Currywurst
{{Short description|Fast food dish of German origin}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Infobox food
| name = Currywurst
| name_lang = de
| name_italics = true
| image = 20220430 currywurst.jpg
| caption = Currywurst lightly topped with curry and served with French fries
| alternate_name =
| place_of_origin = Germany
| region =
| year = c. 1949
| creator = Herta Heuwer
| course =
| type = Bratwurst
| served = 70°C
| main_ingredient = Pork sausage, curry ketchup
| variations =
| calories =
| other =
}}
Currywurst ({{IPA|de|ˈkœʁiˌvʊɐ̯st|lang|De-Currywurst2.ogg}}Duden, [http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Curry Curry]. Accessed 2013-06-30) is a fast food dish of German origin consisting of sausage with curry ketchup. It was invented in 1949 by Herta Heuwer, who began selling it at a food stand in West Berlin. The Deutsches Currywurst Museum estimated that 800 million currywursts are eaten every year in Germany, with 70 million in Berlin alone.
History
The invention of currywurst is attributed to Herta Heuwer in Berlin in 1949, after she obtained ketchup, or possibly Worcestershire sauce, and curry powder from British soldiers in Germany.{{cite news|last=Slackman|first=Michael|date=26 January 2011|title=A Favorite Dish Laden With Fat and Contradiction|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/world/europe/27berlin.html|access-date=24 October 2020}} She mixed these ingredients with other spices and poured them over grilled pork sausage. Heuwer started selling them at a stand in Charlottenburg, where it became popular with construction workers rebuilding the devastated city.
Heuwer patented her sauce under the name Chillup in 1951.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/spicy-sausage-that-is-worthy-of-a-shrine-in-berlin-1772530.html|title=Spicy sausage that is worthy of a shrine in Berlin|work=The Independent|date=2009-08-15 | location=London | first=Tony | last=Paterson | access-date=2010-04-30}} At its height the stand was selling 10,000 servings per week.{{cite news|url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4573436,00.html|title=Honoring the best of the Wurst of German Cuisine |publisher=Deutsche Welle|date=2009-08-15}} She later opened a small restaurant which operated until 1974.{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204884404574364600782551292?mod=googlenews_wsj|title=The Craze Over Currywurst|publisher=The Wall Street Journal|date=2009-08-27 | first=Roman | last=Kessler}}
File:Berlin Konnopke’s Imbiß.jpg
Today, {{lang|de|currywurst}} is often sold as a take-away food, Schnellimbisse (snack stands), at diners or "greasy spoons," on children's menus in restaurants, or as a street food and usually served with chips or bread rolls (Brötchen). It is popular all over Germany but especially in the metropolitan areas of Berlin, Hamburg and the Ruhr Area. Considerable variation, both in the type of sausage used and the ingredients of the sauce, occurs between these areas.{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-24-7-whats-the-currywurst-cult-all-about/a-40294501|title=Berlin 24/7: What's the currywurst cult all about? | DW | 03.09.2017|website=DW.COM}}
Common variations include the addition of paprika or chopped onions. Halal food stands often prepare currywurst with beef sausage. Often currywurst is sold in food booths, 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2014-11-12/chef-pierre-gagnaire-food-lover-s-guide-to-berlin|title=A Food Lover's Guide to Berlin|date = 12 November 2014|access-date=9 January 2015|publisher=Condé Nast}} It is sold as a supermarket-shelf product to prepare at home.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}
The Deutsches Currywurst Museum estimated that 800 million currywursts are eaten every year in Germany, with 70 million in Berlin alone.{{cite news|last=Horenburg|first=Berit|title=Hau wech|newspaper=Motorrad|date=23 August 2002|url=http://www.motorradonline.de/archiv/was-biker-essen/169744|access-date=23 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030010429/http://www.motorradonline.de/archiv/was-biker-essen/169744|archive-date=30 October 2013|url-status=dead}}{{cite press release|title=Data and Facts|publisher=Deutsches Currywurst Museum|date=September 2013|url=http://currywurstmuseum.com/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/10/DataFacts-englisch.pdf|access-date=23 October 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029220327/http://currywurstmuseum.com/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/10/DataFacts-englisch.pdf|archive-date=29 October 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.jaunted.com/story/2014/12/17/14144/603/travel/10+Things+We+Learned+at+Berlin%27s+Museum+Dedicated+to+Currywurst|title=10 Things We Learned at Berlin's Museum Dedicated to Currywurst|date=17 December 2014|access-date=9 January 2015|publisher=Condé Nast|archive-date=10 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150110035857/http://www.jaunted.com/story/2014/12/17/14144/603/travel/10%20Things%20We%20Learned%20at%20Berlin%27s%20Museum%20Dedicated%20to%20Currywurst|url-status=dead}} The Volkswagen plant at Wolfsburg runs its own butchery, producing about 7 million Volkswagen currywursts per year, serving many directly to Volkswagen employees.{{cite news| url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/volkswagen-vw-verkauft-mehr-wuerste-als-autos-1.2870745|title=VW verkauft mehr Würste als Autos (VW sells more sausages than cars)|date=2016-02-19| first=Stephan| last=Radomsky}}{{cite web|url=http://inside.volkswagen.de/Die-Currywurst.html|title=Die Currywurst – das Originalteil wird 45! - Volkswagen inside|access-date=3 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903151223/http://inside.volkswagen.de/Die-Currywurst.html|archive-date=3 September 2018|url-status=dead}}
In popular culture
Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is a noted fan of currywurst.{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aPQQVvnljZIM|title=Sausage Museum Celebrates Berliners' Romance With Currywurst|publisher=Bloomberg|date=2009-08-13}} In a 2021 controversy over Volkswagen's plans to take the dish off its canteens menus, he called it "power bar of the skilled factory worker".{{Cite news |last=Connolly |first=Kate |date=2025-03-11 |title=Volkswagen enjoys surprise bestseller amid financial woes: the VW currywurst |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/11/volkswagen-enjoys-surprise-best-seller-amid-financial-woes-the-vw-currywurst |access-date=2025-03-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} By tradition, every candidate for the mayor of Berlin is photographed at a currywurst stand.{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6797043.ece|title=Berlin dedicates museum to street-corner snack of wurst cuisine|publisher=Times Online|date=2009-08-15 | location=London | first=Roger | last=Boyes | access-date=2010-04-30}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
The song "Currywurst" on Herbert Grönemeyer's 1982 album Total Egal is a tribute to the snack.{{cite web |url= http://www.groenemeyer.de/song/currywurst/ |title= Currywurst |last= Grönemeyer |first= Herbert |publisher= groenemeyer.de |language= de |access-date= 26 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130106150802/http://www.groenemeyer.de/song/currywurst/ |archive-date= 6 January 2013 }}
The 1993 novel Die Entdeckung der Currywurst (English title: "The Invention of Curried Sausage", {{ISBN|978-0811212977}}) by Uwe Timm 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 Hamburg.
The Deutsches Currywurst Museum opened in Berlin in August 2009, commemorating the 60th anniversary of its creation.{{cite news|url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4573436,00.html|title=Honoring the best of the Wurst of German Cuisine |publisher=Deutsche Welle|date=2009-08-15}} Curator Martin Loewer said "No other national German dish inspires so much history and has so many well-known fans".{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE57C46Q20090813|title=German cult sausage gets own museum|publisher=Reuters|date=2009-08-13}} The museum received approximately 350,000 visitors annually. It permanently closed in December 2018.{{Cite web |title=The Currywurst Museum of Berlin is closed. |url=https://currywurstmuseum.com/permanently-closed.html |access-date=2024-02-17 |website=currywurstmuseum.com}}
In 2019 Berlin State Mint 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 Herta Heuwer in the background (caption: 70 Jahre Currywurst). The other side of the coin shows the Brandenburg Gate (caption: Münze Berlin, 2019).{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.ie/world-news/and-finally/a-german-mint-has-made-a-currywurst-coin-and-online-reaction-has-been-mixed-37709753.html |title= A German mint has made a currywurst coin and online reaction has been mixed |work= Irish Independent |date= 2019-01-15}}{{cite web |url= https://www.muenze-berlin.de/Berlin_70_Jahre_Currywurst-97244-951023.html |title= 70 Jahre Currywurst - Staatliche Münze Berlin |publisher= Staatliche Münze Berlin |access-date= 2019-02-28 |language= de |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190114115508/https://www.muenze-berlin.de/Berlin_70_Jahre_Currywurst-97244-951023.html |archive-date= 14 January 2019 |url-status= dead }}
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 tzatziki.
File:Curryking-4612.jpg|Currywurst as a supermarket-shelf product to prepare at home
File:Gedenktafel Kantstr 101 Herta Heuwer.JPG|Plaque in Charlottenburg, Berlin, where Herta Heuwer is said to have invented the currywurst
See also
{{portal|Germany|Food}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
Further reading
- {{cite web | last=Connelly | first=Michael Alan | title=20 Must-Try Street Foods Around the World | website=Fodor's | date=18 December 2014 | url=http://www.fodors.com/news/photos/20-must-try-street-foods-around-the-world#!15-currywurst | access-date=24 July 2016}}
External links
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8408716.stm Berlin's obsession with currywurst]—BBC News report
- [https://facebook.com/rusticcuisine/ Trying to perfect the recipe at home for BAOR veterans]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110113164600/http://thed4d.com/projects/perfunkt-ep6/ Currywurst Is the Secret Weapon]—AEG Perfunkt video about a West Berlin cult snack shop
- [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/world/europe/27berlin.html?emc=eta1 NY Times Jan 26, 2011 - National Dish Comes Wrapped in Foreign Flavoring]
{{Street food}}
{{Authority control}}