Auf Platz zwei ist mit 61 Prozent der Befragten ganz klassisch das belegte Brötchen.

59 Prozent der Deutschen kaufen am Imbissstand Grillhähnchen.

Auf Platz vier mit 54 Prozent kommt der Klassiker an der Imbissbude – die Bratwurst.

Vor allem die 14- bis 29-Jährigen essen besonders gern Hamburger mit Pommes. Wenn man aber das Ergebnis nach Frauen und Männern trennt, ist es ganz anders. Frauen essen mehr fleischlose Speisen, besonders Sushi. Und auch mal einen vegetarischen Burger.

(shortened and adapted from: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/leben/fastfood-die-beliebtesten-snacks-der-deutschen-1.534483 )

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Audio 33
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## D

Look at the following explanation of the different items which are shown on a German wine label. Before reaching for your dictionary, see how many of them you can match to the English expressions below. Notice that items 5 and 7 both refer to the same information category. Choose the appropriate number for each English expression.

Figure 15
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Location

Quality

Year

Official control number

Alcohol content

Wine-producing area

Flavour

Bottler

Grape variety

Producer

Wine-producing region (1 of 13)

Producer’s address

Volume

## Answer

1. Producer
2. Year
3. Location
4. Grape variety
5. Quality
6. Flavour
7. Quality
8. Official control number
9. Bottler
10. Wine-producing region (1 of 13)
11. Volume
12. Alcohol content
13. Producer's address
14. Wine-producing area

## Skills: Developing confidence in using numbers

Continue to review numbers until you feel confident to use and understand them. Whenever you see phone numbers, statistics, and so on, try to say the number to yourself in German. Write down some large numbers, record yourself saying them out loud, come back later to listen and write them down, then compare what you’ve written with the original list.

## Comment

German bureaucracy requires many things to have an official number, and that includes bottles of wine. Therefore every German quality wine has a control number or A.P.Nr (Amtliche Prüfungsnummer) on the label. This shows that the wine has been officially tested against legal minimum standards. The various components of the number identify the testing station (die Prüfstelle ), location (Ort ) of the producer, the producer (der Erzeuger ), the batch (die geprüfte Partie ) and the year (das Jahr ) when it was tested.

Source of information: http://weinverkostungen.de/die-amtliche-prufungsnummer-bei-wein-a-p-nr (23.8.12)

## Skills: Making connections with German

The German and the English languages are very closely related. You will notice this in the large number of words that are either spelled the same, as in Computer , Radio , Taxi or Institution , or where words are very similar in spelling and pronunciation, as in Wein , Glas , Haus , Lampe , trinken .

However, there are also many other cultural parallels which can help you understand written German. Using the example of the wine label you will see that wine labels are very similar in German speaking countries and many other countries, with the items printed in identical positions etc. Such similarities also apply to many other contexts in everyday life. Just think of conventions for signs at train or bus stations, road signs, telephone books, emails etc.

So do trust your instincts and look for connections to support your understanding of the German language.

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