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Munich’s Oktoberfest is Good Fun, Good Food
So first the history. The festival started on October 12, 1810, in honor of the royal wedding of Bavaria’s Crown Prince Ludwig (later to become King Ludwig I) to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The citizens of Munich were invited to attend the wedding festivities, which took place on the fields in front of the city gates. The fields were renamed Theresienwiese ("Therese’s Fields") to honor the Crown Princess, although the locals have since abbreviated the name simply to "Wiesn". The festivities lasted for five days, with a horse race in the presence of the royal family marking its close. Actually, everyone in Bavaria celebrated the wedding, and the date became so popular that in subsequent years it was moved forward into September to guarantee warmer weather. In 1818, the first carousel and two swings were set up, and visitors were able to quench their thirst at small beer stands. By the turn of the century, beer tents set up by Munich’s numerous breweries replaced the small stands. Today, there are 14 large beer tents (festival halls or “festhalles”) that can accommodate from 3,000 guzzlers in the smaller ones to 9,000 in the largest. Munich breweries with familiar names like Lowenbrau and Paulaner operate six of them, and each one has its own distinctive character and decoration. The remainder of the festival site is a fun fair with carousels, roller coasters, and other rides and games. Everyone enjoys the weekend opening ceremonies, but visitors will definitely want to grab a spot to watch the Grand Entry Parade of the Oktoberfest Landlords and Breweries (10:45 a.m. Saturday). At noon, the lord mayor of Munich officially opens the festival at the Schottenhamel tent with "O'zapft is,” confirming that the tapping of the first keg of Oktoberfest beer was successful. On Sunday, the Costume and Riflemen's Procession (10 a.m.) is a colorful display of local traditions that includes regional "troops" in historical uniforms, riflemen, trumpeters on horseback, flag-throwers, and decorated drays of the Munich breweries . Now on to the food and beer. Generally speaking, Bavarian food is somewhat heavy and certainly hearty—think sauerbraten, würsts with sauerkraut and onions, pork knuckle, schnitzel, dumplings, and Obatzda (camembert cheese and butter spread with pepper and caraway seeds)—making it the perfect accompaniment to a “Maß” (pronounced “mass,” the Bavarian measurement for one liter) of Oktoberfest beer. At the time of the 1810 wedding festival, the spring's stockpiled beers had to be depleted to make room for the fall's production. March (Marzen) is the last month that beers would typically be made due to the unpleasant taste that beers made in warmer months developed. With alcohol being a natural preservative, these beers were made with higher alcohol content, thus the name “Oktoberfest” or “Marzen” style beers are what you’ll drink at the festival. Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräuhaus, Löwenbräu, Paulaner, and Spaten- Franziskaner are the traditional German brewers of Oktoberfest beer since they all brew or bottle beer within Munich’s city limits. Their beer is served in the tents daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and from 9 a.m. on weekends. A “Maß” will cost about 8€ ($12) this year. To make reservations for the tents, visit www.oktoberfest.de. To reserve anything for the 200 th birthday celebration of Oktoberfest in 2010, stat now! You’ll find traditional Bavaria food and beer at most of the 14 tents, but if you want wine or champagne, head to the “Weinzelt,” where 15 varieties are on offer including the local Nymphenburg sparkling wine; when you tire of sausages, the “Ochsenbraterei” tent serves spit-roasted ox; and the “Fischer Vroni” tent specializes in grilled fish on a stick. If you can’t get enough at the "Wiesn," you’ll find loads of restaurants, brew houses, and taverns in Munich that will also satisfy both hunger and thirst, including these: Augustiner am Dom, Frauenplatz 8, is located across from the Frauenkirsch, Munich’s onion-domed Church of Our Lady. Specialties include a würstel platter (four bratwürst, two spicy red bratwürst, sauerkraut, and potato salad) for 11.50€ ($17), and roasted pork with potato dumpling in a sauce of dark beer for 7.25€ ($11). Visit www.augustineramdom.de. Bayerischer Donisl, Weinstrasse 1, is an old wine tavern near Marienplatz that serves traditional fare with main dishes of würsts and sauerkraut starting at 6.95€ ($10) . Bavarian music begins nightly at 6: 30 p.m. Visit www.bayerischer-donisl.de Hofbräuhaus, Am Platzl 9, is one of the city’s popular year-round attractions and bills itself as “the biggest pub in the world.” Bavarian music and dance accompany huge portions of food. House specials include suckling pig roasted in beer with potato dumpling and red cabbage for 11.50€ ($17), brew masters pork steak with herb butter or Weiner schnitzel with potato salad for 8€ ($12). Visit www.hofbraeuhaus.de Wirtshaus Ayingers, Am Platzl 1a (across from the Hofbräuhaus), serves meals like baked pork joint with sauce and dumplings for 12.80€ ($19), and other entrées are reasonably priced from 10€ to 19€ ($15 to $28). Visit www.platzl.de Where ever you dine, guten appetit, enjoy your meal! German-English Menu Helper Other than the Hofbräuhaus, you won’t find too many bilingual menus in Munich, so this glossary will help with your selections: Apfelkücherl: deep fried apples with cinnamon Apfelstrudel: apple and raisin compote baked in puff pastry Bayerische Creme: Bavarian vanilla cream Ente: duck Fisch: fish Gans: goose Gurkensalat: cucumber salad Hühnchen: chicken Jägerschnitzel: cutlet with mushroom sauce Kaiserschmarrn: hot chopped pancake with raisins Kartoffelknödel: potato dumplings Kartoffelsalat: cold salad of sliced potatoes, cucumbers, and onions Käse: cheese Käsespätzle: Swabian noodles with melted cheese and fried onions Knödele: dumplings Krautsalat: sour cabbage salad with vinegar and caraway seeds Kraut: Sauerkraut Kuchen: cake or tart Lammkotelette: lamb cutlet Leberwurst: liver paté Nudeln: noodles Reiberdatschi: potato pancakes Nürnberger: traditional pork sausages from Nuremberg Rippchen: smoked ribs Rösti: chopped potatoes fried with onion and butter Rote Grütze: red berry and cherry compote, usually served with vanilla sauce Rotkohl: sweet and sour red cabbage with apples Sauerbraten: roast beef braised in spices, wine or vinegar Schinken: ham Schlachtplatte: mixed sausages, sauerkraut, and potatoes Schlagsahne: whipped cream Schnitzel: scallop Schokolade: chocolate Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte: Black Forest chocolate cake Schweinsbraten: pork roast with crust in beer sauce Schweinshaxn: grilled knuckle of pork Spätzle: Swabian noodles Tafelspitz: braised beef with horseradish Topfenstrudel: sweet white cheese and raisins baked in puff pastry Würst: sausage Würstsalat: cold salad of sliced sausages, cucumbers, and onions
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The Oktoberfest in Munich is the largest and one of the longest running festivals in the world. It opens annually on the third Saturday in September and runs until the first Sunday in October (September 20 to October 5). While the event has significant historical significance, it is without question, the fun, food, and festivities—some folks refer to it simply as “a kegger”—that draw 6 million visitors to Munich every year to consume an estimated 6 million liters of beer, 200,000 pairs of pork sausages, 90 or more spit-roasted steer, 450,000 roasted chickens and ducks, and more Brez'n (pizza-sized pretzels) that you can count!
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