The German nation shops on its stomach.
Germans, it seems, cannot undertake any task without first stoking up with a sausage. This has inspired a cunning generation of German sausage vendors to pitch their vans everywhere and anywhere where Germans might be more than ten minutes away from their own fridge.
If you need to find the entrance to a German DIY store, it will be located behind the sausage stand. Because no German would face a half hour perusal of drills and planks on an empty stomach.
Before you can even enter the DIY store you have to negotiate the sausage stand
Getting the car serviced is stressful for anyone – but in Germany at least you can comfort-eat your way through the experience.
Waiting while your car is fixed? You’ll be needing sustenance…
And we all know that shopping should never be undertaken on an empty stomach… not that any German would dream of it.
Shopping is such hungry work…
Of course a typical German sausage is a mighty beast – the size of a toddler’s forearm, with a very precise line of mustard (or ketchup) squirted across the top. The difference between Germans and me, is that Germans can manage to eat their sausage without the mustard slopping all over their shirt. In areas with a high immigrant population (and therefore the highest shirt-soiling quota) there are often alternative snacks – like entire-roast-chicken stands. Because even messy foreigners can’t be expected to shop on an empty stomach…
Roast chicken … the alternative for those who can’t eat a sausage without dribbling mustard on their clothes
Planet Germany 
Can’t wait to move back to Germany after being in Belgium for a year! Thanks for all your commentary and stories! BTW, I nominated (and awarded you) the Versatile Blogger Award…thought it would be fun http://lifelessonsmilitarywife.com/?p=2810.
Wow thanks for that! I’m so excited! Time to think up my seven things and my list… *squeal!*
You’re right….very strategic these Wurst Buden. My trip to Germany last year was my first in a decade or so and one day I’m embarrassed to say I had 7 wursts. They know exactly where to place their stands to lure people like me…..Damn you wurst sellers!!! 🙂
you only notice that they are lacking once you move abroad and the new country doesn’t have anything like that. It’s like losing a good friend.
I love proper German sausages – it’s hard to find good ones in UK supermarkets and the frankfurters you get here are a poor apology for the real thing. Wouldn’t fancy trying to eat one on its own with mustard or ketchup though. Should non-Germans who can’t cut the mustard (sorry…) try the North American trick of putting the sausage in a bun / roll ? Solves the condiment drip issue very nicely.
I think the main design flaw…if one may accuse the Teutons of such a thing… is that the roll with which a German sausage is served is round, and the sausage is long. As a result most of the sausage sticks out the end of the roll… and the mustard or ketchup tends to slide off the sausage. And the shirt is inevitably white…
We have sausage stands outside DIY stores in New Zealand too. They are staffed by charities who use them to raise funds. It used to be cake stalls, but now it’s sausage sizzles.
That sounds like a great idea…. ours are all commercial. Though that’s also OK – it’s making a living for someone.
Würste ‘the size of a toddler’s arm’ made me laugh – that’s so true, they’re enormous here in Switzerland too. I don’t eat meat, so I miss out on that cultural experience – especially the Güggeli vans that park in a different village each day, bringing delicious smells and considerable excitement to the area…
I actually think that outside the UK a lot of cultures enjoy this kind of thing more than we do. I spend a lot of time in South America and I reckon that there are more food sellers than customers here.
Any time an event starts or a queue of people forms the choripan (hot dog type thing) sellers appear from out of nowhere with their damned fine smells and chewy bread.
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No sorry, havent noticed that. I would say bakeries not wurststands. Maybe its a regional thing.