Celebrate Oktoberfest

We’re in the midst of Oktoberfest celebrations, which recently began in Munich. While people think of it mainly as a beer festival, Oktoberfest originated as a celebration for the wedding of Prince Ludwig to Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. Today it’s celebrated across the world with delicious German foods like sausages, Käsespätzle (cheese noodles), pretzels, and sauerkraut. It’s a special food holiday for me since I hail from a town that celebrates its German heritage by proclaiming itself the “Sauerkraut Capital of the World.” For the past 89 years, my hometown has celebrated Oktoberfest with Sauerkraut Day, which includes a free meal of sauerkraut, weiners, speck and more.

If you’re inclined to celebrate Oktoberfest, you can find a plethora of ideas on what to eat and drink. Indexed magazine Food & Wine provides 11 essential foods for an Oktoberfest feast, and indexed blog Serious Eats goes further with 20 Oktoberfest recipes, including Beef sauerbraten with red cabbage and preztel dumplings. Epicurious provides us with a history lesson and suggestions on attire in addition to food ideas. And if you aren’t a fan of beer but like cocktails, you can include your favorite German brew in these drinks featuring beer from the EYB Library.

If those ideas aren’t enough, whet your appetite with these additional Oktoberfest-ready recipes from the EYB Library:

Bavarian Sauerkraut from Simply Recipes*
Wiener Schnitzel from The Kitchn*
Bavarian sausage hot pot (Bayerischer würsteltopf) from The New German Cookbook
German barley soup (Graupensuppe) from Saveur Magazine
Käsespätzle  from Ruhlman.com*
Bavarian-style soft pretzels from Fine Cooking Magazine*

How do you plan to celebrate Oktoberfest?

*pictured at top; all photos from the EYB Library