The saga of the sausage

What is Germany’s greenest city? Which country has the happiest people? What’s the best university in the world? Everybody knows: Detmold, Finland, and the University of Oxford. But the burning question on everyone’s lips in Germany right now is: where does the Currywurst come from?

Until now, September 4 has been celebrated as Currywurst Day in Germany, commemorating the day in 1949 when the legendary fast food kiosk proprietress Herta Heuwer first ladled her special sauce containing tomato puree and paprika over a sliced-up sausage. Granted, it didn’t taste at all like curry, but Berlin was smitten. It was the moment a culinary classic was born.

But now Duisburg is trying to get in on the act, wasting no time in announcing a new public holiday on September 22. Why? It has to do with the discovery of a bronze plaque in the Marxloh district of Duisburg, which records that a certain Johann Peter Hildebrand (also known as “Peter Pomm” or “Potato Pete”) invented the Currywurst as long ago as 1936. And he even used curry powder! Without further ado, the burghers of Duisburg pinched the Berliners’ public holiday and put it on Pomms’ birthday.

But the Currywurst controversy wasn’t cooked up from nowhere: two writers from the city of Essen published evidence just over a year ago that the spicy sausages had been sold in Marxloh before the Second World War. Old bills for spices and the memories of regular customers backed up Duisburg’s claim. 

In the end, hungry customers probably don’t care who invented the Currywurst as long as their sausage comes served with a generous portion of French fries. Perhaps Berlin and Duisburg should become twin cities, united by the motto: “born apart, savoured together.” Does it really matter? After all, Currywursts have been sold far and wide beyond the borders of Berlin and Duisburg for decades at every chippie in Germany.