Index
There is no such thing as standard “German cuisine“, rather several regional specialties ranging from smoked sprats from Kiel to white sausage with sweet mustard from Munich. Regional cuisine is also very important for Germany’s top chefs. In 2023 Michelin Guide awarded 334 German restaurants one or more of its coveted stars. Hamburg and Berlin are among the leading gourmet cities.
Frankfurt am Main is really the only city in Germany that has an international feel to it: The tallest buildings in Germany, the largest airport and the most banks in continental Europe (including the European Central Bank). And the list of superlatives does not stop there; for example, there is the railroad station and the interstate intersection, both of which boast the highest volume of traffic in Germany. All this, despite the fact that the city has a mere 750,000 inhabitants and is not even the capital of Hesse. The elegant city of Wiesbaden has claim to that title. Otherwise the state of Hesse is rather unassuming, with a densely forested upland range of mountains, blessed with Riesling in the Rheingau region, and industry throughout. Opel in Rüsselsheim and VW near Kassel are the major industries, whereas ESA in Darmstadt is responsible for much of the European space program.
Capital: Wiesbaden
Population: 6,288,080
Surface area: 21,115 km2
German wines are produced in13 wine-growing areas in which, over an area of more than 100,000 hectares, a wide variety of typical regional wines are made. Apart from Saxony and Saale-Unstrut in the East, the German wine-growing areas are primarily in the southwest and south of the country. Although almost 140 types of vine are planted, only two dozen, primarily the white wines Riesling and Müller-Thurgau, have any real market significance. Of the wine produced in Germany two thirds is white and one third red. About 1 million of the more than 8 million hectolitres produced annually are exported, in particular to the USA, Great Britain and the Netherlands.