In the German city of Munich, breakfast looks very different from bacon and eggs. Before ten o'clock in the morning, many people sit together to eat warm pretzels, white sausages, and drink big glasses of beer.
This morning meal is a famous tradition in the state of Bavaria. People usually eat it before midday, when the church bells ring. The meal includes a special white sausage made of veal called weisswurst. The sausages arrive at the table in a bowl of warm water so they stay warm.
Eating a weisswurst has strict rules. People do not eat the skin. Some local people suck the meat out of the skin, but most people use a knife and fork to peel the skin off carefully. They eat the sausage with sweet mustard and a large pretzel.
Bavarians wash the food down with wheat beer. In Bavaria, people call beer "liquid bread" and view it as part of their daily food. Local resident Demetrios Kyriakides often wears traditional leather pants, called lederhosen, when he eats this breakfast. He says the morning meal is not just about food. It is about gemütlichkeit, a German word for a cozy, friendly, and happy atmosphere with friends.
Butchers in Munich take the sausage very seriously. Master butcher Andreas Gassner uses his grandfather's recipe to make about 1,200 sausages every day. He uses veal, pork fat, lemon zest, and fresh parsley. During Oktoberfest, he delivers 18,000 sausages for breakfast in just one weekend.
Germans have a famous saying: "Everything has an end, apart from the sausage, which has two." In Munich, this tasty morning tradition continues every day.