Fastfood in Germany is more than 600 years old. This counts for the Thuringian bratwurst, as enjoyed by Goethe, is 600 years old, a lot older than the famous Hamburger.
But aside from the pork, marjoram, caraway and garlic, the full recipe remains a closely guarded secret among the 3,000 or so Thuringian butchers.
All we do know is that the sausages have to be cooked over hot charcoal and weigh around 150g. Thuringia’s ultimate fast food simply has to be accompanied by authentic Thuringian mustard.
At Germany’s first bratwurstmuseum, in Arnstadt, you can see the earliest known documentation of bratwurst, which dates from 1404.