Bavarian White Sausage Day

White sausage / weisswurst. Alex Fox / Pixabay.com / 2020 / CC0 1.0

The 22nd of February is Bavarian White Sausage Day.

It celebrates the iconic white simmered veal sausage known as “weisswurst” that is a symbol of Bavarian cuisine.

It is typically served with sweet Bavarian mustard, bread pretzels, and wheat beer.

In Bavaria, white sausage are typically eaten as a mid-morning snack before 12:00 noon. You eat one out of hand, holding the sausage between your fingers, and sucking the insides out of the skin (this is called “zuzeln“), discarding the skin.

You reveal yourself to be a tourist by ordering them later in the day, and using a knife and fork. If you do use a knife and fork, make a cut along the length of the sausage, and then use your knife and fork to separate the peel from the skin. Discard the peel.

The sausage is also known as “white wurst”, or, in German, “weisswurst“. The day in German is known as “Tag der Weißwurst“.

There are also vegetarian and vegan versions now.

If you are outside of Germany, and plan on having some on this day, remember you may need to scout out in advance where you can get them.

#BavarianWhiteSausageDay #TagDerWeißWurst

See also: Weisswurst, Sausages, Veal, Bavarian Beer Purity Law Day, Boudin blanc

Video: How weisswurst are made. (Src: Deutschewelle. Guten Appetit, Germany. 23 November 2013.)

Activities for today

• Try making your own at home if you have the equipment;
• get some from your local butcher or frozen from your supermarket and cook up at home today;
• go out with friends to a German restaurant and enjoy some.

History

The 22nd of February was picked because, reputedly, it’s the exact date that a man, Joseph Sepp Moser in an inn called ‘Zum Ewigen Licht’, on Marienplatz square in the centre of Munich, invented the sausage. The story goes that demand from customers at the time was brisk, as it was Carnival time. He was making sausage to try to keep up with demand, and, having run out of the sheep intestine which he would have typically used for the sausage casing, he used pig intestine instead, which was thinner. And, because he didn’t know how the casing would hold if the sausages were fried, the story continues, he simmered the sausages in water instead.

The day was first celebrated in 2017 in Bodenmais, Regen, Bavaria. ^[1]”Seit 2017 wir am 22. Februar der Tag der Bayerischen Weißwurst begangen. Erstmals wurde dieser vor 4 Jahren feierlich in Bodenmais ausgerufen.” Tag der Weißwurst. 22 February 2021. Accessed July 2021 at https://www.spezialitaetenland-bayern.de/news/tag-der-weisswurst/

It was proclaimed by the Arberland butcher’s guild in the Bavarian Forest south of Munich, upon the initiative of the guild master Stefan Einsle. ^[2]Fritz, Albert. 22. Februar – Tag der Weißwurst. Zwiesel, Bayern: Weißwurst Blog Zwiesel. 21 February 2019. Accessed July 2021 at https://www.weisswurstbayern.de/?p=1273

Some people in Munich asked if they had a right to do that in Bodenmais, as the sausage was actually invented in Munich.

But the Arberland butcher’s guild said that Munich wasn’t doing anything, so they were seizing the initiative: basically, you snooze, you lose. ^[3]Lang, Jacqueline. Die neue Heimat der Weißwurst. Munich, Germany: Süddeutsche Zeitung. 21 February 2019. Accessed July 2021 at https://www.sueddeutsche.de/bayern/mitten-in-bayern-die-neue-heimat-der-weisswurst-1.4340280

The sausage people in Munich were not happy about having the white sausage hijacked by southern local yokels. ^[4]Giese, Sven. Tag der Weißwurst in Deutschland am 22. Februar. 21 February 2021. Accessed July 2021 at https://www.kuriose-feiertage.de/tag-der-weisswurst/

According to a Regina Fanderl with Bavarian Radio 2, however, there’s actually little or no basis for any of the weisswurst creation story — including the date. She says it’s possible it’s an adaptation of the French boudin blanc, and, that it existed way before the purported date. ^[5]Fanderl, Regina. Die ersten Weißwürste werden serviert. Bavarian Radio 2. 22 February 2016. Accessed July 2021 at https://www.br.de/radio/bayern2/sendungen/kalenderblatt/2202-die-ersten-weisswuerste-werden-serviert-100.html

Richard Bauer, archivist for the city of Munich, wrote that Joseph Sepp Moser (28 November 1821 – 5 Oktober 1872) did exist, had learned butchering and did rent the ‘Zum Ewigen Licht’ as landlord from 1857 to 1866. ^[6]Bauer, Richard. Zum hundertfünfzigsten Jubiläum der Münchner Weißwurst. Munich City Archives. Undated. Accessed July 2021 at https://archive.ph/20090611233123/http://www.muenchen.de/Rathaus/dir/stadtarchiv/186762/weisswurst.html

But as for where on earth the notion of an exact date of 22nd February comes from — no one seems to have any idea!

Sources

Hofmann, Lisa. Tag der Weißwurst: Unsere Hotspots in München. Munich, Germany: The Curvy Magazine. 9 September 2019. Accessed July 2021 at https://thecurvymagazine.com/de/lifestyle-de/tag-der-weisswurst-unsere-hotspots-in-muenchen

Tag der Weißwurst: Wie viele Weißwurst-Fails zählst du im Video? Munich, Germany: Bayerischer Rundfunk 3. 22 February 2021. Accessed July 2021 at https://www.bayern3.de/weisswurst-fail-fehler-was-du-auf-keinen-fall-machen-solltest

Tag der Weißwurst. Straubing, Bavaria, Germany: Idowa Magazine. 22 February 2021. Accessed July 2021 at https://www.idowa.de/inhalt.muenchen-tag-der-weisswurst.9748c9ee-0dbc-4ee1-a503-284fe700331b.html