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50 free German Food trivia questions with answers — food & drink quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
German cooking is really a dozen regional cuisines sharing a federal border: Swabian noodles, Bavarian white sausage, Frankfurt's green sauce, Hamburg's harbour fish, Berlin's Currywurst and doner. It is a country with more than 1,500 kinds of sausage, around 3,000 breads and a beer law that has been on the books since 1516, and whose citizens complain abroad chiefly about the bread. These 50 questions cover the meat, from Sauerbraten and Bratwurst to Eisbein and Saumagen; the sides, from Spatzle and Maultaschen to Klosse and Bratkartoffeln; the bread culture of Abendbrot and Brotzeit and Pumpernickel; the white asparagus season that ends on St John's Day; cakes and Christmas baking, from Black Forest gateau and Rote Grutze to Dresden Stollen and Lebkuchen; and the drinks, from Pilsner, Kolsch and Berliner Weisse to Apfelwein in a Bembel, Korn, Obstler and Spezi. There are questions on the regions too: the Weisswurst equator, Franconian gravy, Helmut Kohl's favourite pork stomach, and the Turkish guest worker credited with Berlin's doner sandwich. Easy questions cover sausages and beer; the hardest ask about dates, towns and quantities. Every answer is cited to the page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Roughly how many different types of sausage are made in Germany?
More than 1,500
Strict rules on what may go into them date back to the 13th century.
Q 02What is Sauerbraten?
A marinated sour roast
Beef, horse or venison is steeped in vinegar for several days before cooking.
Q 03In which city is the Weisswurst, or white sausage, especially popular?
Munich
It is a Bavarian speciality, traditionally eaten with sweet mustard.
Q 04Which 1236 market ordinance first ruled that only top-quality meat could go into sausages?
Landshut
German sausage regulations have been in force since the 13th century.
Q 05What is a Rollmops?
A rolled pickled herring fillet
Brathering, fried marinated herring, is its cousin.
Q 06What is the German name for fish fingers?
Fischstäbchen
It literally means 'fish sticklets'.
Q 07Which variety of asparagus is especially popular in Germany?
White
Restaurants devote whole menus to it during Spargelzeit.
Q 08On which saint's day does the German asparagus season traditionally end?
St John's Day
That is 24 June; the season opens in mid-April.
Q 09What does Abendbrot literally mean?
Evening bread
Supper was traditionally a cold meal of bread, cold cuts and cheese.
Q 10Kaffee und Kuchen is compared to which English custom?
Five o'clock tea
It fills the gap between lunch and dinner, often on Sundays with the whole family.
Q 11What are Spätzle?
Egg noodles
They dominate in the southwest, alongside the ravioli-like Maultaschen.
Q 12Maultaschen are most often compared to which Italian food?
Ravioli
They are traditional stuffed noodles from Swabia.
Q 13Which Prussian king promoted the potato in 18th-century Germany?
Frederick the Great
His Potato Edict helped make the tuber almost ubiquitous by the 19th century.
Q 14What does ordering 'Pommes rot/weiss' get you?
Q 21Spaghettieis is an ice-cream dessert made to look like what?
Spaghetti with tomato sauce
Italian ice-cream parlours were Germany's first big wave of foreign-run eateries.
Q 22Which bird is the traditional German Christmas Day roast?
Goose
In the south it is sometimes replaced by breaded carp.
Q 23Which fish is traditionally eaten on Saint Sylvester's Day, New Year's Eve?
Carp
Carp also stands in for goose at some southern Christmas tables.
Q 24Roughly how many types of bread does Germany produce?
Fries with ketchup and mayonnaise
The colours stand for the two sauces.
Q 15Which city is known for a particularly spicy mustard used in Senfrostbraten?
Düsseldorf
The sweet mustard of the south is reserved almost exclusively for Weisswurst.
Q 16What is Sahnemeerrettich?
Horseradish with cream
Horseradish has been documented in Germany since the 16th century, when it was used as medicine.
Q 17What fruit fills Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte?
Cherries
The Black Forest cake is Germany's best-known cream torte.
Q 18German cheesecake is typically made with which dairy product?
Quark
Apples, plums, strawberries and cherries fill most of the country's cakes.
Q 19What distinguishes a German Berliner doughnut from an American ring doughnut?
It has no hole
Depending on the region it is called Berliner, Pfannkuchen, Kreppel or Krapfen.
Q 20Rote Grütze, a northern German pudding, is made from what?
Red fruits
Currants and raspberries are cooked in juice and thickened with corn starch.
About 3,000
Plus 1,200 kinds of pastries and rolls from some 13,000 bakeries.
Q 25How is Pumpernickel traditionally cooked?
Steamed for a long time
The method gives the rye bread its sweet taste.
Q 26What is a bread roll called in Berlin?
Schrippe
Semmel is the southern word, Rundstück the Hamburg one.
Q 27Franzbrötchen, a butter-and-cinnamon pastry roll, comes from which city?
Hamburg
The name means 'little French roll'.
Q 28Which beer style, developed in the mid-19th century, came to dominate most of Germany?
Pilsner
Wheat beer and other lagers are common especially in Bavaria.
Q 29Kölsch is the light ale of which city?
Cologne
Düsseldorf's equivalent is the dark Altbier.
Q 30Berliner Weisse is often mixed with syrup of raspberry or which herb?
Woodruff
It is a low-alcohol sour beer.