German American Influence on American Food
German-Americans have influenced American cuisine since they first arrived in the 17th century. Although their influence has been forgotten, many foods commonly enjoyed everyday in the United States have their origin in the German-American community. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
-
Origins
-
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, at least 50 million Americans are of German descent. German immigration to the Americas began as early as the 17th century and peaked in the late 19th century. German immigrants brought their foods, beverages and cooking techniques to the many places where they settled such as St. Louis, Cincinnati, Milwaukee and central Texas.
History
-
According to "Life in the USA," the German origin of many American foods has been forgotten for several reasons including anti-German sentiment following the World Wars; the decline in the American use of German and the use of standardized English names for German dishes by influential cookbook authors such as "Joy of Cooking" creator Irma Rombauer.
-
Cuisine
-
Where would cookouts be without hot dogs? Popular American dishes with German origins include hamburgers, frankfurters (hot dogs) and egg noodles. Some German dishes retain their German names such as liverwurst (leberwurst in German), knackwurst, bratwurst and sauerkraut. Others can be found under English equivalents of German names such as Black Forest Cake (Schwartzwalder Kirschtorte), jelly doughnuts (Berliner Pfannkuchen) and German potato salad (Kartoffel Salat).
Beer
-
Unless you specify otherwise, most beer served in the United States is lager. Germans also introduced the beer-making technique called lagering to the United States and developed some of the most popular brands of American beer including Busch, Pabst, Schiltz and Stroh. According to "Life in the USA," lager is now the most common beer consumed in the United States.
-
References
- Photo Credit delicious hamburger image by MAXFX from Fotolia.com hot dog and fries image by Ray Kasprzak from Fotolia.com beer in beer-mug image by Witold Krasowski from Fotolia.com
