German Cuisine - Foreign Influences

Foreign Influences

The first wave of foreigners coming to Germany specifically to sell their food specialties were ice cream makers from northern Italy, who started to arrive in noticeable numbers during the late 1920s. With the post-WWII contacts with Allied occupation troops, and especially with the influx of more and more foreign workers that began during the second half of the 1950s, many foreign dishes have been adopted into German cuisine — Italian dishes, such as spaghetti and pizza, have become staples of the German diet. Turkish immigrants also have had a considerable influence on German eating habits; Döner kebab is Germany's favourite fast food, selling twice as much as the major burger chains put together (McDonald's and Burger King being the only widespread burger chains in Germany). Chinese and Greek food also are widespread and popular. Indian, Vietnamese, Thai, and other Asian cuisines are rapidly gaining in popularity. Many of the more expensive restaurants served mostly French dishes for decades, but since the 1990s, they have been shifting to a more refined form of German cuisine.