Kale meal
The grünkohlessen is a custom in many parts of northern Germany and the Netherlands and parts of Scandinavia .
Kale (locally also brown cabbage ) used to be harvested after the first autumn frost, the bitter substances it contained are then neutralized. The end of the kale season was traditionally Maundy Thursday before Easter. Nowadays, newer varieties are used, which - without frost - can be harvested from September.
Traditionally a wintry grünkohlessen is a "social Kohlfahrt " ( carbon Tour or kale hike advance). This is usually an excursion through nature, at the end of which is the inn where the food is served. The participants enjoy themselves during the hike with field games such as Boßeln or Klootschießen . To refresh yourself and to arm yourself against the often frosty temperatures, enough alcoholic drinks are carried in a handcart.
In the inn, the company is served boiled kale, optionally and depending on the region, thickened with buckwheat groats, oat groats or oat flakes or not, with (slightly caramelized) fried potatoes or boiled boiled potatoes . Pinkel is the characteristic insert in the area around Bremen and in the Oldenburger Land , in the region around Hanover , Hildesheim , Braunschweig and Magdeburg, however, Bregenwurst . These sausage specialties are generally only made in winter and for preparation in kale and are rather uncommon in other regions. Also popular ingredients are Kassler , Kohlwurst , (fresh) Mettwurst , smoked Mettenden , bacon or pork cheek .
The kale meal finds its climax in the proclamation of the cabbage king or the cabbage king couple. Various methods are used to award the royal dignity. Either the number of portions of each participant is evaluated, the weight of the participants before and after the meal is determined, or the results of the games on the wandering are evaluated according to secret and not very serious criteria. Sometimes the last person to leave the table is also the king of cabbage. It is up to the king or the royal couple to organize the kale meal for the following year.
Famous kale meals take place, for example, with the “Grünkohl Schlemmerfest” in the Hamburg fish auction hall and with the “ Defftig Ollnborger Gröönkohl Äten ” in the Lower Saxony state representation in Berlin.
literature
- Martin Westphal: cabbage and pee trips. On the history and culture of a festival in Northern Germany , Münster 1998 (new edition).
See also
- Knee pork cabbage
- Schaffermahlzeit , originally a simple meal of cabbage and pee, stockfish and malt beer
Web links
- Cultural history ( memento from January 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) of kale and kale food